Everything went well. Waiting on a room assignment.

Chipper for the 4am wakeup and the drive to LA. Tinkled the ivories a bit in pre-op and then the journey to the happy place started with some Versed. The team just rolled him away.

 

Well, I’m not sure how he did it, but Rudy managed to fall asleep last night after getting “plugged in” from every direction!!  We arrived at the Sleep Lab at CHLA for our 9pm admit and although he put up a bit of a fight when the tech was adhering all the probes, he drifted off to sleep a little after 10pm.  I drifted in and out of sleep and got up to suction Rudy twice during the night.  By 5:30am, the study was done and we were released at 6am.  Unfortunately, the tech couldn’t tell me how he did – we have to wait for the doctor to give us the results so hopefully we’ll hear from Dr Pornchai T. or Dr. Nina soon.  Nonetheless, step two of the process is over and we will await further instructions on what to do next.   In the meantime we have a full week ahead of a variety of commitments and activities AND Wilson & Max are home sick.  (Good grief!)  ‘Praying now for health in the Geyling household. 

Our poor boy is not enjoying this visit to the PICU.  He came out of anesthesia okay at first but he was pretty upset and battled a high heart rate and low sats most of the afternoon.  Even a visit from Dr. Rick and RT Oscar didn’t cheer him up but Dr. Marie just ordered the “good stuff” so we should have a sleeping boy pretty soon…if so, I’ll run out real quick and get a bite to eat and then, hopefully, we’ll both settle down for some good rest tonight. 

Dr. Shapiro was successful in removing the scar tissue and as a result of Rudy’s clear airway and smaller trach size, he is more vocal… making his crankiness known to all on our side of the unit, I think.  Well, okay, maybe he isn’t THAT loud but he is definitely making his feelings known.  As Rolf mentioned, we were surprised but pleased by Rudy’s step down in trach size today.  Dr. Shapiro is prescribing a trach plug with which we’ll practice at home before his sleep study where he will need to go all night with his trach plugged.  As we did with the speaking valve, we’ll let Rudy get used to the plug slowly and put it on only as he tolerates at first.  Eventually, we’ll get to the point where he’ll be ready to have the trach pulled altogether. Dr. Shapiro will want us to come back to UCLA for the actual decannulation for a day or two until the stoma closes and he is clearly breathing comfortably.  Again, this may be months down the road but it’s helpful to have a clearer understanding of the process. 

For now, we just pray for a speedy recovery from today’s procedure and a deep sleep for our little warrior tonight…he was a trooper today.  Thank you for your prayers.  Sleep well…

Rudy is done…he remained quite patient the whole 4 hours in recovery but finally had enough during a pre-discharge echo and the removal of 8 of those sticky sensor thingys they put on his chest. We’re in the car now and settling into a long car ride home through LA traffic. I guess Rolf and I are pretty spent too…looking forward to sleeping. We’ll post more about the cath results soon!! Thank you all for your prayers leading up to today!!!! Love and appreciate you…

Questions, quandries and worries are in good supply but for now we’re just glad to be here while our champ returns to form. Crazy about this kid!

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