Summer's Hook-up Surgery

Thurs. Sept. 4, 2008, Summer was scheduled for surgery to re-attach her intestines at 5:00 PM. Tom and I planned to see her for a couple of hours before she went in and hold her. My parents would stay with our other kids at our house until we got home. Well, that is not how things happened after all.

I decided to call the hospital today and double check the time for surgery. the last two times she has been moved around and ended up being operated on at a totally different time than scheduled. The surgery fellow had talked to me a couple of days ago and said if she was to be moved, it would likely be a little earlier, but not by much. Well, I called and talked to Summer's nurse around 10:10 and she informed me the surgery would be at 10:30. YIKES! I almost started crying. I really enjoyed holding her before the last surgery and was looking forward to that this time around too. The nurse felt terrible and said she would see what she could do. After calling the OR, she told me they could wait a little while until I could get there. I called Tom and let him know. He headed to downtown Seattle (from work) to catch a hospital shuttle. I also called my parents and they jumped in the car and rushed out the door to come stay with Morgan. I then jumped in the shower and was ready in record time.

Morgan was still asleep, so I headed out to the van to wait for my parents. Just as soon as they pulled into the driveway, I pulled out. I checked with Tom to see if he found the shuttle stop and he was wandering around downtown trying to find where he was supposed to be. By the time I reached I-405 I could see that traffic was stop and go...argh, Seattle traffic! I was sorely tempted to hop in the carpool lane and risk a ticket, but just as soon as I thought that, the cars would start moving again. This happened several times until I finally reached 520...then I was on a quicker moving freeway. I checked with Tom again and he still had seen no sign of the hospital shuttle. He had called the hospital and gave the go ahead even if we were unable to get there. I ended up crying the rest of the way there.

When I finally arrived, I ran in and rushed up to the 4th floor. I was surprised when the lady at the desk told me she was still in her room. I breathed a sigh of relief and rushed back to see her. The nurse had moved her into an open bed so I had easy access. I got to kiss her and hold her hand. I received several appologies and told the attending doc about my temptation to hop in the carpool lane. He said I probably could have explained my way out of a ticket if I had been pulled over...I told him I would have probably just broken down in tears...he said I looked honest and tears would have definitely helped!

The surgery team came and picked Summer up just before noon. Tom still hadn't arrived so I called him to let him know she had been taken back. He ended up having to jump on a bus (he never found the shuttle, (apparently he was told it was on Pike St. but it is Pine, oops) so he didn't arrive until about 12:20...we decided to get lunch while we waited. She was done around 2:00 PM and the surgeon came out to talk to us. He said there was no excitement (insert sigh of relief here!) and all went about as well as it possible could have. He estimated Summer's intestines had grown a few more centimeters and she probable has about 23-24 cm with the growth and taking into consideration the small amounts they had to remove to have a clean, fresh piece at each end to hook together. This was great news! We still have about 5 weeks of gestational age to go, so even more time for more growth :) Tom and I both are constantly amazed at how much she has grown and how strong she has remained. We'll take it! As with anyone, she will now be at risk for intestinal blockage or leaking. In a couple of days they will try trickling a little food when she appears ready and see what happens. She will also be tried in an open crib and possibly be moved to a regular hospital room very soon.

We stayed around for a little while longer, then headed for home. We decided to take a detour and grab dinner at The old Spaghetti Factory...yum! We try to take every opportunity we can to do dinner together...taking advantage of the time without kids and before we are in charge of Summer's full time care. Please keep the prayers coming!