Post Surgery

Let me start out with the positives:

1. My brother is home and not stuck in the hospital.
2. His hole is closed.

The surgery he had today was much more complicated than everyone ((including the surgeon) had anticipated. It took longer than expected because they did more than they had originally planned on. Since I am not home and I received the "short" explanation I don't really understand what they did. My parents tried to explain over the phone but something this complicated makes very little sense. So I am going to try my best to make this make sense.

Basically, instead of stitching the hole closed, they had to staple it closed. Not only did they staple the skin layers together, but the surgeon stapled the inside of his body. Now this is were it gets tricky to explain. The reasoning for this is because my brother apparently has no separation between his stomach and abdomen. I always thought when referencing the abdomen that it was just a general name for the abdominal cavity…apparently not?  All I can say is that his stomach was attached to *something* which is what caused this hole….again I'm lost so I'm sure the rest of you are as well. Deepest apologies, really. I will be sure to clarify this whenever I am able to talk to my family again.

This wouldn't have caused the issues he has been having for the past year and a half but it should solve problems that would've occurred in the future. Again, as I always mention, there are no guarantees for the success of this surgery. It is truly a day by day process. That of course means that there is always a chance for the surgery not to be successful. And it saddens me greatly that there is nothing more that can be done if this surgery doesn't work. Sometimes that happens….a wound won't heal; despite all effort and that is just God-given. Though right now, the focus is that the hole is closed and he is smiling like he always does. Our surgeon went above and beyond to help this little boy so all we can do is pray that her efforts were meant to be successful.