01/20/2007

Hello everyone! I am going to do an update before Monday, which is Emery's big day. I will try to update then, but who knows when I'll get to a computer. Well, as we all know by now, Emery's PDA is open. The doctors are minimally treating it so that he can have surgery on Monday. He's on the schedule for Monday afternoon. Please keep Emery, Erik and I in all of your prayers. As miracles have it, the new pediatric thoracic surgeon was in town this weekend. I believe he was touring a facility, and the hospital granted him temporary privelages with the adult thoracic surgeon who will be in attendance for Emery's surgery. Apparently there are a large group of people involved in this thing. There will be two surgeons, two anesthesiologists, at least one neonatologist, the NICU nurses, a respiratory therapist, and the nurse practitioner who will be there as well but not part of the team. I met her yesterday and she went over the procedure with me and I signed the consent. She actually worked with Dr. Davis (the new surgeon) when he did part of his fellowship at the University of Iowa. I've done a little reading on Dr. Davis, and he sounds utterly qualified... like, they'd bring someone in who wasn't, but still I had to look up the guy. I can't help myself sometimes. Anyway, the doctor said that the U of I interviewed a lot of people for the position and they were very happy to have this surgeon. That comment in of itself alleviated a lot of fear. I guess any time a children's hospital and teaching hospital is happy to have a new physician they feel will be an asset, it's always a good thing! Anyway, the procedure itself will take about an hour. The actual surgery takes 10 minutes, but the rest of the time is spent observing the baby and making sure there are no complications. The nurse practitioner will come out and tell me how the procedure went. The surgeon will be doing another baby's ligation as well that day, and I am fortunate in that the fellow will be going to surgery with him to manage his vent. She is the one who is most familiar with his case as she has been one of his physicians since day one. I had planned on asking her to be there anyway, and she stopped by the room yesterday to tell me she was going with. Here is some exciting news. They will switching Emery's vent 3 hours before the surgery on Monday (because he cannot be on an oscillator for it) and, if all goes well, Erik and I will finally be able to hold him for a bit before the surgery. I am scared, excited and nervous all at the same time. I don't really feel like I've bonded with him yet. I'm crazy in love with the boy, but I want to hold him. It's a bizarre world when you give birth and your baby is taken away and a group of strangers tend to your child's care daily. One of the nurses gave us a big compliment/ego boost yesterday, though. She said that Emery does best when Mom and Dad are around. That is when he is the most peaceful. So that's the story. Little love is having surgery. The doctors feel it is obviously best for him. The nurse practitioner said that they would re-evaluate Emery's PDA on Monday to see if it was still there and I said "Oh, great. It will probably close and he won't need surgery." She looked at me and laughed and said "I have never heard anyone complain that their child wouldn't need surgery." I snickered a little and when she left the nurses and the fellow and I all laughed about it because we are truly hoping that Emery has this surgery to correct this problem. This PDA is really difficult on him. Thanks again for all of the support and prayers. Keep us in your prayers on Monday and for the following few days after surgery. Preemie lungs tend to get stiffer after a PDA ligation. Pray that this is a big turning point for Emery and a big step in his road to healing and growing! We love you all! Sarah, Erik and Emery