Left CI Surgery

Today Malachi had his first CI surgery.

We were told that we needed to check in at 6 am. This meant Brandon spent the night at Oma and Opa’s house. We woke up at 3 am to leave the house at 3:30. There was virtually zero traffic (duh!) and we even made it there 15 minutes early. After about 30 minutes after checking in I noticed that nearly 6 people that had checked in after us were taken back. Turns out that the scheduling nurse told me the wrong time to check in. We didn’t need to check in until 7:10. So we spent about an hour twenty minutes in the check in room for the OR.

Malachi has some congestion and a little cough so they checked his ears and lungs to make sure he didn’t have an ear infection or wheezing. He passed, so we started with the pre-op.

They put him in a little gown (he looked soo cute). They let him play with some toys on the gurney. First they gave him some Versed, it’s like valium for babies. Malachi got super loopy and couldn’t sit up. Once it was in full effect and we had talked to all the nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgeons we gave hugs and kisses and watched as they rolled our little boy to the operating room.

When we checked in they gave us Malachi’s patient number. In the OR waiting room there was a big screen with the patients’ numbers color coded describing where the patient was. For example “Patient Operation in Progress” would show next to Malachi’s number and was colored orange. It was very comforting to watch his progress through the steps of operation. After about and hour and 45 minutes his nurse called down to the waiting room and told us they were putting in the implant. About 35 minutes later the surgeon came out to us and told us everything went perfectly and as planned.

We were brought back to Malachi about 20 minutes after seeing the surgeon. He was inhaling apple juice with the nurse holding him. I got to hold him immediately. He was REALLY out of it. Malachi had pulled out his IV right after coming out of general anesthesia so they had to put another one (in his foot). He was very bothered by the IV. So much so he wasn’t really bothered by the large bandage/covering on his head and ear. They had given him morphine for pain and it made him sick to his stomach. He threw up everywhere (including on me!). It was a little nerve racking because part of what he threw up was old clotted blood. This is normal though because your ear/nose/throat are all connected and it’s normal for that to drain after surgery.

He was pretty cranky and would drift in and out of sleep. After about 2 hours Malachi was stable and he hadn’t thrown up again so we got his prescription and checked out. Malachi was still pretty out of it at this point. Driving out of Charleston (down town) the roads are pretty bumpy. Every time we went over a bump Malachi would cry. Then he just threw up. Everywhere, again. The throw up looked the same at the first time and I was a little nervous that something else was wrong. They told us it was okay if he threw up a few more times so we cleaned up and went on our way. Malachi slept most of the way home. Brian had to be careful to not hit pot holes or large bumps because Malachi would cry. 

Malachi hasn't fussed over the bandage that much. It annoys him, but hopefully he can deal with it for a little while longer. The doctors said that he needed to leave it on for 24 hours minimum. I'm going to push it for as long as I can. 

So far Malachi seems to be returning to normal pretty quickly. From what I understand he should be feeling like his old self tomorrow.