The Turning Point Part 4

 

A hospital for me is more than doctors, operating rooms, over priced food in the cafeteria and the sirens or, depending where you are the helicopter landing on the roof. I see the hospitals for its sleep rooms, developing friendly relationships with the cafeteria staff because on a good day they may offer you free lunch. Familiarizing yourself with the security officers is a must in order for you to have access to most parts of the hospital e.g. (softer chairs to nap on during the day or breaking the rules of how many visitors at one time without being reprimanded.)

            My son developed NEC a very common disease in pre-term babies. Demba was induced into a coma by his doctors. NEC attacks the intestines so an ileostomy was performed. Most people are familiar with an ostomy; an incision is made in the stomach is made so one can excrete in a bag. Demba had two incisions on each side of his stomach. I was trained by the hospital staff to care change and clean the site and the bag. I recall seeing my son use the restroom through is stomach and in a bag and it was all liquid, sometimes green but most time yellow but if at any time there was a foul odor, it was not a good sign. Demba resembled the Michelin man with tubes going in and out of him. The swelling takes place when the blood is infected.

            I lived inside The Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for three month. My days included sleeping in the sleep rooms, or waiting room when there was not enough rooms, freshening up in the restrooms before going to be by Dembas side until visiting hours are over. I developed relationships with other families and kept the chaplains number really close. The plan was for Demba to get well enough to reconnect his bowels, heal and then come home.

            The distance took a financial toll and emotional toll on my marriage. I struggled to keep my emotions at bay. My family was a big support system and came to visit me every week. We decided to have Demba transferred to the children’s hospital in D.C. whilst awaiting the reconnection surgery, in mid February 2007 Demba was finally transferred via ambulance. Upon arrival he thrived and he was able to undergo surgery during the first week of April.  He was released from the hospital in mid April.

            Dembas was six months old by the time he came home but he only weighed five pounds, which may not seem much to most people but for us it was a relief. I followed up with all of  his appointments from his team of doctors who performed the surgery to his pediatrician. Demba had a hernia which his pediatrician bought to my attention but the hospital staff asked me to wait until he was a year old.

            Life was great, I was able to find work as an office manager and my husband received a promotion a work, everything was going well until one day when I picked Demba up from his babysitter… To be continued….