Surgery Number 3

Yesterday Matthew had surgery number 3. The surgery was to fix a couple different things. One was exploritory for finding out wether or not his bowels and intestines were twisted, or had a narrowing or anything abnormal going on. Well his bowels were twisted about 180 degrees so the surgeon fixed that and also his stomach was up next to his patch and starting to attach itself to the patch.The surgeon also fixed that. He also did a procedure called a fundoplication. (here is a link to help explain it) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissen_fundoplication
This will help with his severe reflux that he had. He was not able to keep anything in his stomach which in turn caused him to aspirate and get pneumonia. The Doctors all agreed that this can not happen again. So the fundoplication was necessary. They also removed his appendix since this is a totally useless organ. They remove the appendix so that there is never a question as to what would be causing abdominal pain. It will only be something going on with his diaphragmatic hernia.

Matthew did great during surgery and has continued to do so. He was able to be weaned off of some of his medications today. We knew they would wean after his surgery, but we had no idea it would be so soon. The Doctor is really impressed at how well he is doing. They are going to try feeding him again the middle of the week. It has been about 3 weeks since he has had anything but IV nutrition. Lets keep our fingers crossed that this surgery fixed all the issues with him eating. In order to get out of the hospital and come home he has to be able to eat and breath on his own. The breathing will come before the eating I am sure. He is already doing good with the breathing. In the next couple days we should see some major improvements to his breathing. All the sedation from surgery will be worn off and he will be able to take all his own breaths, instead of having the vent do most of the work.

I will keep you informed of his recovery status. We just hope and pray that he continues to do as well as he is right now. He is a strong little boy that has put up a huge fight in his short little life so far. I can only imagine what he has in store for us as parents. I am sure he will test my patience beyond anything I have seen yet.

Lots of love,
Jaime