Seraph's GI Surgeries done!!

Here's Seraph at 5am in the waiting room. Usually her trips to the hospital only have one parent. She was thrilled to have both of us with her.The early hour didn't bother her one bit.

Note the redness on her cheeks. That's from repeated retaping of her NJ Tube. That cheek will heal up soon. The NJ also gives her a huge gag reflex. It bothers her nose, and she feels better after she pulls it out.

Seraph had HUGE smiles for her daddy. OK, she always has huge smiles for her dad. It's hard to be jealous when I get to see her being soooooo sooooo happy.

Mommy got big smiles, too. Seraph loves playing with my hair.

More huge smiles for Daddy. Huge smiles for all the nurses, too - even while they were checking her blood pressure.

Not so happy when they placed her IV. ...but a few minutes with her dad and she was happy again.

They were NOT able to do the surgery laprascopically. The pressures in her heart were too high. So, they made an incision just below the scar from her heart surgery. They expected the surgery to take 3 hours. It took 5 hours. We took turns trying to sleep in sleep-resistant chairs. Next time we're going to sneak up to the couches by the piano for naps.

Part way thru, we jumped up and donated to a blood drive. They had free grape juice after!! I hadn't given blood since college. I got up too soon after and got dizzy. I had to lay on the floor with my feet up listening to cool stories about wolf attacks. Anyway....

Seraph's surgery went well. Her NJ tube is gone for good. Her reflux should be gone, too.

Now comes the tricky part - getting off the vent. They had to intubate her for the surgery. They kept her sedated over night. Today they're easing off her sedation so she can start to breath a bit on her own and get rid of extra fluids around her lungs. Her lungs are very wet today.

Seraph has always been slow coming off the vent. Please keep her in your prayers.

June 2 - Seraph's Intestinal Surgery

Seraph's intestinal surgery is scheduled for June 2nd.  Because of her heart history, any surgery (being put under general anesthesia) is more risky.  So, they'll be correcting several intestinal problems all in one surgery:  nissan fontifcation for GERD, placing a G tube for feeds, and Ladd procedure to fix her intestinal malrotation (this includes removing her appendix). 

We expect her to be in the hospital for less than two weeks.  Immediately following the surgery (while she's still sedated), they'll do a full echo cardiogram on her heart.  We hope to hear good news about her heart.

They will have to intubate her for the surgery. It breaks my heart to put her through this again. I know that getting rid of the reflux and being able to eat normally will be worth it.  But, there's no way to convey this to her. During her recovery, I plan to be at the hospital with her as often as I can get away.

This is a good step forward for Seraph.  Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.  *hugs*

Ladd Procedure (for Intestinal malrotation)

The instestines grow outside of the fetus--in the umbilical cord.  At 10 weeks, they return to the fetus's body and get attached to their abdominal wall.  Malrotation occurs when they turn the wrong way and don't attach.  It's very common (1 in 500 births).

Sometimes it doesn't cause a problem.  Other times it twists causing blockage or cutting off blood supply to the intestine.  Seraph's heterotaxy probably helped cause her intestinal malrotation.

They'll tac her intestine to her abdominal wall.  They also go through the intestine to make sure it hasn't attatched to itself.  Because this surgery rearranges her internal organs (again), they're also taking out her appendix.  Otherwise, her appendix would end up in an unusual place and appendicitis later in life would be difficult to diagnos.