Some of you know this story, but for those of you who don't . . .
Here's the story of our trip to the emergency room with Lucas and subsequent middle of the night emergency surgery.
On Tuesday evening at 6 pm (May 5th) we had Lucas circumcised. Now, you are thinking why didn't you already do that? Well, European men are not circumcised. It's just not common here and because of that it is not done the day after they are born as in the USA. They want to wait at least a month before they will do it here. We went to a pediatric urologist for it, (one who has done another MK -- missionary kid -- with no problems). Johann took him into the room for the surgery and I waited in the waiting room. I didn't want to go at all, but went in case Lucas got hungry.
Anyway, everything was fine so we came home. It took us 2 tram rides, a metro ride and a bit of walking, but we made it home in about an hour. We left Lucas sleeping in the stroller for about 20 minutes and then I went to go change him. When I opened his diaper I noticed some blood, nothing major but a bit more than I expected. I asked Johann what the doctor said about bleeding and he said the doctor didn't say anything about bleeding. So, I put a new diaper on him and decided to wait about 20 minutes and see if there was still blood. In the meantime, I looked in my book about circumcision care for the plastibell ring (which is how half of cirumcisions are done in the USA) and it said a little blood is ok, but I didn't know what constituted a little blood and I didn't remember Jack bleeding at all -- but Jack had a different kind so I really couldn't compare them.
I checked Lucas again in about 20 minutes and there was still blood -- nothing major again just a little. So, I called the on call pediatrician and he said a little is ok for awhile and if it is still there in the morning to take him back to the doctor. I changed Lucas again and there was still blood and it looked to be like more to me so we called Johann's mom. Johann's mom was a nurse and is now in hospital administration and knows alot of people. She called a friend and told us what to do. We put a sterile gauze on him and put pressure on him for 5 minutes. Johann's mom said if that didn't stop the bleeding to take him to the the ER. The friend she talked to said that sometimes this just happens -- it doesn't mean the circumcision was done wrong -- it can just happen.
We started applying pressure and after just a couple of minutes there was even more blood and the gauze was almost soaked. Johann started to pack up Lucas and I called the pediatrician to find out where the best place would be to take him as there are several hospitals in Prague. The pediatrician told us a place very close to our home so we jumped in a taxi and went. A fellow missionary came over to watch Jack. We left at about 9:30pm
We get to the place to basically be told that they are a children's hospital but they don't do surgery and we need to get Lucas to a surgeon. He told us where to go. We jumped back in another taxi and went to the other hospital -- the one where Lucas was born. By this time there is more and more blood and I am starting to get really, really anxious.
We get to the hospital and into the children's triage. The take a look and send us over to another building to the children's ER. The hospital is like a huge college campus with a bunch of different buildings. We get into the ER and can't find anyone -- I finally see the window for check in but no one is there. I stand there and bang on the window while Johann wanders around trying to find somebody. I'm getting pretty angry at this point. How does a hospital have an empty check in window? A lady hears me banging and comes over. When Johann starts to speak in Czech to her, she rolls her eyes. So, we ask if there is anyone who speaks English and she says no. So, Johann continues in Czech and she continues to give the foreigners dirty looks. I'll say at this point that Johann's Czech is really quite good and people always understand him -- this woman was just mad that she was having to deal with foreigners. She would not understand what Johann was saying so I put Lucas right on her desk and opened his diaper to show her all the blood which is even more by now. That really made her mad that I did that -- but how else was she going to understand? She finally and very slowly started filling out paperwork. I was just infuriated by this point. It's not as if this is a broken arm or something -- this is bleeding in a 5 week old baby that won't stop -- it's a very serious thing. She asks us for our insurance card (it is socialized medicine here but with special cards) and we don't have a card because a) we are foreigners and b) Johann's office pays the bill and is reimbursed later. She of course was very uncooperative and was arguing with Johann.
