Day 16 and Surgery #3

Three down, one to go. Nate's third surgery went very well. He went in at about 7:45 a.m., and came out at 9:30. Dr. Lambert came to find me in the waiting room and looked "lighter" than I've seen her thus far. It was encouraging to see her smile.

She was well pleased with the procedure, and was surprised by how much she was able to accomplish today. She anticipated that she'd just be able to wash him out and re-pack the wound. However, when she opened him up, the swelling had gone down enough that she was able to irrigate the abdominal cavity and bring the small bowel up close enough to the abdominal wall to start forming the stoma for the illiostomy.The bowel was still too swollen for her to make the "cuff" of the stoma, but it's about halfway finished.

She was also able to bring Nate's incision line a lot closer together. It was about 8 inches across (or open), and she closed it to about 4 inches across. This will make it easier to ease his abdominal muscles back together when they completely close the wound. He's still attached to the vacuum but will at least be able to sit in a chair and even walk around a little bit.

He will receive more diuretics over the weekend to hopefully help the inflammation in the bowel go down enough so they can finish the illiostomy, reattach his small bowel, clean him out one last time, and completely close the incision.

Dr. Lambert was able to pull an ER trauma surgeon in this morning who specializes in "acute abdominal injuries". He helped her loop the bowel up for the stoma and agreed with the plan of action. As "chance" would have it (I know there's nothing "chance" about it), he is on call in the Surgical ICU next week so will be available to help finish the procedure on Monday. We are so blessed to have such good care and I know we are where we need to be.

I believe our prayers are being heard, and answered.

As I was chatting with Dr. Lambert about the surgery, the complications and the frustrations, for our family but also for her, our discussion turned to faith and the purpose of tribulation. We both agreed that there is a plan being played out here, and that sometimes we just have to do our best, have faith, and then have patience. She then quoted Mother Teresa, "We are called upon not to be successful, but to be faithful." How appropriate, and how true!