Matt Man

I haven't had to post personal messages for quite some time. I've tried to keep the medical information to a minimum.


Yesterday (Wednesday) we brought Matt in for an elective surgery to help with his drooling. The surgery went well! He was in recovery for a little while longer than expected, but that was partially because he didn't wake up fast from the little anesthesia he had.

Once he got to his room, he was alert and responsive. He was in some pain, but doing OK overall. He was having a tough time coughing and needed some suctioning. It was no big deal for a while, but his O2 sats (oxygen saturation levels) were going down. As the afternoon and evening wore on, the sats got worse and he was having to be suctioned more and more. His pain level was fine and all the rest of his vital signs were fine.

Eventually his nurse called for respiratory therapy to help with suctioning and his airway. They put him on a bi-pap machine to force air into his lungs. Unfortunately his O2 sats weren't as high as they would have liked. That meant he needed to go to ICU.

The trip from his room to the ICU was mildly eventful as he started to become less responsive. By the end of the elevator ride, his nurse, the respiratory therapist and the nursing assistant who were bringing him down, were "running."

A little aside - We've all seen and "ER" type show and how they run with a critical patient. Let me say that reality is a little different. You can't run with a hospital bed, a bi-pap machine and an IV pole. You can move more quickly and work hard to get him stable and they did. They handed him off to the ICU staff who got him settled. This was the "please step out in the hall" moment of the evening.

We now return to our story - Once in his new bed, I was allowed back in and they took some blood to get his oxygen level. I could see the dark color of his blood which is supposed to be bright red and I could see the looks on the faces of the staff. The levels came back way too low and they decided to intubate him which means put a tube down his throat so they can hook up a machine to help him breathe.

There were no less than 8-10 people in his room working quickly to get that done for him. I sat in the corner and watched my own version of "ER" played out on my son. I'm thankful to God, that I understood enough of what's going on so that I wasn't being freaked out. I was definitely concerned, but OK enough to watch this happen.

The part that bothered me is what Tim had said the day before Matt's surgery. It went something like, "I hope Matt's surgery goes OK, cause I would rather have him drooling than dead." When your 9 year old has a premonition-like comment, it weighs heavily on you. You wonder if you made the right decision to help your child by putting him through this.

He became more stable throughout the evening and night. I eventually left his room to get a little sleep. He's not out of the woods yet (Thursday morning) as he spiked a temperature overnight. His breathing and O2 levels are a lot better, but he's got the temperature and some crud in his lungs.

So we are back to the wait-and-see or should I say pray-and-see stage. The thing I didn't mention above is how I waited so long before I started praying. We have access to the creator of the universe and yet so often I forget to ask for his help. After the craziness, I opened the bible on my iPod and it was at the verse in James that says "is any of you in trouble? He should pray." Yep that's us, we're in trouble and we're praying now.