Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Snow Cone...(No More Graphic Pic Warnings)

We say goodbye to Bob and we welcome "Patch" to our family for many months.  Estimate the size of Patch from this first picture as the rest tend to make it look much bigger.  It's still pretty big, but not as big as it might appear. 




Surgical Update

Dr. Saenz came by and talked to us about the surgery.  Karsie did very well.  Her blood gases apparently went up, but that was expected.  There was no blood loss.

They put the patch on her and sewed everything back up.  They really did not mess with anything so no bowel or liver went in.  They opened her up just a bit more cutting down to get a more open opening instead of a narrow opening, but other than that, things were very mundane.  She apparently looks like she has a little snow cone on her belly.  We will take pictures when we get to see her.

We would like to break all the serious anxiety by bidding adieu to Bob the omphalocele.  He is where he belongs now.  

She's Out

No specifics yet, but the nurse just came in to tell us that Karsie made it out of surgery and it seems as though everything went ok.  It went much, much faster than any of us expected, so we're hoping that's a good sign.  The surgeon will be in to tell us specifics in just a bit.  

Thank you all so much for the prayers.  She will need many more, but you have all helped so much during all of this.  We are so humbled to be a part of this story that seems to be unfolding. 

Karsie is in Surgery

We just got back from watching Karsie go into surgery.  The process will take a couple of hours, so it will be a while before we have much to update.  The surgeon told us he would send word at some point to the nurses in the NICU to let us know how everything is progressing, so we might have something for you in about an hour or so.  

Dr. Saenz, the on-call surgeon and our original surgeon called us and explained that he was of the opinion it would be better to do it today when they have openings, a team ready, and while the siloh is still working as it's supposed to.  Karsie looked well when we saw her and since there's really no benefit to waiting until Tuesday (actually it seemed that it might have been a setback) we all decided it would be best to do it today.  

It sounds like there is not going to be much fidgeting with the organs and they are just going to be putting the patch over them.  

We appreciate the prayer given the short notice, and we ask that if you think of someone that might not know and be interested to let them know.  Thank you so much.  Talk to you soon...

Prayer Needed at 2:00

Change of plans. The surgeon just called and said he thinks it would be best to have surgery today instead of waiting until Tuesday. It doesn't sound like it's an emergency, but his thought is since she's looking good now it's better to do it now instead of having her organs exposed for two more days.

She is scheduled for 2:00 today. We know it's short notice, but please pray for Karsie.

Change of Plans

For those of you waiting to hear how the squeezing went, so are we.  We went in this evening and it hadn't been done, but we could tell the siloh looked like it had been moved.  When we asked the nurse practitioner, she said that the on-call surgeon this weekend looked at it and decided against it.  We think he tried putting just a tiny bit in, but really decided against doing too much as it is such a small abdominal cavity.  At this point we are thinking that everything will be done at once when she goes into surgery early next week.  She will probably go in either late Monday or early Tuesday, but so far we have not been notified of a time.