Page 63 - Journey of Hope by Raymond Moldenhauer

DAY114
Alyssa was on the OR schedule today as an “emergency add”.
Kathie and I left this morning at 8:00 AM to return to Dupont. While we were
driving, Heidi sent us a text message asking when we would be there. I sent a
text back telling her that we were about 35 miles away. Heidi sent a follow-up the pain, but after 15 minutes of trying to get her stabilized, they
message at 9:10 stating that they were going NOW! Dr. Dunn, the Surgeon,
decided that since they were not sure what they would fine, they needed to do
it early so that they had as much time as they needed. And overnight, Alyssa did Kathie and I returned home around 7:00 PM with Alyssa resting
have some blood in her stool – something else to deal with.
ANOTHER SURGERY
Alyssa was in the Operating Room for the next 4 hours. Because
the adrenal gland is located higher in the body, Dr. Dunn was not
able to use the previous opening in her abdomen to go in. So, he
made a new incision all the way across her abdomen about 2
inches higher than the previous scar line. About 5 cm of her
intestine was removed at the site of the stricture, and sewn back
together. The rest of her intestine was checked and determined
to be healthy. The unknown mass was removed along with the
adrenal gland (the body has one on each kidney, and one will
compensate for the loss of the other).
The Pediatric Oncologist was also in the operating room when
the mass was removed. After looking at it, he determined that it
did not appear to be a cancer tumor (the mass, however, would
still be sent to the lab for testing). As a result, he felt it would
not be necessary at this time to subject Alyssa to a bone marrow
biopsy in addition to the two surgical procedures. They closed
her up and she was sent back to the NICU around 1:20 PM. Dr.
Dunn came up and told us that the procedure went very well.
Around 6:00 PM the Neonatologist told the nurse that she could
remove the IV that was in Alyssa’s head. Unfortunately, the
removal of the tape from her hair and the repositioning of her
body were most likely painful for Alyssa and she responded by
“crashing”. Her heart rate dropped, her saturation levels fell and
the alarms all went off! They increased her morphine to reduce
decided it was best to intubate her once again.
peacefully.