I opened my facebook this morning to see an update from my neice saying that her brother is having his appendix out at noon and then a short time later my sister sent an email to let us know the same. She wants to be at the hospital with him but her car is giving her grief (and the hospital is 60 miles or so from where she is living now). If at sometime during your day you think about it, would you please be praying for them?
Update Oh my Lord have mercy !!! Brandon (my nephew) was diagnosed on Wednesday with appencitis and taken into the OR at noon to have it removed. My sister and her daughter went to visit him yesterday and couldn't understand why he was in excrutiating pain. Come to find out the surgeon couldn't find his appendix so he didn't take it out !!!!! I guess gone are the days when you make a larger incision to find what you went in for in the first place and correct the problem. So much for exploratory surgery (if needed) that you sign when you consent to surgery. They transferred him to the regional hospital this morning to do a CT scan (to locate the appendix) and then were supposed to go in and remove it but it ruptured!! This is a VERY serious medical/surgical emergency. PLEASE be praying for Brandon and for his family. They're beside themselves.
The newest surgeon was going to wait and see if antibiotics cleared it up (so I'm told - Lord have mercy !!) but they've since decided to take him into the OR to get it out. I expect at this point they're waiting for an OR to become available. I'll update as i can.
He went into the OR about an hour ago (not long after I sent the last update). Oh Heavenly Father, I pray he finally recovers and gets better.
It is and they're on it. This poor kid has been through so much in his 17 years to have to be failed by the medical system as well.
This is a message my sister sent to us on Facebook a short time ago (these are her words not mine, a directo quote from her): He's out of surgery and recovering, looks like a long haul for him - he now has two surgical sites to heal (one smaller one, the other one going diagnally down his belly).
My sister sent me a message this morning and told me she called Brandon's foster mom and asked if she would bring his inhalers to the hospital because they weren't giving them to him. The foster mom proceeded to tell her that he isn't allowed to have visitors because he isn't co-operative when others are around and that he now has double lung pneumonia. My sister called the hospital to find out that what she was told from the foster mom is all lies (he is allowed visitors and doesn't have pneumonia). She was on her way to the hospital to speak to the doctor to get a more accurate picture of his overall progress. What a tangled mess this is. The hope today is that Brandon shows signs of bowel sounds and is able to expel flatus so that they can remove the nasogastric tube. Such a heart breaking journey for him. No idea when the staples will come out - probably not for a couple more days but it's not going to be a great experience for him when they do.
He doesn't have pneumonia YET but there is fluid building up and if he doesn't cough, it's going to develop into pneumonia so that is a focus for today - to get him to cough (with 31 staples from his chest to lower abdomen and another 12 in his lower right quadrant, no wonder he doesn't want to cough).
Only update I have (so far) today is Brandon's lungs are clear so no pneumonia He slept A LOT yesterday however I learned last night they have him on Dilaudid for pain control He's asking if they'll reduce it to something that isn't so powerful - smart young man he is!! I'll update later when I know more..........
One step forward, two steps back. Brandon was recovering nicely, still not expelling flatus but they allowed him a clear diet starting today. He hasn't kept any of it down and my sister worries they're going to have to put the naso-gastric tube back in. Brandon is and has been in foster care for some time and the social worker who oversees his care decided today that my sister can no longer visit him (saying that she's getting in the way of his recovery when nurses and the surgeon say otherwise). She's trying to get a hold of a social worker in BC (where this nightmare began) to get a copy of the access order so that she can visit with him. Please pray for God to continue to intervene in this. Restricting my sister from seeing her son will do more harm for his recovery than it will good but there's a bit of a power trip happening. If they had his best interest at heart, they would leave everything as is. Oh God make a way
So the SOCIAL WORKER says she's in the way, but the doctors/nurses are fine with her there...? Hmmm.... I wonder if the social worker feels this whole snafu will reflect poorly on her department....
Another case of wasted tax payers money... they send a PSW (personal support worker) in to sit with Brandon over night (I can't imagine why he needs one for all he would do at night time) and when she went in last night, Brandon started getting whiny and giving her a hard time. SHE's the one going back to the social worker saying my sister is hindering his recovery. Restricting her from seeing Brandon is going to do him more harm than good. He wakes up every morning asking for his mom and they've put up a brick wall to stop her from going to him. Heart breaking. I'm praying my sister can get a hold of the access order and stick it in this social workers face (and thanking God I'm not closer than I am)
