Surgery Update

Wow. What a crazy 24 hour period. Highs, lows, and lots of unexpecteds. Jackson went into surgery with the surgeon thinking this would be an "easy" straightforward thing. After many hours of waiting, we knew it wasn't. The surgery was much more complicated than they thought and the obstruction was more severe than they thought. It's so hard to explain and so many things I'm still learning but I'll try and explain the best I know. In very generic "Amanda" terms.

There were multiple obstructions in his small intestine which caused some serious damage to the upper and lower parts of small intestine. The upper part was swollen up like a balloon because it was retaining all the fluid while the lower part wasn't receiving any nutrients so it was much smaller and malnourished than it should be. The hope was to be able to cut out the blockage and stitch the 2 sections back together but it was explained to us that it would be like trying to attach a garden hose to a drinking straw. Impossible. So he had to cut the intestine in 2 pieces and attach each separate end to Jackson's abdominal wall. Which in medical terms are called ostomys. Or stomas. The plan is to feed the smaller part of the intestine directly with the stuff that comes out of the upper section. In hopes that it will get all the nutrients it needs to grow and hopefully match the size of the other part and reattach. They can't be sure when it will be ready to reattach but we are hoping in about 2 months. And unfortunately because of the complexity of this, we cannot care for it at home and Jackson will remain in the NICU until they can reverse this procedure.

He won't be able to take food by mouth for several weeks and even then he may only get partial feeds by mouth after that for a bit. He will be fed by something they call "TPN." Which is basically being fed through his veins with basic nutrients such as salts, glucose, amino acids, lipids and vitamins. This will bypass the need for digestion until his bowel recovers and awakens. As I type he is having yet another procedure done to place a PIC line. A line that goes through a major vessel in his body and stops just short of the heart. This is to avoid having lots of IV's and also to feed his TPN through.

Short term prognosis is day to day really. He is stable and this isn't necessarily life threatening but he will have a rough little life for a bit. After they can reattach everything he should live a relatively normal life. He may suffer from what they refer to as "short gut syndrome." Which might mean he may have some dietary restrictions. Foods that won't sit well in his tummy and will need to avoid them.

He was in surgery for 3 hours last night and that is a long time for an 8 hour old baby. So he will be recovering from just the anesthesia for a couple days. He is pretty heavily sedated still and has a breathing tube for now. He can breathe just fine on his own but they needed it for surgery and now they want his poor body to rest without having to focus on breathing. And he needs to be sedated for awhile so he won't feel the pain of the surgery. In a day or 2 he shouldn't need to be sedated any longer and he can get rid of the breathing tube. He is still breathing some on his own, even with the tube, so they are positive he'll come right off of it with no problems.

I am anxiously waiting for the tube to be out and for him to recover a bit so I can hold my baby. My arms literally ache as I sit by his bed and can only lightly touch him. I would even be fine with a quick kiss on his cute little face but that's not an option right now either. I haven't been able to see my baby's face without some sort of tube or tape attached to it.

Luckily the staff here at U of U are so wonderful and understanding. They usually make C-section patients wait 12 hours before they can get out of bed and such but they let me not only stand up yesterday but venture over to Primary children's several times(by wheelchair) and see my baby. And today has been the same. We've been over there several times for several hours and they let me come and go as I want. Everyone says they can't believe I am up and about after my surgery but let's be honest...who wouldn't be. I have to if I want to see my baby. I am required still to take the wheelchair over because they discovered today that my blood volume is only half as much as it should be. We had to deliver on Tuesday because my amniotic fluid way was high which meant he wasn't passing any through himself. It was dangerous to me and him. And since I had so much extra fluid it has essentially diluted my blood. I get light headed and dizzy quickly so I have to be careful. Hopefully it can replace itself quickly and not take months, which is not abnormal.

We are hanging in there and will remain in SLC until Jackson is able to be released and come home. Since we are looking at a longer stay we are exploring more semi-permanent options which include Carter coming to live with us down here. Primary children's has so many wonderful resources for families and so it looks like Carter can go to a wonderful daycare while I visit Jackson each day. We'll see as time goes by.

Thanks so much for all the texts, calls, and comments and mostly prayers. We appreciate it more than I can express.

Pictures from Today:

In his mouth is his breathing tube and a suction tube. The suction tube removes anything that might get into his tummy. Once he no longer has anything in his tummy that tube can be removed, along with his breathing tube. He will look so different once all his tubes are gone.

People have said they think he looks like carter. I don't see it really. Maybe because of all the tape and wires. Plus Carter had such DARK hair when he was born, and lots of it. Jackson has such light hair and his eyebrows are almost invisible. I think he's adorable. And definitely the cutest in the hospital!