8/20/2009
Re-connection surgery took place yesterday morning. They took her away at 9AM for preparations, started surgery at 10 and lasted until about 12:30. Surgery prep included aenesthesia and re-intubating her for the ventillator.
Good news from surgery. The Re-connection went well.They found no necrosis (dead tissue) or constrictions of her intestine which would have needed to be cut out. They did find sections of intestine that were twisted from the previous surgery and could have contributed to her difficulties with digestion. These they straightened out before re-connection, so they should heal up fine. Also found - several spots of adhesion, where scar tissue had formed from the previous operation and attached her intestine to the inside of her abdomen. They freed these spots before closing her back up.
Tough news - little Ella is having difficulties recovering from surgery. Coming out of surgery, she is heavily sedated and the ventillator is doing all of her breathing for her. Her face and body is really puffy - also typical of post-op liquid retention, but it is difficult for us to see. They have started her up on a Morphine drip to control her pain as she comes out of sedation. Also, she has "soft" blood pressure readings, and doctors have put her onto several medications to help her bring these up. She was not peeing, so a catheter was inserted.
Several hours after surgery, she still was having difficulty breathing - her lungs are not very strong due to her BPD condition, and she has quite a bit of fluid in her lungs from the surgery. She needed a transfusion to help with her blood pressure. Due to her breathing problems, they had to switch her to the oscillator machine. We placed a couple of late-night calls into her nurses, and this appears to be helping her breathing.
So, her recovery is coming along slowly, but it is difficult to see her regress and hard to be patient. Her next steps need to be improvement of her blood pressure and breathing, and removal of the ventillator. Once she has stabilized, and she starts to pass poop, we can again try to start feeding her. No estimate at this point how long before we can try, but we are hopeful.
Side note - Ella's original due date was to be August 23rd, which will be this Sunday. She is now over 10 weeks old, and has grown to over 4 lbs.
Love - Bill Denise Ella T
I am happy to hear that lil Ella's surgery went well. She is a fighter & will pull through. Before you know it, she will be home :-] God is great & works miracles. I know that he is there with your little girl, helping her thru this difficult time & giving you both the strength to pull thru as well. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.
ReplyDeleteWe've been praying for you three. I am so glad that they found such impactful things that they were able to correct during the surgery. It must be an emotionally exhausting week for you guys. If you ever need to see Gods work being done, you can see it in the NICU. Miracles happen, large and small. Focus on the little ones now and the big picture will come into focus years from know. Stay strong for each other and Ella. Somedays you may feel really beat up, how much more can you do, right? Hand it over to God he's not going to let you down. Love you guys! You are SUPER parents!!!!!
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