Chinese New Year in hospital

TIan You is seen smiling lots and is very active. So active, that he needs his legs to be bound together so that he does not put too much tension on his stitches, which can rupture. He still needs to be monitored by the hospital as his wound recovery is quite slow. He is eating well, has good bowel movements, and is generally doing ok. He has been lucky to have many visitors, and thank you all so much for caring for him. He's looking more and more handsome by the day, and we do miss him dearly here in beijing.

In general ward now, and smiling

Tian You has been transferred to general ward (out of high dependency unit) at the hospital and is doing well. His wounds are healing ( a little slowly ), but he is generally recovering. He is now eating some porridge, and can digest his milk well. Our staff Lucy, is now staying with him overnight, and she says that he gets upset if she leaves the room for a few minutes. He's smiling more (see pic), but still cries on occasion. He's also still taking pain relief meds, and antibiotics. The surgeon tells us that because his pelvic bones are not normally formed either (amongst all his problems) and this happens with this kind of condition, there is a lot of tension along the wound, hence the difficulty for it to heal.

Tian You is doing well

Here are some pictures of Tian You today in the HIgh Dependancy Unit. He is alert and drinking milk happily.

Doing well and moving out of ICU

His repair wound is looking good and has not ruptured, and all is stable. His sedation meds have been lowered day by day an now he is completely off it, and although he has been crying every so often, his condition is stable. He's been getting small amounts of milk and is reacting well to the intake, aside from a little bloating. Today, his doctors have decided that he is ready to check out of ICU, and he will be moved to the high dependancy unit for a few days, before being checked into the regular ward. So all is well, and he's making progress !
The only stressful news (for Blue Sky anyway), is that we've also now been advised of his current medical bill (yet to be finalised until he checks out!), and it is already about SGD 40,000.00 (USD24500.00) including the first emergency hernia surgery he had upon arriving in Singapore. But of course, he is well worth it !

He smiled a little today

Tian You's sedation meds were lowered today, and he was awake for a little while. He managed to smile, but as dressings were changed, he started to cry heavily. The doctors decided that he was safer under sedation, as his crying causes too much stress. In general, he seems to be recovering.

Still in ICU

This morning's surgery went well and fluid was drained from TY's kidney. Doctors say that he will most likely stay in hospital for another 2 to 3 weeks in total. He will also need to wear the catheters that are currently inserted for about 3 months after release, and we will have to have them removed in Beijing when the time comes.

Another minor op scheduled for tomorrow

TY's condition is stable in the ICU. However, he has been having fluid leak out from the repair wound and this fluid is coming from his kidney. He was born with only one kidney, and fluid has been present since birth. The doctors are going to drain the fluid from the kidney in a half hour procedure tomorrow.

Longer in the ICU

The doctors still want TY to stay sedated in the ICU for another day or 2, He is still leaking urinary fluid (from where he shouldn't be).

Still in ICU

Poor baby is still in the ICU after emergency surgery on Thursday. He is under heavy sedation so that he relaxes and does not cause his wound to rupture open again. We've been told that he is doing ok, and should be out of ICU in another day or 2. Looks like he will stay in hospital for another week or more in total. Xiao Xia, our staff from Beijing has been faithfully visiting him everyday in the ICU where only she is allowed to see him. Thank you to all of Tian You's other visitors for being so concerned for him and for keeping Xiao Xia (Lucy) company. He's a tough little boy, and we know he will come out of this tough time. Thank you also to the doctors, nurses and staff at KK Hospital for taking good care of him.

Not so great news..... emergency surgery required

13 Jan06 - update from the surgeon by email:

"Tian Yu has had a setback. As I explained initially before he came over, sometimes these cases(actually often) are complicated and diffricult, and associated with morbidity. Tian Yu had an abdominal and bladder rupture of the new bladder on Thursday in the ward. He was rushed to the operating theatre, it was cleaned up, Iinserted a new and larger urinary tube to the new bladder, and washed it out. As it is formed be small bowel, there was some mucus accumulating, and the inital catheter although draining all the time initially, was perhapsnot large enough. Anyway now he has two catheters draining, and I have put him in ICU and sedated him to relax the abdomen to allow this some time to heal. With the deformity he has the abdominal wall is a little deficientand there is some tension in trying to suture everything together. So far he is Ok after the second surgery."

Day 7 after surgery

Recovering

6thJan06- TY is out of ICU and recovering in the high dependency unit. The surgeons say he is doing very well, and will most likely be transferred to the regular ward soon. His bladder has been replaced completely. As he was born with such a severe deformity, the surgeons did not recommend creating an anus for him, as he would not have normal function later in life. So he will have a colostomy (opening through his abdomen) for his bowel movements for the rest of his life, and will have to use colostomy bags. This is the same situation for his bladder function. He will also need to catherize or use a bag for the rest of his life, from an opening in his stomach. We can only hope that despite this lifetime inconvenience, that Tian You will still find a family willing to love and adopt him. He will stay at Blue Sky for as long as it takes to find him this family ! With the funds left from his surgery (if any!), we will need to purchase colostomy and urostomy bags for his bowel movements and urine from the stomach. See: http://www.ostomates.org/bags.html for more information on the supplies he will need for the rest of his life.

Surgery

5th Jan06 - TY underwent 6 to 7 hours of surgery yesterday, and is now in recovery in the ICU. He is doing well.

Checking-in

2nd jan 05 - Tian You has been admitted to hospital and will undergo bladder repair surgery on the 4th of Jan 2006 (at KK Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore.

3rd Jan 05- Tests completed for tomorrow's surgery. He has been approved to go ahead with surgery tomorrow. We have been advised that he will be in the operating theatre for several hours, as his surgery is very complicated.