The Procedure: Part 3

I had been told the procedure would take about 30 minutes, so as we approached the 40 minute mark I began to get nervous. Our GI walked in, pictures in hand, and eased my apprehension with a "She's fine; she did great." She was in recovery.

He went over the pictures with me and discussed where he took the biopsies from. It would be at least one week before some of the specialty tests would be back with results. I found it truly amazing that with a scope they can examine a person's digestive system from mouth to rear.

The preliminary results showed no scarring or inflammation in the esophagus Everything on the top half, including stomach folds looked normal. THIS was fantastic news! From the other end there were no signs of anything concerning, and confirmation of the FPIES diagnoses. The lymph-nodes in her intestines were swollen and inflamed, showing signs of Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia. Before you are overly impressed with my ability to restate this diagnosis, I must explain. The only reason I recognized it was because I had just read about it in the first pages of my GAPS book. The GI continued to explain that there was nothing that could be done, it was confirmation of her diagnosis.

The nurses would come get me to see Elianna. OH NO they wouldn't....I said that I was told after he was done I could go see her, and so he walked me back to her room to double check. He wanted to make sure and follow procedure. I walked into her room and there she lay under close observation from the recovery nurse. She was not even stirring yet. Before going into the procedure I had been told that it would take 10-15 minutes on average before she would wake up. The explanation was that propophyl was administered throughout the procedure and that the anesthesiologist would stay there providing a steady dose throughout. Once the procedure was over, the dosing would stop and Ellie would begin to wake. When I initially entered her room I was not concerned because I thought she had only been there a few minutes.

I walked over to her bed and the nurse said something about her needing to be on oxygen due to her respiratory issues. I stroked her hair and touched her cheek but she didn't stir. The nurse began to question me about what I would be feeding her when she woke. And then it got quiet and we waited. I sat down. The nurse walked back and forth and flipped through her chart, and I began to find that a bit odd. The other toddler had come in for recovery before we went in, and they only checked on her periodically. Our nurse never left the room, and checked her monitors frequently. I began to get a little concerned. What were they not telling me?

Thirty minutes went by, and the nurse adjusted more things. I asked her how long I should expect it to take before she woke, and she said that it depended on how early she got up and if we interrupted nap time and it could sometimes take an hour....I tried not to worry. And then suddenly she walked over and shook her.

That startled me and I was certain it was not the way things were supposed to go. Elianna began to cry and sit up. "Pick her up," the nurse commanded. Elianna cried. "OK, there we go, that is better." The nurse said. "She needed to clear her lungs and now her oxygen levels are better."

WHAT?!

She instructed me to make a bottle and feed her and that as soon as she had eaten we could go. She explained that her oxygen levels had been low. She had to increase the oxygen even more and that there had appeared to be some restriction which was why she was not waking...or something like that. It is all a blur. I felt like I had whiplash.

I fed Elianna a very diluted bottle of broth, of which she ate about 1 ounce. And we were free to go. With her head flopping I gathered up our stuff and headed for the elevator with final instructions to watch her head and neck because she was still a bit groggy. Once in the car she fell back to sleep, and we headed home. And I was exhausted. But she was fine. Thank you Jesus!

The Procedure: Part 2... of 3

As the nurses began to clean up I could sense I was not the only one stressed from the events, and made comment of how we all needed margaritas. They agreed. And off we rolled.

As we came out of the room we passed our GI who was consulting with the recovery nurse. "NO food," I could hear him saying..."NO..no juice. None of the usual. She will be fine." That was reassuring. She had already come into my room and left a cart of orange juice and apple juice and asked it if it was OK to leave or if it would tempt Elianna. I was worried they would feed her before I was able to get back to her room after recovery.

Our GI turned and saw us riding buy and concern crossed his face. I usually show up in his office with poop portfolio in hand and ready to talk facts. I was transparent with my concern and frustration that morning. He quickly followed us into the procedure room and asked me how she was doing, what was new, what is this new broth diet he knows nothing about and how it is it going. In the middle of this I met the anesthesiologist.

"I understand you have some concerns," she began. "But I discussed them with Dr. B and he said it was a reaction that required ingestion and that he did not believe putting the medication right into her blood would cause problems. However we are very prepared if there should be."

I just stared. She continued. And it all went very fast.

"We are going to begin giving her the propophyl and she is going to start going limp. The MINUTE you feel her go limp you MUST turn around and put her down on the gurney PROMPTLY so that we can IMMEDIATELY put the oxygen mask on her."

WHAT THE HECK? How did I sign up for this? And who is this quack job anesthesiologist??

She went limp almost instantly and I scrambled to get up off of the gurney and lay her down.
"And there she goes," she said. And Elianna screamed, rolled and tried to sit up. I started to cry again. And out she went. "We always win in the end...hahahaha," the anesthesiologist continued. I just stood there.

Our GI sat next to her on the bed and said "She will be OK." He handed me 'Bear', and I said "I guess I leave now?" He turned and said something along the lines of "Hey someone show her to the waiting room!" and out I went to wait.

The nurse that showed me to the waiting room informed me that as soon as the GI was done speaking with me I could go back into Elianna's room for her recovery. And I waited. And I updated on facebook to keep myself distracted.