January 28 – “Surgery”

 

 

April had surgery last night to remove her spleen.  The doctors waited virtually all day with the surgery team on standby.  They were hoping the bleeding would stop on its own.  The surgeon called in to do the procedure was the head of the trauma surgical team.  He's the guy they call to do emergency operations after car wrecks and the like.  Talk about the best guy for the job.  He told us after the surgery that the spleen and blood vessels around it were really inflamed.  The spleen itself had two holes in it, so the blood loss issues was happening right there.  She had a lot of blood pooled in her abdomen, and that was causing most of her breathing issues.  The surgery went well.  She was to spend last night on the ventilator and sedated to allow her to rest without having to worry about "minor" issues like pain and breathing.  They will wean her off the ventilator today.

 

She is definitely not out of the woods yet, though.  Her liver was swollen as well, and that's a pretty important organ they will be watching.  There is still an infection that they haven't determined a cause for yet.  The best minds from the infectious disease team came by yesterday to draw blood and begin their search in earnest.  They are testing for everything from legionnaire's disease to lyme disease to parvo (Yep.  That's the disease one of our dogs had).  My sister-in-law Sue, who is a doctor at the medical center in Houston and who is familiar with April's history, faxed over some of her old records.  She also talked to the doctors at UTMB.  When they found out April was her niece, they really stepped it up a notch.  Gotta take care of their own, so to speak.  Fine by us. 

 

Cailyn once again got to spend some time with her cousins Jachin, Micah, and Josiah.  This time they came over to our house, so Mom was able to enjoy their presence as well.  We ordered a pizza or two for them before we headed up to the hospital.  As the night wore on, Kel took the boys on home, and Aunt Christina read six or eight Princess books to Cailyn before she finally fell asleep. 

 

Today I really need to find some time to go over the sermon and teaching for pastor's class.  Sure hope I can get through both of them tomorrow.  (Tomorrow is Sunday, isn't it?)  I have had a lot of drainage in the back of my throat, so I've been coughing a lot, and can't talk for very long at a time.  Guess that means good news for the congregation – short sermon.  Times like this I appreciate the people at Seaside.  They are quite forgiving.

 

Isaiah 55:1-2 says, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

 

Father, now that the spleen is out of the picture, please give clarity to the docs who are searching for a way to heal April.  And we would be really happy with a miracle about now.  Amen.