Operation Answered Prayer

Sleep has been short and so this post will of necessity be short as well. Thank you all for your prayers for Adam over the past week. God has answered them abundantly.

We asked that Adam would tolerate his pre-op preparations well. I was astounded at how patiently he endured the constant visits to the lab, giving the maximum amount of blood nearly every day in the week before the surgery so that various tests could be run. Twenty-four hours before our scheduled time for surgery, he had to go off formula and only drink clear liquids. I was afraid that he would cry for hours, but in fact, it was his twin Oliver who was the biggest fussbudget on the night before the operation.

We asked that the surgeon would only have to perform the laproscopic surgery and that he would discover ducts leading from the liver into the small intestine. The surgeon did indeed find the ducts, showing that Adam does not have biliary artresia as was at first feared. Although he had to make a small incision, it was tiny compared to the large one that the Kasai procedure would have required.

It is a great blessing that Adam does not have biliary artresia; however, this means that we still don't know what is causing his jaundice. The surgeon took a biopsy of his liver and the pathologist should have the results back from this within a week. After that we will meet with a liver specialist and have more blood drawn and more tests.

We're still unsure how long Adam needs to stay in the hospital. We could get out today. It could be one or two more days. David and I are spending the nights here at the hospital while baby Oliver is with Grandma Janet at the Hayes home.

New prayer requests for Adam are: (1) that he would experience relief from the pain of the incision and the build up of gas in his bowels, and (2) that the liver specialist would be able to easily diagnose and treat the cause of his jaundice.

Thank you all for your continued prayer! It has been a tremendous support to us to know that the community of believers is lifting us up for intercession before the throne of Grace.