Wednesday, June 25, 2008

General Anesthesia

Jacob went under general anesthesia for the first time today. We have been having laser treatments done on the port wine stain on his face for just over a year now. The stain is a type of birth mark on his face. It is caused by an overabundance of blood capillaries directly under his skin. The laser works by breaking the capillaries and when they grow back they are smaller. So far it seems to be working. His stain is getting lighter every treatment. We have had about 8 treatments and are about half way done.

In the past, the nurses and I have held Jacob down while the doctor performs the treatments. Jacob is just becoming too big and strong to continue to just hold him down. He hates the treatments and struggles and cries through them. The doctor thought that uses anesthesia would be better. She thought he would be less traumatized by the treatments and it would be easier to do the treatments.

We arrived at the surgery center at 9:30 this morning. We spent about half an hour waiting for the nurses. Shortly after 10 they took Jacob back for his treatment. I wanted to cry. It was so hard to watch as he bravely walked away. He was nervous and stated that he wanted me to come with him but did not cry as he was led away.

I went downstairs and had a soda. About 20 minutes later, I was paged that they were finished with the procedure. I met with the doctor briefly who stated everything was fine. About 10 minutes later, I was led down the hallway to where Jacob was waiting. I could hear him screaming before I was even close to the room.

I held Jacob for about 15 minutes as he continued to wake up from the anesthesia. He was not very happy and told me he was sad. I took him home and let him take a nap. About an hour later, he woke up and was happy again. He was doing so well that we spent the rest of the afternoon at the zoo and then bought a new swimming pool for the yard.

He was only upset for about an hour longer than without anesthesia. The treatment definitely seemed to go better with better coverage and less stress on everyone. I think we will definitely do the next treatment the same way. Hopefully, Jacob won't need too many more treatments. As long as the treatments are working, we will continue to go.

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