Laser Surgery for TTTS

Picture - Jess "After Laser Surgery - all doped up", March 30, 2006...

Bob came and picked up Jess (got her to walk out of her room and get on a stretcher cot) and her gave her a ride down to the O.R. @ 8:57 a.m. As Jess was waiting for Dr. Ryan to arrive, she had a pretty major coughing attack. When Dr. Susan Devito, the Anesthetist, heard her coughing, she became concerned about the laser surgery with such a bad cough. Dr. Devito discussed it with Dr. Ryan when he arrived and they decided that there was only so much of a window to do the TTTS, so they needed Jess to tell them if she was going to have any coughing attacks while Dr. Ryan was performing the laser surgery. Jess told them that she would be able to give them enough notice, so onward and upward. There was quite a bit of "setup and preparation" for this procedure, so even though the actual surgery was about 1 hour, the total time in the O.R. was more like 2 hours and 15 minutes.

First, there was a bit of technical difficulty with the Technology used to Video and CD Record the procedure. Then just as they were going to start, there was a problem with the Laser, it just quit, for no apparent reason, but the RN, Liz Dunn (whom has also helped Jess out and gave her a pillow for under her leg to make her more comfortable) got it going again along with other helpers and they were about set to go. Dr. Devito had by that time set everything up and was monitoring the narcotics that she had given Jess. It turned out that whatever she gave Jess, worked superbly and Jess did not cough at all during the procedure.

Dr. Rory Windrim came in to assist Dr. Greg Ryan actually do the laser. First, they made a small incision, about one inch to the right of Jess's belly button and inserted the camera. Dr. Windrim told Jessica that when they were zapping the bigger veins, she would be able to hear them "pop". They did some searching around in there first to check out the veins that they needed to zap. Dr. Windrim started off the lasering procedure and he was pretty accurate with all of his zapping, he did get a bit too close on one and did burn Jess a bit.

When Dr. Ryan took over the zapping, he seemed a bit more cautious and took more time to do his zapping. When the zapping was finished, Dr. Ryan had one of the RN's suction off 2 and 1/2 lites of fluid so Jess would be more comfortable (around 2600 mls.). Then, he said that before he took the camera out, he would take us on a bit of a tour. He showed us "Baby Oly", the donor baby that looks like it is "shrink wrapped in saran wrap" and said that the baby looked like a robber with a nylon stocking pulled over it's head. Then he moved on to "Baby Poly", the recepient baby and started with the feet, up the leg to the bum where he said "Oh, looks like your having GIRLS" and the nurses all chimed in to say "she didn't want to know", to which he added "oh, well they just might be boys then" - NO, NO, NO, Dr. Ryan - We SAW!!! He showed us a hand and arm and the head, then said, "Okay, time to close up", this was a most spectacular event! He then videoed a bit of the Ultrasound before signing off.