Wesley's Surgery



Today our little man went into day surgery to see if they could find an obstruction in his left ureteropelvic junction, which is right where the ureter meets the bottom of the kidney. In a previous test they thought they had found one and this surgery confirmed that there was a rather severe blockage. Dr. Micheal Mitchell performed the surgery and was very pleased with the outcome, and said hopefully now this will help with the hydronephrosis as well as with increased kidney function.

Looking at these pictures you wouldn't even be able to tell something was wrong with the little dude. We had to be at the hospital by 6:00am and he wasn't able to eat anything after 1:30am, so he was probably really hungry, but he was just smiling and laughing, and making the nurses fall in love with him. After arriving at the hospital we talked with Dr. Mitchell so that he could explain what he was going to do during the surgery, then they took us downstairs so that we could talk to the anesthesiologist. After we talked with him the nurse who was assisting Dr. Mitchell was talking to us and Mitch and I saw the hand of the Lord in our lives, for who should walk up but Steve Taylor, a brother in our ward whom Mitch home teaches. He was just walking through to where he was working that day, but it was really nice to see a familiar face. Well the Lord's hand was extended again when Cameron Woolf walks over, another brother in our ward, and he is part of the anesthesiology team that will be working with Wesley. The awesome part is that Cameron was supposed to be someplace else today but got called back to this hospital. I was truly awakened to the timing and keen awareness the Lord has for each of us and how he answers prayers. It gave me a lot of comfort today to know that the Lord is looking out for my family in so many ways.
After the nurse took Wesley into surgery Mitch and I waited for a call about half way through to tell us how he was doing. He was stable and the doctor had finished the otoscopy to look at his bladder and was continuing onto the obstuction and repair. Because the surgery was over three hours long the anesthesiologist put a breathing tube down his throat in case the drugs caused breathing trouble. We waited a little longer and got another call saying the surgery was done and that we'd be able to see Wesley soon. Dr. Mitchell came down and was very positive about how the surgery went which was a very welcome conversation and he hopes that by removing the obstruction that Wesley's kidneys will start to improve in function and that some of the pressure from the hydronephrosis will be reduced. I got to go see Wesley in the post- op room for a couple minutes until they were ready to move him to his recovery room. He was asleep and had remained asleep, only waking up enough to eat , and boy was he a hungry man after 12 hours of nothing in his tummy. Although he did have an IV in the whole time so he hasn't be dehydrated at all. He has a big bandage on his tummy where a little drain is from the incision and he's had a catheter in so that his bladder empties and doesn't cause undue pressure. He's been such a trooper through all of this. We have been very blessed to have skilled hands working on him here at Children's hospital and we know that we owe thanks to our Heavenly Father for providing those hands in all of his wisdom to be here with our family at this time.
We'll hopefully be discharged tomorrow if everything is doing ok. Thank you for all of the prayers and support.