Laser #6

We are moving right along with Cameron's laser treatments.  He has #6 on Sept 14.  And the end is in sight!  at least the end for this phase.   Dr. says 3 or 4 more and then by summer he will be done.  With 'touch-ups' once a year or every other year.  His next one is scheduled for November and then his doctor is going on maternity leave (what? you can't be a mom! you are our doctor! you don't have another life do you?) and won't be back until March so maybe he will have a laser by her colleague why she is gone or we will wait until March.

What I want to tell you about is the anesthesia.   He has been waking up crazy and crying the last three times. Emergence delirium they call it. Common in children, especially with short surgeries, and repeated procedures.  He is inconsolable, crying and thrashing until they give him a sedative so he will fall back asleep   Then he sleeps it off and wakes up fine. The first time it happened the nurses came and got me right away and I held him while he cried and kicked for ½ hour until the drugs took effect and he fell back asleep.  They say the kids don't remember it and they are in half-awake half-asleep state and don't know what is going on.  But it is hard on Mom.  The next two times they did not come to get me until he was sleeping again.  I noticed the last time the delirium must have been worse because all the vaseline the doctor goops him up with was all rubbed off his face.  I was in the waiting room longer and it took longer for him to wake up.  It was our longest hospital visit of almost 5 hours.

So this time I spoke up.  If we know he is going to wake up with emergence delirium that seems to get worse every time, than can't something be done about it?  When the hospital called the day before the procedure to give us a time to come in, I requested an anesthesiologist.  I gave them two different names actually.  When I got there neither were working but I got the second in command.  She listened well and had all his records in front of her. Of course she told me this is common.  And I am thinking "I don't care how common it is. Do something about it."  I told her I wanted to be there when he woke up, isntead of the waiting room.

The anesthesiologist came out into the waiting room and got me.  I wasn't just paged at the front desk by the nurses. She was letting him wake up on his own. Usually they reverse the med to wake him up. And she gave him anesthesia through IV instead of a gas. a different med I guess. Usually I don't see the anesthesiologist after surgery, except sometimes to discharge him, so I guess I got special treatment. And he woke up just fine. It pays to speak up.

Here is a pic of him sleeping in the car on the way home.  He was more sleepy this time and fell asleep again as soon as I started driving, so we didn't eat lunch right after we left the hospital like usual, but instead drove about an hour and a half (half way home) before stopping to eat. (He may have slept the whole way home but I was hungry...)

not the best quality, but what do you expect?  I was driving at the time.  he looked so cute cuddled up with his blanket and pj's.  He wanted to wear his pajamas to the hospital.  and he is a 'tough guy' handling everything so well.