Surgery Update

Okay, well Joseph has gone under the knife and is back on top again! Around 8am this morning my parents took him to Riley to have an reverse gastric tube procedure. For those who don't know, this is a pretty drastic procedure that involves removing all the damaged parts of his esophagus and then replacing it with a tube created from his own stomach tissue. They didn't get started with the actual surgery until around 10:30 and lasted for slightly over 5 hrs. I am told he behaved pretty well until it came time for the sedatives, when he started acting (understandably) scared. Apparently his hard head forced the nurses to give him a little extra knock-out than usual, so I think he settled down pretty well after that. :)

At this point the doctors have said the surgery went very well. There weren't any complications, although removing his esophagus was more difficult than expected because of the amount of scar tissue - that part of the operation took at least 2/3 of the total time. Although done w/the surgery, he probably won't really be "with it" until tomorrow morning, so we'll have to wait until then to see how he's taking it all. The main concern now is that there might be leakage at the spot where his new esophagus attaches to his throat. That can lead to infection, and monitering that aspect of the recovery is what will keep him in the hospital for several more days. Mom is spending the night with him tonight, so pray she actually gets some rest - ha! We're all planning to go up and see him tomorrow morning.

I want to thank everyone for all your support - Joseph has been so blessed to surrounded by prayer and love, even from his little sunday school friends! Lately he's been asking everyone "You will be praying for my surgery?" and thanks to God we have good friends that are able to answer "Yes." (It's too bad you can't hear his accent....it's much cuter that way ;) Well, that's all for now, but I will keep you posted as to his progress. We definitely appreciate you praying for a quick recovery and complete healing.

Love,
Kelly