Please let me start by saying we are sorry this post did not get out sooner!
Between being at the hospital yesterday, heading back to pick up the other two grand kids, celebrating Chloe’s birthday dinner (her birthday was Tuesday), celebrating her birthday with presents when we got home, and getting them both in bed, yesterday just escaped us. And today was just as busy, as Cheryl went to the hospital early to relieve Nicole so she could go to work for an obligation she had to be at, then she went to work, and I took the kids to school, followed by work. Then for both of us, dinner with everyone, basketball practice for Gavin, homework, showers, etc., etc. On and on it goes. You get the picture. Life is crazy right now
By the way, this is actually Dean posting tonight, as Cheryl is still busy with the other grand kids this evening.
Nicole, Brandon, and Pyper had a very early start yesterday, as they had to be at the hospital at 5:30am. Surgery started a bit later yesterday than planned, as they had a bit of an issue with her IV and blood work, and then it went a bit longer than expected, as the doctor had a few difficulties in seeing as clearly as she needed to, and had some minor difficulties with the equipment she used, etc.
But per the doctor after surgery …. she was thrilled with what she saw when she was in there, as there were no signs of any previous “damage” to her intestines like they sometimes see, and she was able to do it all laparoscopically with three tiny incisions. While in there, she also removed Pyper’s appendix for preventative reasons, as it was not in the location that most of ours is due to her mal-rotation issue. I say preventative, as later in life she might have had a pain in a different spot than normal, and she might get misdiagnosed due to them not knowing her appendix was in a different location. And she was able to put in the g-tube feeding line directly into her stomach that now allows the removal of the ng tube that has been down her nose for several months now.
The doctor was very pleased with how the g-tube part went as well.
Needless to say, we believe all the prayers from so many people were directly answered!
Once out of surgery, Pyper went to PICU and slept for quite a few hours. Not too surprisingly based on past experience, Pyper had a bit of a rough time as the anesthesia wore off, and she seemed to be in pain and discomfort, so on top of the regular pain medicines, they gave her a small dose of morphine which helped a lot.
Pyper did extremely well last night, sleeping until 5:30am, which helped Nicole get some rest as well. They continued her on the morphine today which continued to help this morning and all day today each time see she awoke in some pain and discomfort.
The doctors and the surgeon were in today and were all very pleased with her progress today, how the wounds looked, how the g-tube looked, and how her tummy was soft. All great signs!
Because everything looked so good, the surgeon took out her g-tube incision drain line, which helped her be held and moved around better.
The doctor also feels like the morphine can stop tomorrow.
Pyper has not gotten to eat for over 48 hours either, so I am sure part of her discomfort is being hungry. Pretty hard to explain that to a 7 month old. 😉
The other great news, is the surgeon is so pleased with how things have gone, that she thinks Pyper will be able to go home in 3 or 4 more days, which is way sooner than we all expected.
I will leave you with a bonus as I close out this post. As you may remember, Cheryl had asked people to send her letters of prayer for Pyper. Cheryl was able to post them on her PICU door and in her room today. As the surgeon was coming in to see Pyper, she stopped outside the door and read the ones on the door. She came inside with a big smile and said “wow”. Cheryl said wait until you see all the ones inside the room and showed her. Cheryl had the chance to ask the surgeon if she was a believer and she said yes. So Cheryl was able to tell her that herself, the other doctors and nurses, and the Operating Room itself, had been completed covered in prayer by so many of our family and friends, and that we know God showed up in a big way!
So, all in all, we could not have asked for things to go any better than they have so far!
Today we are thankful that:
- Pyper has been surrounded by the presence of the Living Lord!
- Pyper has a wonderful and extremely skilled surgeon!
- Pyper has a wonderful team of caregivers, from the rest of the OR / surgery team, to the PICU nurses, to the respiratory therapists, etc.!
- Pyper is healing well and quickly!
- Pyper may get to home home sooner than expected!
Check these out!
An Unintended Journey 