Thursday Afternoon, 12/27/07

First, I've been meaning to update the blog with updates on Christmas. The pediatric surgery department arranged for a catered dinner from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on Christmas Eve. They brought a couple of huge filets, a number of side dishes, some chicken strips and fries for Alyssa, a bottle of wine, and a couple desserts. The entire meal was incredible. There were also gifts for Nathan and Alyssa, including a new tricycle for Nathan. Everyone was so nice and really made Christmas a little more normal.

We spent all Christmas Day back here at the hospital. Grandma Linda flew up from Georgia just to spend the day with us. The kids had a great visit with her (and all their new toys, of course). It was super nice of her to fly up just for the day, it meant a lot to all of us.

Now for the real updates...

Nathan's surgery went on as scheduled today. Christa left the house early to get there before they wheeled him off to pre-op. I dropped Alyssa off at daycare around 8am and headed into the hospital. When I arrived they had already started the surgery so we hung out in the atrium. They were hoping to remove the blockage and avoid an ostomy if at all possible.

Around 2pm, the surgeon came up to meet us in the atrium. The surgery went fine, although they had to remove another clump of small intestine that, although it was alive, was continuing to stricture. This was the part of the same length of intestine from the first surgery that was unhealthy, but they were hoping would heal and become usable. He is left with approximately 100cm of small intestine, which should be enough for him if everything starts working again. This process is a very lengthy recovery; he could be on TPN for at least two more years. Fortunately, they didn't need to put in another ostomy. They replaced his G-tube with a larger version that fits the feeding apparatus. He will actually be draining through a NG tube until it (hopefully) starts passing through his bowel.

Anyways, that's all I have for now.