4 Days...

Only 4 more days.....

Marlon the pediatric resident was in early and wrote another letter for Ashley for work.

The pediatric team was also in. Ben's skin looks much better so they felt it would be best to lower the dosage of the hydrocortisone. They have lowered it to a 0.5% concentration.

The Eucerine cream is helping is poor dry skin and will continue to be used at least twice a day.

Dr Suzedec liked my sign on the door and felt it was very appropriate given Ben's upcoming surgery.

I signed a consent for Ben to be a 'teacher' to the second year medical students. It was very rewarding to be honest. Ben and I were assigned two students and they were given the opportunity to interview us and practice there assessment skills. The doctor following the students was great and brought all the students that came to the unit in and showed them how to do a physical examination on a child who has Pierre Robin. At the end Ben received a certificate from Dalhousie University and the IWK for his fabulous teaching skills. Not bad only a little over a month old and already a certificate from a university!

Anesthesia came in at the end of the day to talk over what will go on for Ben on Monday and did his preop anesthetic assessment. Ben tolerated side lying and sitting up better than he had thought he would so that was reassuring. The doctor explained the arsenal of options he has in his medical bag to keep Ben breathing, including one that involves a special fiberoptic camera and a guide wire. He did prepare us that due to the difficult airway he may need a tracheotomy. He did stress it would be temporary and heal over very quickly. He does not plan on that happening but it is an option on the table. He also discussed all the possible side effects of the anesthetic including adverse reactions and rarely death. Having the death conversation about your child is NEVER where you want to go. No matter how unlikely it is not something you want to think about. It is very hard not to go to a dark place after hearing that. He did say we don't "plan" on that happening. I was thinking "How nice of you to not plan on killing my son!" but decided to keep my big mouth shut.

Dr. Hong stopped by and reassured me that the tracheotomy is the last plan of action and he is confident Ben will tolerate the procedure well. He and Dr Belowzy will be by again tomorrow around noon to go over all the surgical specifics and get our informed consent for our big day on Monday.

Luckily enough Ashley and Harrison are finally over their colds and were able to come back to see me this evening. We did go out for a bit and took Harrison to McDonald's. I enjoyed it so much. Unfortunately Ben managed to get his NG tube out....again! I felt so bad for Ben and I guess leaving wasn't really the best decision I could have made...even if I did need to get out for that short time.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be too overwhelming with our meeting with the surgeons. I am not going to hold my breath on that one though...

T-4 days....