Surgery is done, and all is well

Loki underwent surgery this morning to put in his G-tube, and he is fine. After a slightly bumpy first couple hours as the anesthesia wore off, we are back on the same floor of UCSF Children's Hospital as we were for nine days back in July, and for two days in April. It is not good to be back in a hospital, but there is something reassuring about being somewhere we know. Loki will probably stay here for 48 hours, until Sunday afternoon, just to monitor for infection or other problems.

I'd like to describe the procedure. Loki didn't really get a tube today, but instead a plug into which a tube can be inserted. The plug is shaped something like a rivet, with large discs on each side, and a small short shaft connecting them. The trick was to install it into a small hole through his abdominal and stomach walls--a hole only as large as the small connecting shaft, and is thus covered on both the inside and outside by the larger discs.

After being anesthetized, and intubated with a breathing tube, an endoscope (video camera on a tube) was inserted down his mouth and esophagus, into his stomach. It shined a light bright enough that it could be seend from the outside. The goal was to find an accessible spot with nothing (such as an intestine) between the stomach and the abdominal wall. Once located, a large IV needle with a string inside was inserted from the outside into the stomach. The endoscope then grabbed the string, and the needle was removed. As the endoscope was pulled out, the string went up the esophagus with it.

From here, my understanding is a little uncertain. I believe that half of the G-tube button (the inside disc plus the shaft) was then threaded with and tied to the string coming out of his mouth. As the string was pulled out of the hole in his abdomen, the half-plug went down his esophagus, into his stomach, and then up against the stomach wall with the shaft sticking out. The outside disc was then pushed onto the other half.

Mom will spend the night here at the hospital, then tomorrow I will. Our friends from Nederland are kind enough to pay a visit in the hospital.