Update On Theatre And Recovery So Far . .

Harvey's mum here.. Firstly I'd like to apologise for not updating Harvey's blog after theatre. As you can imagine, things slip your mind easily when your mind is elsewhere. I have done a few little updates on his Facebook page though which is harvey'sjourney - let's get his story seen.

 So, Wednesday afternoon Harvey went to theatre to have his Gall Bladder removed. He went down at 1.30pm and came out at 6.30pm. The surgery itself went well. His surgeon managed to do the procedure key hole which is great. Harvey's Gall Bladder was too much bigger than they once thought. His surgeon had to drain his Gall Bladder a bit first as it was too big to grab. It was describes as very big, yellow and bad! Some of the bile leaked when it was drained so Harvey had to be washed out and also 3 doses of antibiotics post op to prevent any infection happening. Following surgery Harvey went to ICU for observation and also because he had an epidural for pain relief. The type of epidural Harvey had cant be managed on the wards, only ICU or HDU. He was very settled and comfortable once we got him in his room on ICU. Wednesday night he slept really well. Thursday the pain team came to see him, she couldn't believe how settled he was and pain free, she said she's not seen him like that for a long time. It was decided to keep the epidural in for another day, not to rush things and to leave him comfortable and settled. Harvey being Harvey was sitting up and playing all Thursday, because of this one of his incisions opened up so we had to squeeze it back together and put steri-strips on it. Harvey had a few little jiggles of pain Thursday but they soon passed and he was very chilled out again. On Friday after a review from pain team it was decided that it was time for the epidural to come out. They can only stay in for a maximum of 72 hours but because Harvey is vulnerable to infection his consultant wanted it out after 48 hours. Within half an hour of the epidural being stopped Harvey's pain was back! He had to have a background of fentanyl put on his pump as well as the bonus button he already had and the patch he wears. Once the epidural was out, Harvey got moved back to M2. Over the weekend his pain has been getting worse and now today it is back to where it was post op. I don't know what we're going to do about it really as Harvey is on an awful lot of pain relief which doesn't seem to make him completely comfortable or pain free for any great length of time. That's something that I'm going to have to discuss with the pain consultant and Harvey's  consultant tomorrow. It not fair on him to be in this much pain but at the same time I know there's not much more to offer now. I'm hoping the pain Harvey is experiencing now is post operative pain and not the intestinal failure. Only time will tell that really. His belly is distended and bruised so maybe has internal bruising too which is causing pain. Today 2 more of Harvey incisions have come open and are weeping. More risk of infection!! 

Tomorrow I think I need to have a chat with a few people and see where we go from here really. Obviously I want my boy well and comfortable and at the minute he's not. We need to have a plan of action, a way to move forward and let Harvey start to enjoy life again rather than make the most of what he can because of this stupid pain he's having. Once we have a plan, myself or Harvey will update his page.. I promise and won't let things get in the way this time..