Jason's Story

I will likely not get the whole of Jason's saga told in one post, but I thought I'd begin...

March 28 was surgery day. We had to be at the hospital at 9 AM so we didn't have to get up in the dark=) John had gotten up in the dark, though, to feed Jason at the last possible moment before no more food was allowed. As we left for the hospital Jason was happy and unaware of the agenda. We took Joshua with us that morning because he'd hurt his foot two days before, and we decided it needed an x-ray. While I sat and waited for the doctors (the ENT doing the ear tubes and the plastic surgeon doing the palate repair) John took Joshua to the emergency room to check out his foot. The ENT doc came very shortly and said that Jason's tube placement went well, but that he drained a whole lot of fluid from his ears first. He (rightly) predicted that Jason's hearing would be markedly better.

The night before surgery I had packed a cooler bag of food for surgery day. We left it at home=( I was quite hungry by the time John and Joshua were finishing in the ER. We decided to meet in the cafeteria and eat lunch. The hospital provided a beeper and the waiting room volunteer had our cell phone numbers. Thus, we were assured that if Jason came out of surgery before we got back that we'd be easily reached. On the way back to the waiting room John met a person (hospital volunteer?) who sort of remembered us. She asked him his name, and upon learning it, informed him that Jason was done and they'd been trying to reach us. The beeper never went off, and my phone was unheard in the noisy cafeteria. John's phone was never attempted. I was a mama on a mission at that point. I practically dragged John and Joshua to recovery, putting in possible peril any who compromised the mission. Sure enough, Jason had just been medicated further because he was nearly hysterical. As soon as I took him his panic driven vitals found normal range. Mom is better than drugs=) Also, we missed the doctor. He later called and talked to John by phone. Palate repair went well, he said, a textbook surgery. Wahoo!

(Oh, and double wahoo! Joshua's foot/ankle were fine!)

Our recovery nurse was fabulous! Joanie was her name. Her accent was Bostonian. She was not a "by the book" nurse. I was so grateful for that. She took Jason's arm restraints off to settle him down and refused to put them back on to satisfy the floor nurse, even risking being "written up." She allowed Joshua to be with us though he wasn't old enough. I was very, very glad we had Joanie as our post-op nurse.

After waiting a long time for a bed to open up on the floor, we made the trek to Jason's new quarters (or halves as it turned out) Oddly and amusingly enough, he loved the ride to his room. When we walked into his room, I wanted (and nearly did) cry. It was shared and very, very tiny. I knew that I had to use my breast pump multiple times before Jason's release. Being very picky about my privacy while doing so, I was immediately worried about how to accomplish that without deserting my child for some hidey hole. Also, the room was dingy, dirty and in dire need of modernizing. The nurse seemed not much better. She was "by the book" and not overly cheerful.

I sent a text to my Indiana children about the dismal conditions and my desire to bolt. John sent one back reminding me that it wouldn't have to be long endured. I think I just fixated on that and recovered sensibility pretty quickly.

However, over the long night that followed I rode an emotional roller coaster. Jason ended up with a four month old roommate who had serious respiratory problems as well as a grave congenital heart condition. He was also malnourished and dehydrated. His name was Cameron. In the exceedingly small room there were no secrets. We learned by default that Cameron had been seen in the doctor's office when his paternal grandmother took him for an appointment for which his parents could not be located. Both grandmothers accompanied him to the hospital. I learned much more as the night progressed, but the summarizing word for his parents was "deadbeat." I overheard many, many phone conversations of the grandmother who spent the night with him. Much of the content was derogatory toward her son, Cameron's father. She told her daughter about being very afraid that Cameron's parents would show up and be violent. She and the other grandma made plans to immediately file a report with Child Protective Services, implicating the parents in negligent behavior. I discovered, also by hearing what I could not escape, that the police were called. By that time it was quite late, and I was tired from a very short night's sleep the night before. However, I was in full swing mentally, feeling the need to protect my little guy from any harm that might enter the tiny room. We were "bed 2," meaning that we were trapped between the window and Cameron's half of the room with possibly no safe access to the door. I agonized over how I could escape with Jason if violence erupted.

Cameron's parents did show up at the hospital, and well after midnight were allowed to see their son with a police escort. I listened to all the conversations between the police and the grandma as they made that decision. I listened to her official questioning. All the while, I wondered also about privacy issues. Should I really have heard all that I did? Legally? I did make a judgment about the parents while I observed their visit with my ears. The excuses about neglected medical attention, lack of nourishment and the like were obvious but feeble attempts at exoneration.

It was well after 2 AM that things finally quieted on the other side of the curtain. Both babies were up at 4 when the nurses came in to do their thing. Thankfully, during all that "stuff" Jason did very well. He ate better than most cleft palate repair patients. That was our ticket home where I so wanted to be! Later that morning Jason was discharged, and we took him home which felt so much safer. Cameron captured not only my attention but a piece of my heart. At one point during the night, Joshua suggested that I adopt Cameron. I made up my mind to pray for him, though I wished I could do both.

I will leave off there, I believe. Don't hold your breath, but I hope to tell part two another time.