Sloane has white coat fear as I have already described in earlier posts. The thing is, Dr. K is so gentle, that Sloane's antics are almost non-existent. Of course, there were the normal "don't touch me screams" but as soon as Dr. K softly talked to her about what she was going to do....the screams stopped.
First, the balloon in the mickey button is drained. Next, the button is pulled out. Then, the site is cleaned. Next, a vasaline type sealant is placed over the site, then gauze pads, and lastly the entire area is sealed with sticky medical tape. It takes all of 5 minutes. If you witnessed Sloane last night, you would have seen that she was in NO discomfort at all. She was a looney bird tonight!
The thought is that the site heals from the inside out. In 95% of cases, the hole is closed within 5 to 7 days. Five percent of cases require surgical intervention. I do think Sloane's hole will close like the majority. She heals very well from the tiniest hang nail to the tip of her nose that she skinned off on the driveway.
We are changing the dressing daily for the next 7 days. The goal is to keep the site clean and to see if there is any drainage dripping from the inside to the outside. Today, we got a good look at the mickey button's site. My dad asked me yesterday how big the hole was. I said about the size of an eraser tip. To which he said..is that's small? I am sure he thought I was being a bit optimistic. Which I was. Now, after examining it a bit tonight, I would say the site is more of a slit rather than a hole. The slit looks to be the diameter of a cheese stick. It is more significant that I had thought but I am aware that is because her belly is so small. I almost thought.....hmmm it looks like Sloane has a 2nd belly button.
The dressing looked good tonight. My hubby and I agreed that we didnt see any drainage which is great news! Because Sloane has stuck her finger in every hole in her body already, I thought it would be best to keep this hole safe from any exploring. LOL I dressed Sloane in a romper today and for the next few days she will be prancing around in the same.
I do keep running my hand over Sloane's belly. I dont know Sloane without her button. The first 3 weeks of her life, she was swaddled tightly with tubes and ivs dangling. We didn't have as much cuddling, touching and full skin to skin as I had dreamed of. Of course, we did do some of that but when you are afraid of your child or of hurting your own baby, the experience loses it luster. Once the g-tube surgery happened, holding her was off limits so her surgical site could heal. At 7 weeks old, Sloane came home with a long tube hanging from her mickey button site as well as a case of reflux that required her to be upright at all times....not much carefree snuggling. I remember the 1st time my niece came to my house, I put her 3 week old tininess on my bed horizontal and cuddled. We could never do that with Sloane because of the reflux. Unlike normal children when they refluxed, Sloane's spit-up would aspirate into her lungs thru her cleft. Letting her lay down was a huge no no.
Let me clear, I held Sloane ALL the time. 24 hours a day she was in my arms! I couldn't get enough of her, but the act was very structured and careful and there certainly wasn't any playfulness involved. When Sloane finally got her mickey button at 3 months old, we were more relaxed because the button seemed safer but not 100%. There was ALWAYS the fear that button would get caught on something and get tugged out. I don't know Sloane without her button. This is going to be a whole new experience for us all. I cant wait for all the bandages to come off and have her with no clothes on next to me. Sloane has always been perfect, but without the button she feels whole!!
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