Iyad's '3D2N 5-star hotel stay' at UKMSC (part 2)

we entered the OT room (OT 15), and i put baby iyad on the table..the anaesthetist gassed him down and he was deeply asleep...at that time, we left baby iyad's life to the Almighty Allah, we continued praying that everything will be fine and baby iyad would return to us safe and sound..

the first thing the anaesthetists worked on baby iyad after he was gassed down, was to get an IV line and draw some blood for his thyroid function test...Dr E found a good vein that was able to give some blood into the bottle, but it got bumped so IV line could not be secured...multiple attempts of IV line searches were done while baby iyad was only gassed in the induction phase, not yet put on proper secured airway..

at one time they decided not to find the IV line as it was so difficult, and they proceeded to put baby iyad on laryngeal mask airway (LMA) but baby iyad became tachycardic as his large tongue flopped backwards, and they reinserted the LMA but still his breathing was not good, so they needed to fine an IV access so that they can proceed to intubate him for the airway...finally, i think after about 45 min, an IV access was successfully placed at his left foot...

then the procedures began, starting with checking for his eye fundus, measuring for his cup-disc ratio and eye pressure and checking at the patency of the nasolacrimal duct...up to then, everything was good.. next the refraction test by the optometrist... alhamdulillah, it was ok and appropriate for his age...

the anaesthesia was reversed and baby iyad was wheeled out of the operation theatre to the recovery area...he was breathing on his own, sleeping serenely... i stimulated him and cuddled him so that he would wake up and he opened his eyes and searching for mama's milk...obviously he was hungry for being fasted since 5am in the morning up to then it was 12 noon...i offered him my breast and he tolerating it very well and did not vomit...

we were transferred back to the ward and baby iyad continued asking for more milk and intermittently fell asleep again...

by evening, he was quite active and was able to tolerate his cereal and we offed the IV drip as he was taking his milk and food well...we did not get discharged that day as the ophthalmologist had cases to attend to in the OT and would only review baby iyad the next morning...

so we spent another night in our 5-star hotel and were only discharged at around noon the next day...

although as medical professionals, we've seen many children been through many surgical procedures, and it was only a normal examination for baby iyad, we reserved our fear at the back of our mind... anaesthesia and the whole procedures are not without complications, so the best we could do at that time was pray to the Almighty Allah to look after our precious baby iyad and to return him back to us after it was done...alhamdulillah, everything went well and baby iyad is now actively up and about trying out new things every single day....

Iyad's '3D2N 5-star hotel stay' at UKMSC (part 1)

as planned, baby iyad had to undergo examination under anaesthesia (EUA) to have his eyes properly checked...his eyes pressure was found to be elevated under normal eye examination which could be due to persistent crying, struggling and screaming during the procedure...as increased eye pressure could be one of the signs of glaucoma, which can be found in children with DS, it is important to have baby iyad's eyes checked properly and if it is truly elevated, treatment could be instituted to prevent complications..

we checked-in to the ward and was reviewed by the Ophthalmology MO who is our friend, Dr H...he gave it a try to prick baby iyad's vein to get some blood for routine investigations...as we know, it's going to be challenging for all of us; for the Dr, the assisting nurse and us the parents..and poor baby iyad, he was screaming and struggling during the procedure in which we had to abandon after a few unsuccessful attempts...after a few minutes cuddling in wrap, he finally fell asleep...

the anaesthetist, Dr N came next to review while baby iyad was still asleep...we were instructed to stop breastfeeding 4 hours before the procedure for the anaesthesia and no more food after midnight... hmmm, that could be a challenge for us as baby iyad need to stop breastfeeding at around 5 am, where he usually would wake up and would want to be breastfed at that time...hopefully, Allah will make it easier for us... 

so that night, baby iyad had a good night sleep on the adult hospital bed with mama, while papa slept on the sofa bed... he seemed to enjoy his stay in the ward....

at 5 am, baby iyad had his last breastfeeding session with me before being put on fasting mode for the procedure...it was quite challenging to make him stop nibbling and breastfeeding so dear hubby had to carry him, cuddled him to comfort and brought him around the 7th floor so that he would forget his hungriness... 

at around 8.30 am, we were called to the operation theatre (OT), baby iyad was dressed in the oversized OT gown and cap...he looked so cute in it...especially when the oversized cap kept falling down covering his eyes...

i carried him down to the OT in the ring sling and upon arrival to the OT, dear hubby changed into his OT attire while i carried baby iyad at the entrance...once hubby was ready inside to receive baby iyad, i then changed into my OT attire and rejoiced with them at the receiving bay... while cuddling and carrying iyad, he finally dozed off...