The Last Procedure???

Benjamin saw his friendly urologist this morning to have the stent in his ureter removed. The procedure lasted about 45 minutes. He woke up much quicker from anesthesia this time around since he wasn't so deep under. The worst part of the whole thing was that he couldn't have water this morning. When he starts saying "wa, wa" and signing for water, it just breaks my heart to not give it to him. Water is one of his very favorite things. Fortunately, he could have a big cup of water immediately after he woke up. After the surgery in January, he couldn't have anything to drink for several hours. He had to be content with ice chips for awhile.

Dr. Cortez said Benjamin's bladder seems to have expanded again. He was able to inject approximately 100 cc's of antibiotic solution into Benjamin's bladder. Previously, Dr. Cortez had said a normal sized bladder for Benjamin would be 90 to 120 ccs, so he's in the normal range now. That's great news. It remains to be seen if he can empty it completely, but we'll take all the good news we can get.

Benjamin will have another followup visit with Dr. Cortez next week and then we'll have to see what the plan is. I'm pretty sure Benjamin will have some additional tests performed to check his bladder and how he voids. We're really hoping today's procedure will be Benjamin's last under anesthesia for awhile. He's had enough of nurses and doctors. He is a wonderful little patient, though. Numerous nurses have commented how calm he is while doing his blood pressure, etc. He just sticks his arm out for the blood pressure cuff. He's an awesome little guy!!!