On the way to this hospital I prayed and prayed that God would give us someone to help us. I've done enough internationally to know we were very likely to not be treated well because we are foreigners and we would need some nice Czech person to help us. As Johann argued with this woman and I sat by the window mad and crying that my son was bleeding and no one would do anything about it -- in walked God's provision. Another mother came in with her sick daughter who was vomiting. She saw me and heard what was going on and came over to help. She spoke great English and translated for us. She was also angry that this check in woman was being so unhelpful to us. Finally, the woman let us go back to see the doctor (WHO WAS IN THE NEXT ROOM AND SPOKE ENGLISH BUT WOULD NOT COME HELP US AT THE WINDOW) . The sweet Czech mother who helped us patted my head with tears in her eyes and said she hopes everything will be fine for us. Mothers speak the same language.
We got to the doctor, she looked at Lucas and then looked at me and said, "why did you do this to your son? You wanted this?" At that moment I felt like the worst mother on the planet. I just stood there and mumbled something about how its normal in America. She called in another doctor and this guy turned out to be just wonderful. He was so very kind to us. He said the most important thing is to stop the bleeding and that surgery might be necessary, but he would do everything he could to stop it without surgery. He worked to stop the bleeding for about an hour with Lucas. He got it slowed down for awhile and we were hopeful we wouldn't need surgery. Then it started getting worse again and he said we would do the surgery. He left us alone with Lucas for about 5 minutes while he got the anesthesiologist and prepared everything. They were going to put Lucas, my sweet 5 week old baby boy under general anesthesia and suture the artery that wouldn't stop bleeding. We prayed over Lucas in those minutes and then they came and took him away.
Watching him go was the most terrifying moment of my life I think. I can't even explain the fear -- coupled with complete exhaustion. It is 1 am at this point and I haven't slept through the night since he was born. I felt like I was at the end of my rope. Then a peace sort of came over me -- the prayers of fellow missionaries all over he Czech Republic who were praying for us as they received text messages and the prayers of our family who he had managed to call. I know that was the peace I felt. Johann was just a rock the whole time -- but even he started to look less worried as we waited.
They had Lucas for an hour and then came and told us the surgery went well and the bleeding is stopped. They let us see him in ICU where they monitored him for a few hours. He looked so small with the machines hooked up to him, a little blood pressure cuff on his tiny arm. We went back to our room and slept a little. They brought him into us about 5 am and said he was stable. We were to feed him a special tea with a dropper, a small amount every 15 minutes. Then if he could keep that down I could nurse him. Johann took over the dropper and I tried to sleep because we knew I would be up feeding him alot later that day and wouldn't have the chance to sleep. I would have to nurse for brief periods of time -- like the tea. I tried to sleep, but by this time it had been 10 hours since I had fed Lucas and those of you who nurse know how uncomfortable I was -- so I had a hard time sleeping although I did a bit.
Lucas kept the tea down fine, so I started to feed him and he did that fine. They came and check him every few hours to check for bleeding. Finally, at 5 pm we were cleared to go home. We had been at the hospital and mostly awake for 18 hours at this point, 18 hours after being up all day on Tuesday. We were dead on our feet. A wonderful family brought us dinner. We took Lucas to the doctor to get checked again and he is looking fine and seems very happy. We had to put a special dressing on him every 3 hours. But, there was no bleeding and aside from some bruising he appears to be ok.
God was with us every step of the way as we dealt with this as strangers in a foreign country. And aside from a couple of people, everyone was very helpful and kind to us. The nurses were wonderful as was the surgeon. Thank you to everyone who was up praying with us that night -- we can't thank you enough. The risks for circumcision complication is less than one percent -- and the seriousness of Lucas' complication is even lower. While we are still amazed this happened and don't understand it -- we thank God and all you who prayed us through it. Lucas is just fine now and smiling more than ever.
Lucas Andrew Dyck is here! Lucas was born March 28, 2009 at 12:04 p.m. He was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long and perfect in every way! We've been home with him for a few days now and he is proving to be an incredibly sweet and easy baby. We are having so much fun with him and so are his Pops and Nanny. Johann's parents arrived just a few days before Lucas was born -- so all the prayers paid off and they were able to be at the hospital as he made his entrance into this world. Everything went really well and we feel so blessed to have this wonderful addition to our lives. Enjoy the pics and we'll post again soon. Thank you all for your prayers for a healthy and happy baby!
