Friday, January 9, 2009

Medical update - Reuben & Callum

Reuben's surgeries were postponed yesterday due to him getting over a bout of trachyitus which manifests itself as a terrible cough with throw ups but other than that, he's in good spirits.

School started Wednesday and was a joy (will write more). We spent a futile day in hospital on Tuesday having a pre-op, only to have Reuben not pass and we felt bad pushing forward towards the surgeries when of course he's still recovering from the infection which he's had over Christmas.

We've bundled multiple surgeries together to minimise his exposure to anaesthesia.
- 2nd stage cryptorchidism, descension of testes. The 3rd surgery will be scheduled in the summer
- direct laryngoscopy, bronchoscopy (L&B) and trach tube size change from neo to paediatric size. The L&B will hopefully assess if there's movement of the vocal chords which would mean Reuben is able to vocalise. Sadly at present when wearing the PMV speech valve, when crying or laughing or during speech therapy there is no voice. It's very worrying f course. I wonder whether the 3 months of intubation really, granulomas and throat surgeries really did wipe out his voice for good. Remember we were trying to get this L&B in in July during the 1st stage cryptorchidism but we were bumped and the 1st surgery was 11hrs late so we didn't get a chance.
- ear exam and replacement of the ear tubes
- removal of granuloma in ear

and on 4th February a repeat ear exam. Reuben is happy to wear his hearing aid and when the softband slips down onto his face, he pushes it back up into place. The only problem is perhaps the amplification. When we talk too loudly, it causes him pain so after the test, we'll hopefully come to the conclusion that the setting's too loud and we can take it down a notch.

Re Callum's mesenteric cysts, I haven't posted recently on this but the outcome is that he'll need either an open abdomenal surgery or laparascopic surgery through the belly button depending on when they find during the lap. It's a sad thought, my little feisty boy having this ahead of him.

1 comment:

hannah m said...

All healthy, loving prayers your way - impending hospital time is hard for us mamas. Our kids are the ones who seem to have so much resilience! Keep us updated.