Surgery Day update #1

I don’t have a whole lot to write but wanted everyone to be as up to date as possible. Plus, it helps occupy my mind. Roberta, she is our nurse that is in the OR with Dr. Alam just called me for the second time. She said that we are now 2 hours into surgery and they are still working on opening her up. This means that have successfully completed 2 scopes on her prior to surgery: one was a cystoscope and was a vagiscope. Also during that 2 hours they placed a central line. This central line is a larger form of an IV that will more than likely be in her neck. This central line will be used to give her TPN (total parental nutrition) over the next several days. The reason for the TPN is to give her nourishment over the next several days as she will not be allowed anything by mouth until her bowels awaken from surgery. This can sometimes take up to 5 days due to anesthesia and narcotic pain meds. They also did a Bupivacaine nerve block and epidural to help keep her comfortable during and after surgery. Hopefully using Bupivacaine instead of a narcotic will keep her bowels from “sleeping” to long after surgery. At this point he is starting to open her up. Dr. Alam had told Bart and I last night that the process could take 4-5 hours just by itself. This is due to her previous surgeries and the scar tissue created from each one. As Roberta put it to me earlier things are going slow and steady and Gabby is doing beautifully. She will be calling me with updates every 2 hours. Some of these updates will be more informative than others so there may be a while between blog post if there isn’t a lot to say. Thank you all for the constant support, love and prayers. 

Avery is here with us for a while today and so farhas gotten to visit with a therapy puppy named Deacon and has gotten to make Gabby a get well card. She is being very patient on such a long day.