Hiccups!

A lot has happened over the past few days, so I will try to sum up the events as neatly as possible. Perhaps the best way will be to give a day by day account of what has transpired. At last note, Zem was due to get looked at again because he was leaking Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) from his nose. This is not a good thing. The leak had not seemed to get better but rather to get worse...

Wednesday:
We were told that Zem's second surgery was booked for 6pm. It would be only to explore his right ear to see if the 'plug' of muscle was leaking. The leak was getting worse as time went by. Zem woke up from his sleeps with large wet patches in his bedding. We fed Zemmy up that morning and then he fasted from lunchtime until evening. However the surgery was postponed. Apparently it was an unusually busy week and there were many emergencies that needed surgery. Eventually, we were told to give Zem food again. We were moved from the 23hr ward (which had been cleared of people twice since we had been there) into a room of our own. Sharlene rented a room in the hospital in order to get some decent sleep and I stayed with Zem. The only real hiccup in all of this was that Zem's IV was taken out that afternoon (expecting to be put back in during surgery) but because the surgery never happened, it had to be put in again. One fellow tried at 9pm to put it in...and after two tries, couldn't find a vein. Another lady tried at 1am...but after a couple of tries, couldn't find a vein. Finally another fellow tried at 4am and got it on his second try. So poor Zem must have been feeling like a pin cushion. The IV went into his foot, so he was not allowed to stand anymore because standing might cause irritation to the vein.

This is Zemiel shortly after the bandage was taken off on Tuesday.




This is Zemiel on Wednesday - his lungs had collapsed a bit during Monday's operation and he still required extra oxygen.


Thursday:
Sharlene had a good night sleep. Zem woke up well too...which is fortunate considering his not-so-nice evening. He was back to his cheerful, bubbly self for most of the day. The evening, however, was full of hiccups. Again, we were promised that Zem would go in for surgery at 6pm. We fed Zem a big breakfast and an early lunch and he fasted from midday onwards. About 4pm we were told that the surgery was postponed until 9pm. At 9pm we were told that the surgery was postponed until midnight. Apparently, an orthopedics operation attempted to take our midnight spot too - but our surgeon (Cathy) was on the phone advocating for ours to be done. She must have won, because at midnight Zem went in for his second surgery to see why CSF was leaking from his nose. Beforehand, we gave permission for a lumber drain to be used only if necessary. The surgery went until 3:30am and the plug was re-sealed, but not without difficulty as the CSF continued to gush out. The pressure of the fluid behind the plug was too much for it to have a good chance of healing properly, so she decided to put in a lumber drain to reduce the pressure of the CSF on the plug while it was healing. We left recovery about 4am and went back to the ward. I rented the same room as Sharlene did the night before so I could grab a few hours shut eye. Sharlene and Zem were moved from the surgical ward up to the neurosurgical ward. (The nurses there had more experience with lumber drains).

This is Zemiel on Thursday




Friday:
No real hiccups today - other than trying to convince Zem that lying down was fun. To keep his head and back at the same height was very difficult. It is hard to tell a 15 month old who doesn't feel sick, to not sit, kneel, or stand. Through all this, Adrian continued to visit us and Zem learned to sign 'A'. He only really signs it when Adrian is around, so Sharlene and I are happy that Zem recognizes him and signs his name. I sent Sharlene to sleep at Adrian's place so she could sleep properly. She was very tired and easily stressed out.

This is Zemiel on Friday



Sabbath
Sharlene and Adrian went to church today. They returned to the hospital about 1:30pm and brought lunch with them, which was a God-send as I was running out of nice food. Gemma came for lunch also. Zem had been better at staying down low but still rolled a lot and had twisted and knotted the IV and the lumber drain tubes several times. So far no CSF had leaked from the nose and the wound in his back was healing. I planned to drive home to get some clean clothes and check our animals. But the hiccup came around evening we noticed that something was leaking. We discovered that the small tube that drained fluid from Zem's back had pulled out from another small connection piece. The tube remained in his back but CSF was again leaking out. Various nurses and doctors scrambled around the hospital looking for a connection piece that matched the one we had already but none could be found. It seems these systems come complete and don't have replaceable parts. Sharlene and I actually felt a part of everything that happened, as it was done in Zem's cot. Shar and I remember the neurosurgery registrar saying something like: "we need a couple of those ice-cream sticks, some super glue and some really good sticky tape."

In any case, the small tube was clamped and a temporary system was jerry-rigged up to keep the flow of CSF happening - at least until Cathy could make a decision about whether to redo the lumber drain or take it out completely. During the 4 hours that the tube had been clamped, we noticed that no CSF had run from Zem's nose. This is great news because the pressure would have been building up behind the plug during that time. It means that the plug may have healed enough to withstand that pressure. I didn't go home as planned. About 10:30pm I left to go to Adrian's house to sleep.

This is Zemiel on Sabbath



This is the small tube and the connector that has caused yet another hiccup.

I can only guess at what Sunday will bring...