Surgery

Lily had her doctor's appointment today with the pediatric surgeon.  Before her appointment, she had to have an upper GI done.  The radiologist indicated that things looked good, but surprisingly, that Lily's stomach emptied quickly (even though she has motility issues) and that she refluxed (even though she's on two medicines for reflux).  I left that appointment feeling good about Lily's hernia and thinking that maybe we'd avoided surgery.


Apparently, the surgeon didn't think the same thing.  According to him, Lily's hernia is called a morgagni hernia, specifically.  It's still a diaphragmatic hernia, he said, but that's all I know.  I think I was in a little shock hearing that he wanted surgery and thinking how rushed it all felt, that I can't remember exactly what qualifies a hernia to be a morgagni hernia (after reading a little about it, it seems to be that it's on the right side of the diaphragm).  It seems as if Lily's colon is going up into her chest cavity, and there's a risk of blood being cut off and that wouldn't be good, but the doctor believes that her colon is moving up and down, so sometimes a scan or x-ray will catch it.  Sometimes not.  So surgery it is.  Luckily, this isn't urgent, so we have about a month before the surgery is scheduled.


So what's planned is that the doctor will go in laparoscopically to see what's happening (since her colon seems to be moving up and down).  The repair will either require stitches or mesh, depending on the severity.  I asked the doctor where this surgery was on a scale, and he said it's a pretty minor surgery.  


It's not the surgery that bothers me as much as it is the anesthesia and Lily coming out of it.  I keep going back to Lily's g-tube surgery and how it took her longer than normal to come out of the anesthesia.  While Lily is bigger and stronger, it's still a concern.


We also learned today that the doctor believes that this has existed since birth.  That was a surprise to me.  I was afraid it was caused when she fell off the bed in Pennsylvania.  If that's the case, it's pretty amazing that it's not bothered Lily.  Plus, it seems as if dh's can be pretty severe and lifethreatening.  That, in itself, is amazing that up to this point, Lily's has not been lifethreatening.


So the surgery is scheduled for June 8.  I admit I'm a little anxious.  Until then, I'm going to try to stay calm and focus on the moments we have together.   There are so many of them, and they are so beautiful.