Haley is resting so Im going to try to bring everyone up to date on Haley's surgery today. They took her to surgery about 7/7:30 am and they were finished around noon. They tried to remove her spleen by laperscopic surgery, which would have left her with on 4 or 5 small "stab like wounds." They were unsuccessful with that approach because of the location of her spleen(it was in the middle of her stomach not on the left side of her abdomen where it should be) and because the large intestine was somewhat intertwined with some of the veins/arteries coming off the spleen. They had to make a incision from the belly botton up about 3-4inches towards her sternum. Once they opened her up they found that her anatomy was not as it should be. Her pancreas was not where it should be and part of the large intestine was tangled-up in the mess of twisted veins and arteries from the spleen!! She had lots of veins and arteries around the stomach, pancreas, and spleen that where distended due to the large circulatory load these vessels were having to accomadate because the splenic vein wasn't doing its job. They removed her spleen and veins and arteries that go with the spleen. Her pancreas and part of her large intestines were put back where they should be. She didn't have any blood loss during surgery!! Her surgeons did such a good job and were very careful with her situation. They are going to continue to monitor her for bloodloss. She can't eat or drink anything right now till her "gut" wakes up. They are going to be very careful about this because they had to move part of her large intestine around and want to be sure she dosen't develop a "illius" or blockage in her bowls.

The surgeon told us today that she will be put on a small dose of penicillan (one tablet daily) for the rest of her life. This is to prevent her from getting infection because she is now at risk to get sick easier because she doesn't have her spleen to help fight infection. The doctors will continue to monitor her to be sure this surgery has reversed the portal hypertension and that the varicies in her stomach have stopped bleeding and healed. We will learn more about her longterm care later this week. The doctors told us today that her problems with her spleen and what they saw when they opened her up in surgery is one for the record books!! We always knew she was "special"!!! They took lots of pictures during her surgery today. (Katie do you have time to make her a scrapbook? Maybe Colton can help you!!) The surgeons also think she was born with her spleen problems and they don't know why!

Her big issue at the moment is controlling her pain and controlling her nausea!! She has a pain pump and they increased her dose late this afternoon because it wasn't controlling her pain. This caused her to have more nausea! At the moment she is resting comfortably. She did dangle her feet on the edge of the bed about a hour ago! They want her walking around her room tomorrow!!

Sorry it took me so long to get this on her blog to night. Keep the prayers coming and thanks for everyones love and support.



Love, David and Carrie Ann