Surgery

On Thursday we went to Boston Children's to meet with a surgeon there about Amelia's intestinal malrotation.  He agreed that she needed surgery and the surgery is scheduled for August 4th, unless he gets an earlier cancellation.  The surgery itself is called Ladd's Procedure and the surgeon showed us an oil painting of Dr. Ladd, who was the first pediatric surgeon in the US and worked at Boston Children's.  Amelia wasn't as excited as the surgeon was anticipating.  I acted properly excited to view the painting and I do feel relieved that this is something that is common at BCH.

The surgery is done laparoscopically with three incisions.  The risks are minimal and the pain with recovery is low.  The very bad downside is that we will have to remain in the hospital for 5 nights!  Touching the intestine puts it to sleep and we have to wait until it wakes up which takes on average 5-6 days.  Even worse, Amelia will not be able to eat or drink, and she'll have an NG tube inserted through her nose down to her stomach, emptying out her stomach and intestines until they wake up.  It sounds like a nightmare to me.  I'm not sure a tv will be enough of a draw to convince her that this is a good experience.

So currently we are planning on being at the hospital from Tuesday-Sunday with Sam and I taking turns...