Hi All my friends,
I hv missed you guys, and love to all the little but brave soldiers. I am back in Singapore after a long stay in India, which was due to Prat's operation. Finally we had to resort to Spleenectomy and I am happy I listened to the Dr Marwaha finally.
Prat's hb has been fluctuating this year again, with the use of recormoron wekly since Nov 2007, it just touched its max which was 7.9. After that day, it was again back to 5 and 6 oweing to virals' which children get rom school. So finally Dr Marwaha said Puja we cannot wait any longer and we have to go ahead with spleenectomy. He was given a transfusion mean while to get beack to 7 as his hb was around 5 and finally we were awaiitng the dd day, which was supposed to be July 22.
Liver function test and Kidney function test were normal. The Bone density test was also done.
Another transfusion was required cos it is not advisable to operate with a hb of 7, so they tranfuse him before the operation and hb was bought to 9.
July 22, was the d day allocated for Prat' operation. He was hospitalized on July 21 and he was totally ready for it. His grand ma had returned from Singapore only one day before for the operation, and he was very casually told that it is going to be a small operation. I told him it is something simple like I went to the hospital and was operated and your little sister came..something like that. I dont know how much he understood but he was really brave. He was operated by Dr Prema Menon who is in Dr Rao's team(one of the top surgeons of India). Prat was quite brave and he was happy, in fact he walked to the operation theatre..when other kids were bing carried and drugged before reeling in. Overall it was a breeze till then.
However we all were a little taken by surprise that it was not at all a small operation, it was quite a major surgery. I saw his spleen it is quite an organ..I have actually never held any such thing even in a science lesson in school..so it was quite an experience. BAsically they say 2 to 3 cm enlarged ..well the thing is th eorignal size is quite big so when they say enlarged then it is about 10 cms. Here my one misconception got cleared...I was told a few years back that spleenectomy can be done by laproscopy, but when i insisted that in Prat's case also Laproscopy should be pursued, Dr Marwaha said No. Now I know why, cos the organ spleen is not a small organ to be taken ou by laproscopy imagine taking something as big as 10 cm out of ur body by a small hole..it is just not possible.
Also the other method is when they tie the nerve's put some gel and leave it in the body (pardon the layman explaination this is what I understood from the discussions with the doctors)and cut the blood supply going to spleen but leave the spleen in the body is also very painful to the kids. Kids complain pain after this process. So only one optio is feasible and without too many sideeffects and that is open surgery.
Anyways Prat was brought out and was in too much of pain, post surgery. It was an 8cm long incision and he had a pipe in his nose which was making him all the more uncomfortable and though he does not cry much and is a brave kid, he was begging to take that pipe out from his nose, which is put in case he vomits the vomit should not go in lungs as stomach is very close to spleen, this is a common thing. It was a very difficult site for all of us.. I cannot describe it here, but I guess you can envisage by the sheer fact that my Father Prat's grandfather who is an ex Army peronnel and has been to 2 wars could not control his tears. It was one of the most difficult of my life. Thankfully I had my husband standing besides me and holding my hand.
The same night he got another transfusion and the donor's blood was so thick that the transfuision could not be completed. In the end we had to stop the transfusion half way, cos blood was not going thru. A very funny thing happened, his hb was tested and take a guess ho much was his hb... it was 13. It was a first time ever for Prat. We all thought to ourselves, well we expect the spleenectomy to work.. but does it work this fast and that too miracles. Anyways hb test was wrong, and the next day it was around 10.5.
The next two nights were difficult but Prat was happy cos he was being pampered, as I had our business colleagues flying in to see him, his class sent a bag full of cards and he was like a little hero. Grand parents doting over him and no school.
He was on drip the whole time and it became very difficult to eat infront of him..but we had to do so cos his father and I were staying with him in the same room. One day we were eating he said " "Mama when I become alright I also want to eat with you and Papa". He was on antibiotics which was all being given intravenous. His Hydrooxyurea was stopped for the time being. He had started sitting and going to bathroom slowly. Prat and I was playing chess continously to keep ourselves entertained..there were times when the nursing staff also joined in.
He was slowly gaining strength and 4th day the drip was taken off from the drip and he was walking outside his room. Doctors had said if things are uneventful, he can be discharged. He was finally discharged but was advised bed rest for 15 days. He joined school after 20 days rest. Picking up heavy things and exerting too much.
He has been well since and is back to his normal routine of beiong naughty. We did a blood test for him yesterday and it was 9.6 again a first time ever. He had resumed hydrooxyurea as well. Recoromoron has been permanently stopped.
Hopefully if he can sustain this hb. Lets see. Too soon to say.