Go for Launch!!

We just got the "official" call that Parker's surgery will be tomorrow around lunchtime!  Today was spent prepping him in the event that the call was made to go ahead tomorrow-- paralyzed for 24 hours, increased and constant suction on his stomach to get all the air out and make it squish back through the hole easier, some extra blood volume added, some extra diuretics and steroids.  He was pretty out of it all day (obviously, with that laundry list of goings-on), HOWEVER, I finally got to see some eyeballs!!

I was too beside myself to take a picture.  Apologies.

He opened them several times when I first arrived, so I was able to talk to him and rub his sweet little face while they put him under with the paralytic.  My heart was (is) happy.


We are, naturally, nervous about the surgery tomorrow.  I know we are in the best of hands, but no parent wants to see their 2 week old baby boy, whom we have never gotten to hold and snuggle with, get wheeled into an OR.  Mike chatted briefly with the surgeon about the actual procedure, which will take about 2 hours depending on the severity of the hernia.  If you have a moment around lunch time tomorrow, please send some thoughts and prayers on down towards Egleston.  Mike and I will be in the surgical waiting area-- probably with me sweating profusely from my arm pits and Mike pacing around and playing his nerdy medieval app in which he takes over other people's cities on an imaginary planet (yeah... don't ask.  I mock him mercilessly on a daily basis for it.  And yet I love him still).

They will go in laproscopically to get a better view of the situation, and if they can, repair it without cutting open his chest.  In that case, they will stitch the hernia closed by suturing the diaphragm to itself.  This would be ideal, as opposed to a big giant incision under his ribs.  If the hernia is large, they will open his chest and fix the diaphragm with mesh and a patch (probably made of Goretex).  The risk of re-herniation later in life is greater with a patch, so we'd like to avoid that if at all possible.  We aren't too picky, really, so long as the surgery goes well and Parker recovers as quickly as possible!

The mysterious right lung situation mentioned yesterday will probably not be addressed tomorrow.  In addition to the three possibilities I listed yesterday, today the surgeon mentioned that it might just be some lung collapse from the right lung having to compensate for the left.  Whatever the case may be, they have decided that Parker will be under enough stress tomorrow without adding all that to the mix, and that they can re-evaluate after he is recovered from his repair.  Even if it is something that will be have to be surgically removed, that will wait for another six months to a year.  We'll be on a regular consult basis with Dr. Parker for a few years, so they can keep a close eye on it.  I am more than okay with letting that ride for a while if it isn't presenting any present danger.  We have enough on our plates as it is!

Tomorrow is NATIONAL DONUT DAY!  It's funny how God's timing has worked this week-- everything has happened sooner than expected, especially given the wretchedness of last week, so that one of the most critical days of Parker's life will fall on the day the rest of the country celebrates his favorite food.  We already felt good about Team Parker (baby and doctor), and now combined with National Donut Day-- Jupiter has aligned with Mars, peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars, etc. etc. etc.  We are ready to roll.  We continue daily to see God's hand in Parker's life, and we feel His grace carrying us as parents.  There's no way we'd be making it otherwise!

I will update after he comes out of surgery tomorrow.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.