Ano daw?

I didn't announce it in facebook or twitter, and was reluctant to even blog about it because I didn't want to make a big deal of it. Based on what I had read and was told, it's a pretty simple procedure, and in light of our friend getting diagnosed with cancer, and all the other troubles of the world, it just didn't feel right to draw any attention. But I figured, the documentation of Ramon's early childhood would be sorely incomplete without an account of his first surgery and hospitalization.

WARNING: I'm going to refer to Ramon's butt a lot in this entry, since that was the site of the... err, anomaly. I'm just saying.

So here goes. About two weeks after he was born, I noticed a small bump right beside Ramon's anus. And every Sunday I mean to show it to Tito Jojo but either he's not there or I keep forgetting. Finally, when I showed it to him on Ramon's first month check up Tito Jojo said he didn't know what it was, but just observe it, it might go away. On Ramon's second month check up, I showed Tito Jojo that the bump did go away, only for another one to grow on the other side of the.. well, hole. And that second one was getting smaller already and the original one was growing again. At that point Tito Jojo said it is what he suspected when he first saw it (but didn't tell me), it was a fistula, specifically, a fistula in ano. It was something he had never seen before. And then he referred me to to a pediatric surgeon.

Naturally, the first thing I did was google it. Well no, the first thing I did was call Mike and tell him. Then when we got home, I googled it. It's a bit hard to explain, but the Wiki entry was the clearest of all the sites I read. And when I read it, I wanted to hit myself in the back of the head for not getting to the bottom of this (no pun intended) sooner. You see, for the first month of Ramon's life, he HATED having his butt cleaned. You would think he was being tortured. So I wondered if the little bump we noticed could be painful. It was hard to tell because well, Lia and Desi used to HATE having their diaper changed too. And they never had little bumps. Lia used to hate being given a sponge bath. If you were our neighbor you would think we were torturing our baby, but no, she just protested really loudly at being wiped with a wet piece of cloth. So I was never sure if his cries were of pain, or of kaartehan. What's more, as Ramon reached two months, wiping his bottom didn't bother him anymore, so I figured, baka hindi naman masakit. Or baka nasanay na lang.

In any case, after that check up with Tito Jojo, the very next day, we went to see Dr. Catangui, the pediatric surgeon and he took one peep at Ramon's derriere and confirmed Tito Jojo's diagnosis. He told me that since there were two, (without going into details) it could be two simple fistulas, which would mean two small scars, or one complicated fistula which would mean one big scar, which was more painful and would take longer to heal. However he can only find out which one it was during the surgery. He also said we could opt not to operate and instead just battle it with antibiotics. But if we choose antibiotics, it will go away just to keep coming back for the rest of his life. So Mike and I chose surgery, to get rid of it once and for all, and so that Ramon doesn't build up an immunity to antibiotics so early in life.

We first saw Dr. Catangui last week, Tuesday, June 29. We were admitted this past Tuesday, July 6, for the operation. We went to Asian Hospital early, had a room by 9AM. At 11AM I wasn't allowed to feed Ramon anymore. This was the part I dreaded more than the surgery actually. Cause my Mom and Tita Bles said when they had babies that needed operations, they cried so hard at not being fed for 6 straight hours. Ramon was rather more mellow. He slept for more than half of that 6 hours. When he was awake, we knew he was hungry but as long as someone was carrying him, talking to him, and playing with him, he didn't complain so badly.

At around 4:30 we went down to the pre-operating room. The pediatric anesthesiologist came and explained the procedure to us. I donned a set of scrubs, booties, face mask and shower-cap like hat thing and brought Ramon into the operating room. (Feeling ko nasa Grey's Anatomy ako) We were expecting him to cry when he smells the anesthesia gas but he didn't. Soon he was out cold and I had to leave. Mike and I waited in this little lounge area right outside the ORs, playing on our iPhones and about an hour later I was called in to wait for Ramon in the recovery room. Mike went to the room upstairs to wait for us there.

I had to wait some more in the recovery room, and when Ramon arrived, he was screaming bloody hell. This was the longest ever I heard my baby boy cry. Ever. I think he cried for 30 minutes straight and there was nothing I could do to make him stop. I wasn't allowed to feed him yet. He was so angry and loud and strong but all I could do to comfort him was hold him and rock him and talk and hug until he finally tired out. And then he looked so teeny tiny and fragile and helpless with all the wires and tubes stuck all over him.

We were in the recovery room for about an hour. Dr. Catangui told me it was the simple kind of two little fistulas, thank God. Tito Jojo and Tita Bles both came and saw us there too. And when the anesthesiologist finally said we could, we went upstairs to our room.

And that's it. We stayed a couple of days, but Ramon didn't seem to be in any discomfort. He wasn't cranky or crying. In fact, he was an absolute angel the whole time in the hospital. I guess it helped that it was the best hospital I've ever stayed in. We were given fresh towels everyday! Everything was new and high tech. And we didn't spend as much as I feared we might have to.

We came home last Thursday, to Lia and Desi's delight. And Ramon has been doing well since. He absolutely HATES the oral antibiotics he has to take for a week and cries even at the smell of it. But he hasn't vomited it yet, so so far so good. We will see our surgeon again next week for a check up. But if Tito Jojo comes to St. Ignatius tomorrow we'll have an even earlier check up then. Let's hope he never has to go back to the hospital ever again.

Unless he becomes a doctor. Which would be great. :-)

Thanks to everyone who knew and prayed. God heard us and answered. Amen!