verse

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

Surgery Update

Carter's surgery went much better than expected yesterday.  He had a great night and has done really well today.  He has been in and out of it for the most part.  He has a PCA pump that I am able to push whenever I think he is in pain and it goes continuously.  It has really helped keep Carter's pain to a minimum.  They are wanting Carter to rest and heal the next few days, so it has also kept him calm enough to rest.  

Describing what was done during surgery is very difficult, but I will try.  They started at the small intestine and worked their way down Carter's intestines taking down all of the adhesions.  Adhesions are scar like tissue that causes things to stick together.  Normally your organs and tissue are able to move around each other and adjust whenever you move.  When there is an adhesion it cannot do this.  Carter had multiple adhesions causing his intestines not to be able to move properly.  Adhesions usually occur after a surgery is performed, so we were not surprised to hear that he had multiple adhesions.  So, they took down all of the adhesions and once they got to the end of Carter's colon they moved it from being behind his bladder to up high in his abdomen, near his small intestine.  They then created what is called a Malone.  This is a valve that is created to help clean out Carter's intestine.  This will be helpful if he does have motility issues, the movement of stool through the intestines, in the future we will just flush fluid through the Malone and clean his intestines out for him.  They also found a hole in Carter's mesentery.  The mesentery is a leaf like structure that aides in holding parts of your intestine in place. A piece of bowel had slipped through the hole and was kinked. They think this was the cause of all of the vomiting.   The hole could have possibly been there since birth, since it was midline and Carter has a midline defect.   However, the problem arose when a piece of bowel slipped into it. We were also informed that Carter has about 150cm of bowel, normal is 250-300.  The surgeon was still positive about this and said it is still plenty to work with.  I know it is all a little confusing, but basically he had a clean up, tune up, rearranging and modification done to his intestines.

Taking down the adhesions is a very painful procedure.  This is why Carter has the PCA pump.  Our focus right now is pain management. We will wait until Carter has stool to begin feeding him and that will tell us if the surgery was successful or not.  We do not anticipate this to happen until next week.  Both of the Surgeons and Urologist are anticipating a good outcome and have been very positive about what they found.  Please continue to pray for Carter.  Pray for pain management and for his bowels to heal and start to function.  Thank you all for all of your prayers and continued prayers.  They mean more to us than you will ever know!

7 comments:

  1. So happy to read that things went better than expected! That's always comforting to hear after surgery! I'll continue to pray for pain management and great news next week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My 3yr old Grand daughter, Marley looks forward daily to get to see as she says "Baby Carters" pictures, and for me to read his updates. We both keep Baby Carter and his family in our daily prayers. God is an awesome God and will not stop now in the healing process for this sweet Angel and his family.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Praise God for this good news! Carter still continues to defy all odds! He is true blessing not only to you and your family but all of us who continue to follow your story. We love you guys and pray minimal pain over the next few days. You and Brandon get rested up during this time. God bless and peace be with you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the update. Very glad to hear that the surgery went better then expected. Everything sounds so positive for a change. Yeah!! Praying for all of you. You know where your strength comes from so lean on Him when you feel overwhelmed. Keep Carter comfortable and we'll be waiting for the next update.
    Mack & Dee

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy to hear surgery went well. Praying now for positive results and pain management for Carter. Feel better, sweet Carter!!! What a tough little fella he is. Thinking of you all the time.
    Love and well wishes, Shea

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm glad to hear that everything went so well!! Just know that Lacy, Layton, and I pray every night for Carter! We love you guys!! Lance Varner

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad to hear the news about his surgery. I pray for him every morning on my way to work and while I am at work because his picture is on my computer as a reminder. My students have even begun praying for that precious baby. <3

    ReplyDelete