Next time you go into a McDonalds, look for the donation tins. They have them on the drive-thru too. The donations go to Wessex Heartbeat which is a charity that run a house opposite Southampton hospital. This house was to be our haven for the next month after arriving on the ward.
Georgia was moved to the Nursery to be watched more closely for her 'episodes'. As there are 4 cots in the nursery, all quite close together there really is no room for parents to sleep at the bedside. I think it is also in case of any emergencies the staff can get to the beds quickly and easily. We were told that I could stay on the ward but it seemed silly if I couldn't stay next to her so we stayed in a hotel for the first couple of nights, returning the next morning as soon as we could.
The second day of being on the Ocean Ward was the first time I had ever heard of a Cardiac Catheter. The respiratory team had been up to see Georgia and decided that the best thing to do to get to the root of her problem with breathing was to carry out a bronchoscopy, this involved putting her under general anesthetic then inserting a small camera down her throat to enable them to what was going on. While she was there the cardiac team thought this was an ideal moment to do a cardiac catheter, this means they would pass a tube into the top of Georgia's thighs, near the groin, then feed it into one of the main arteries leading to the heart, it would then be fed right up the body to the left and right sides to give a more detailed view of the heart via x-ray. One of the doctors told me it was like giving them a road map of her problems.
This was all fine but we were then told that they were worried that Georgia's breathing episodes may have put more strain on her so they may take her straight down for surgery following this procedure. Well that was definitely not what I expected to hear! I didn't think they would do her surgery until the breathing problem had been solved so I was terrified.
Being in a big hospital like that you would think you would have lots of things to do with your time, nope. Rob and I needed to find somewhere to stay that evening so asked the ward sister about Heartbeat House. We were referred over there just as Georgia was to be taken down for her procedures so we put it off until she was under anesthetic.
2 Hospital porters turned up with a gurney, this made me laugh, how would Georgi stay on a gurney??? Then I realised they wanted me to get on it with her! We travelled in style to the Cardiac Cath waiting room. To this day I could still not tell you where that is, it is all such a blur. I was so nervous holding her as we waited for them to prep the room. Our little baby being so oblivious to what was about to happen.
Once we were taken into the theatre and I had to hand her over to the doctor, I could feel my pulse racing, this was not how it was supposed to happen, we were supposed to be able to control when and what happened to our daughter, but there she was surrounded by all these unfamiliar people, I began to panic. As they put the mask over her face to put her under I just wanted to run away, I actually remember turning to Rob and saying 'I don't want to be here anymore'. The doctor turned to me and said 'say goodbye now, she is going to sleep, do you want to give her a kiss?' I just couldn't, watching her slowly losing consciousness was enough for me.
We walked in a daze towards the lift to go and get our room at Heartbeat House, I couldn't stop crying, I felt like I would never see her smiley little face again.
It's strange that the main thing I remember about that moment was another couple getting in the lift and the woman was crying as well as me, we locked eyes and gave each other watery smiles. When we got out on the ground floor, in true Rob style, he said it was the most emotional lift he has ever been in. Idiot.
The whole way through this awful experience we had a lovely nurse from the Ocean Ward with us, she was the voice of reason and kept me calm, most of the time! Thinking back, she had probably done that journey with thousands of parents and children over the years but still remains the support for us all.
Heartbeat House was amazing, it is lots of rooms with a communal kitchen, garden and bathrooms. The lovely ladies running it showed us to our room and we fell asleep from pure exhaustion whilst talking about Georgia and Josh.
A few hours later the Ward called us to say Georgia was on her way back up to them, the Cardiac team had decided it was not necessary for the surgery to be done today. Relief? No not at all. This means we would have to do this again.
On getting back to the ward she had just arrived all croaky and sore. She grizzled at us for an hour or so until Rob got her laughing again! The respiratory team came first lead by Dr Roberts, who we will be seeing for a very long time, to tell us they had diagnosed her with Bronchomalacia. It means that the cartilage in the walls of the bronchial tubes are weak and prone to collapse. Therefore when Georgia was crying her airways were closing. Finally we know why, its been so long that I thought it was just what would happen for the rest of her life! We found out that the cartilage usually gets tougher itself in time. The bad side of this was that it would put a lot of pressure on her after her heart surgery, especially when she would be taken off the ventilator. The ventilator in essence breathes for her so when you take that away she is more likely to have a collapse.
This was the Tuesday, surgery was booked for the Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment