Crazy Day

So much for the "boring routine." About an hour after posting my previous entry, Kirsten called with bad news from the hospital. A morning X-Ray showed "free air" in the belly indicative of a perferation of the intestinal wall. This is an extremely serious problem and the doctors agreed that immediate surgery was the answer. As the surgeons expected after reviewing the X-Ray, the intestine that was connected in last Friday's surgery came undone. Thankfully, they don't think it was undone for a lengthy period of time-- no more than 12 hours-- and a limited amount of stool was able to escape into the intestinal chamber. Since Madeleine was extremely frail during the surgery, rather than reattach the intestine, the doctors chose to create a new stoma and closed off the rectum-- just like her first NEC surgery. At this point, Madeleine is resting well and we expect to have a very difficult 24-48 hours. The doctors have told us to expect her infection to rise again, similar to last Saturday and we know that maintaining her blood pressure will be the key to success.

Needless to say, we're pretty emotionally whipped right now as we weren't expecting such a surgery. Additionally, this is a clear step back in Madeleine's recovery. At this point, our focus is on simply getting through the next 48 hours and then we'll start to re-focus on Madeleine's recovery path. The surgeons did hint that before any further reattachment surgery is discussed, they will want to see Madeleine feed and grow. They indicated that part of this recovery period may include addressing her heart's surgical needs before reattaching the ostomy. We're not sure if that is the ultimate path for recovery and right now, we're just glad that she's resting peacefully.

That's all for now. Once we get through these next two days, someone please remind me not to complain about boring days....