All done!

Sutton has been recovered in the PICU and he is looking good. They will maintain him on blood thinners to try and prevent any damage to the revascularized area and he will be given a paralytic with his other sedation and pain killers to prevent tension on the sutures in his esophagus that come with certain movements. 

A recap of surgery: Everything went as well as the physicians could have hoped for. The tissue from his jejunum revascularized very well. He has a small out pouch of tissue on his neck to help them visualize the blood flow and know if the tissue internally is holding up. This will likely be removed in 7-10 days once they are confident the tissue has begun to grow in well with the esophagus and maintains a sufficient blood supply. He has 2 drains in his neck and an NG tube to help the air escape in his abdomen. 

Sometimes you do not get to see the silver lining to your struggles and sometimes you get to see it, but it's very far down the road. And sometimes, you get to see it a week later when the surgeons repair damage done in a previous surgery. When they entered his intestines to retrieve the piece of the jejunum they were going to use, they found a small pouch in his intestines that was priming him for a bowel obstruction. So, they removed that. What if the damage had not been done? What if they had been able to repair his esophagus without utilizing tissue from somewhere else? We would not have known about that and he would have had (potentially serious) issues down the road. 

We're very pleased with the success of today's surgery, but there is still some uneasiness about how the tissue will hold up. It revascularized as well as they could have hoped, but that is not a guarantee that the graft will be successful. We are cautiously optimistic. There was also a small area in the esophagus that they could not suture because they felt more damage would be done trying to get to that region than leaving it unstitched. Our prayers continue to be in gratitude for the safety of our child, but we are also praying that the tissue graft will be successful and that the unstitched area will heal well without incident. Just as it was last week we are also watching for infection. 

Thank you for your continued prayers as Sutton moves through the healing process. 

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10