Surgery is Done

The surgery went as well as could be expected, according to the doctors. Brigham tolerated it very well and even just as the surgery was over, they said he opened his eyes and looked right at the surgeon. We decided he was just telling the surgeon "thank you".

Afterward, the surgeon was filling us in on what went on during surgery. His diaphragm didn't actually have a hole in it, it had only a front section. There was no diaphragm on the back left side. Basically he's missing 1/4 of his diaphragm. They put a patch in to repair the hole, but in the back of his body there was no peice of diaphragm to stitch it to, so for now the patch is sutured to his ribs in the back. The surgeon said this will mean he will need another surgery to kind of re-patch it in a few months.

Speaking of more surgery, today they did something called a silo. Because of all the swelling, when they did the repair and moved his stomach and intestines out of his chest, there wasn't really any room for them in the abdomen where they belong. For now, they are outside of his abdomen in a sterile dressing. When the swelling goes down in a few days, they will do another surgery to put them back in the abdomen.

As you might imagine, even though everything is covered with a dressing, it's pretty scary to look at. Therefore, I won't be posting any pictures, except this one of just his face.

While we were still in his room before the surgery, I was holding Brigham's hand and told him he had to be good for the surgeons and get better. I asked him, "Can you do that?" and he squeezed my finger. I take it as a good sign.

We've always had the impression that he will be ok. Now we're just trying to decide if that means he'll be ok on Earth, or ok in Heaven. We still have faith and are praying like crazy.

At the risk of sounding rude or ungrateful to all of our wonderful friends, we would politely request phone silence for a little while. We know you mean well and we still appreciate all the prayers and well-wishes! We're back to the waiting game now. We'll try to keep things updated.