Can you say CRAZY...

The last week has been INSANE for me!

Monday my mother went into surgery for her third Knee replacement. Yea, I said third. The one she had done on her second leg in February did not take and they had to replace it. So I stayed in the hospital with her for 3 days because she gets anxiety really bad when she's immobile like that and left alone. Then I come home Wedensday and run Austin to his check up appt. at the doctors and discover they need to rush him back into surgery. Thursday he wakes up really sick with fever and migraines, but no other symptoms. The surgery is scheduled for Friday, and everything seems like it's going well...

The surgeon comes out and tells us everything went as planned and no problem. He leaves. We sit back down in the waiting room for Post Op to call us when he wakes up and we can see him. All of a sudden, the Anesthesia Dr. runs in and waves us over. She tells us to follow her and proceeds to talk as she walks us FAST through the surgical room and into the recovery room where we see several people working on Austin. She explains that when she pulled out his breathing tube after the surgery, that there was some mucous attached and he's having a hard time breathing. She tells us he's having an asthma attack but that hes getting Albuterol treatments and will be fine. So Dh and I are standing there watching 3 nurses working on Austin. A respiratory therapist is there too. Alarms are beeping everywhere and theres cords all over him. WTH is going on? My mind can't quiet wrap around the scene. His surgeon just told us everything was fine. So what in the world is happening? I hear the nurses talking. His Heart Rate is sky high, at 160 beats, his O2 levels are down in the 70's, his blood pressure is very low, 90/60. I'm starting to get a sinking feeling in my stomach. This isn't good.

They try numerous things to get his breathing better, but their not working. They page the Anesthesia Dr. again and she orders a 3rd Albuterol treatment. Still no good. Now his heart rate is 180 so they give him morphine to put him to sleep so he doesn't struggle so much.

Finally, after listening to his chest for the umpteenth time, they decide they need to page the surgeon. His chest doesn't sound like Asthma. It sounds tight. Xray comes into the recovery room because he is too unstable to move. They call the surgeon right away with the results and he comes back to the hospital from home and tells Dh and I the news.

Austin's lungs are collapsed. One side is a complete collapse, the other is half collapsed. And they see infection. He's being admitted and sent to Critical Care Unit.

Can I freak out now?

Long story short, Austin had a high fever through all this up to 103.7 and he stayed in the Critical Care Unit for 3 days. His fever is gone, sores in mouth from high fever, chest hurts a lot, tummy hurts from surgery. We got to bring him home late Sunday so he could finish healing at home. They did Xrays 2x a day and Ultrasounds on his lungs. He had Percussion therapy (a machine beats his chest) every 4 hours, IV and Oral antibiotics simultaneously, plus many more meds, but they succeeded in knocking out any infection and when we brought him home, his lungs were partially inflated.

This was a "Routine" procedure he has had done a million times. Never think it's safe to assume that means nothing will happen. We almost lost our son. No parent should see their son or child in that condition.

It's all hitting me today. I'm exhausted. I went into Robot Mode to deal and cope with what was necessary. Now that he is home, and safe, I can feel my body reacting. Tonight...I finally cried.

Kiss your little ones tonight.
XOXO