Emergency Surgery

Yesterday Joey had emergency gastrointestinal surgery due to the infection in his intestines.  Joey was diagnosed with something called NEC (Link) last Sunday.  NEC can be treated medically, but in sever cases surgery is required.  The doctors had been treating Joey medically for this and he was showing promising signs of improvement.  Unfortunately, late Monday night and early Tuesday morning there were significant changes in Joey's progress.  When you get NEC there is always a serious concern that your bowel can perforate.  There was suspicion that this might have happened to Joey, but he never showed any signs that it had until yesterday.

The doctors were extremely concerned that it was a perforation based on his sudden change.  If they did not do exploratory surgery to see what was going on with the bowel he would only get worse and if they did there was worry that he was not stable enough to make it through surgery.  The only hope for Joey to get better would be to do surgery even though it was very risky given his condition.  The doctors walked us through how it would go and ran through the list of complications Joey could face. The odds were not in his favor. There was a high likelihood that he would not pull through this.  Eric and I had the difficult discussion with the surgical team on what the plan would be if Joey was not tolerating surgery.  If surgery was to be aborted CPR would only extend Joeys time for a little bit. Given this we agreed with the team that if it came to it Joey would be made comfortable and laid to rest in our arms.

This was a very hard and emotional conversation to have.  Again, Joey was staring death in the face and here we were having another conversation about our child potentially dying.  It seems as soon as we take one step forward we take a giant leap back. It has been exhausting jumping hurdle after hurdle and I don't know how much more Joey or Eric and I can take.

With surgery lingering a few hours away the nurses got Joey out of bed and let Eric and I get our snuggle time with him.  We ate up every minute would could fearing it may be our last.

Joey's surgery was to be done in his room at the bedside.  The team felt that he was too unstable to even go to the OR (if this gives you any idea as to the severity of the situation).   Eric and I would be given a private place to wait, close by, where we could get updates on his progress.  As well be near if things were not going well.

The afternoon flew by and before we knew it was time.  It was impressive to watch the surgical team assemble in Joeys room.  They understood the difficultly of their task ahead and graciously worked around us.  Eric and I partially dressed in surgical gear and held his little hands while the team got him ready.  We told him that we loved him and to be strong.  We stayed with him until the team was ready to being and gave him worried kisses good bye.

Surgery was to be quick and the plan was to be in and out in under an hour. The first update came within  five minutes of sitting down. They surgeon had made the incision and Joey had tolerated it well. We anxiously sat waiting for the next update. Every time we heard the door open I held my breath awaiting the news that was about to be delivered. Luckily, no bad news never came!  The surgeon had found two sections of dead bowel, removed them, and they were closing him back up.  The whole thing took about thirty minutes and to everyone's surprise, Joey flew though surgery. The surgical team was impressed and could not believe it.

The next 72 hours are critical to see how Joey will respond and recover.  Last night, there were major concerns as to how he would do and to everyone's surprise, again, he had absolutely no complications.  He has handled everything like a champ.  Again he has defied the odds and proven to be a fighter.  He is such tough little guy and we are so proud of him.  The next few days are still very critical and we hope that Joey keeps making advances.