March 31, 2010 – Matson’s Recovery

I can’t believe 7 days have passed since Matson’s  surgery. I had intended to post something daily on his progress. BUSY is all I can say.

Matson had his surgery on the 24th. The surgery went well and the doctor was able to correct his spine from 60 degrees to 22, That was better than they had anticipated. Recovery was awful for him. He was in unimaginable pain and they could not stabilize his heart rate. Pretty scary five hours in recovery. They finally found a combination of drugs that helped with his pain. You would think such a little body would respond to any pain meds. Not the case with Matson.

On the 25th he is still in awful pain and the nasogastric tube in his nose has provided a lot of added pain, not suctioning, irritating his stomach wall and causing extreme stomach pain and bleeding. My heart aches for him.

On the 26th, my birthday, Matson was molded for his brace. He must wear a brace full time for at least 3 months post-op in order to protect and stablize his implants. It is a hard fiberglass brace. He hates it. He is still in a lot of pain and the nasogastric tube is still clogging and needs to be flushed out causing him pain.

Today is April 1st.  I haven’t had time to finish this post. My son came to take Tyler & Lily to Karate. I have some free childless time to write some more.

Back to Matson’s recovery. On March 27th that awful nasogastric tube was removed. Yeah, that tube was a nightmare for him. He is able to eat soft foods and he was able to keep jello and gaterade down. His fever is better and his heart rate is finally stabilized. That was worrisome. A normal heart rate is around 90 and his was hovering around 130 to 150 for the last couple of days. He woke up smiling and wanted balloons for his room. He also wanted to go swimming. There is a pool at the motel where he will be recovering when he is released. He won’t be going swimming for a while. He has a brace to wear for 3 months while the graphs heal.

March 28th is an even better day. He is eating on his own and wants Mac and Cheese for lunch. He got his catheter out too. Now he can go potty on his own. Well, not quit on his own. I understand from his Mom that going potty is quit an ordeal because he can’t be upright without his brace. But, all in all it is a better day for him. He got to go outside to the garden in a wheel chair. Daddy made him laugh by shaking a tree and blossoms fell on Mommy’s head. Laughter is good. Matson also told his Mom that he was going to be doctor so if she got sick he could make her all better. He said ” you will have to have a tube in your nose though.”

March 29th is one step forward and one step back. His Mommy’s words. He has to walk more so he can get out of the hospital. His Mom walks him down to the playroom for some fun. Matson has quite a bit of pain today and is very frustrated. The process to go the bathroom is time consuming. His Mom has to log roll him to one side, put the back part of his brace on, log roll back and put the front on then Velcro it together. All this while he is needing to go to the bathroom. Poor little guy. This will be his life for 3 months of having to wear the brace. My son came home today. My daughter in law’s mother goes to San Diego to be with her and Matson for the duration of his recovery. Tyler and Lily are so happy to have daddy home. They have been so good for me. Lily is just the easiest child ever. She pretty much goes with the flow and is a happy little girl of three. Tyler is more serious and misses him Mom. He is so funny and intelligent. He make me smile all the time. Tyler is 7. I taught him how to play Uno and he beats me at it all the time.

It’s getting late so I’d better close for now. March 30th Matson was discharged from the hospital. More on his recovery next time.

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