Surgery Date Confirmed

We met with Gavin's surgeon, Dr. Staltzman, again today and were very pleased with the results of our meeting. Now that Gavin's CT scan has been read and we are all on the same page (had a little bit of trouble with that the day of the scan), we were able to talk specifics about the surgery. We had already talked to the scheduler and gotten November 2 reserved for surgery, but we weren't sure we'd get to keep that date. It turns out, though, that we can! We are so relieved to have an end in sight and we can stop wondering how long this will be hanging over our heads. Not only that, but it is much better for us, financially, to have this done before the end of the year.

Dr. Saltzman was pleased to see how big and healthy Gavin is. He is going to try to do the surgery with a scope, but warned us that the instruments are not made for infants and there is about a 50/50 chance that the scope won't work and he'll have to go in through a larger incision in Gavin's side. While they don't see babies with bronchopulmonary sequestrations every day, they do frequently open up babies' chests to remove things that shouldn't be there. (All kind of jokes come to mind, but I'll refrain.) So in other words, Dr. Saltzman does this type of operation frequently and Gavin is in good hands.

We have been told to expect 2-4 days in the hospital and Jeff and I can stay with him the whole time. Since the Amplatz Children's Hospital is brand new, it sounds like the accommodations are pretty nice. I was surprised to learn that Gavin should be able to nurse as soon as he wants to after coming out of surgery, so I will be able to hold him at least for that. There will be tubes and such to work around, but we've done that before.

Long term, we expect Gavin to make a full recovery. The surgery will remove much of his lower left lobe, but there will still be part of the lobe left, which will grow and fill in the void. He will function as a completely normal little boy.

Please continue to pray for us and our wonderful little boy. Pray that we would continue to be at peace with this and trust God and Dr. Saltzman to take care of Gavin. Pray that Gavin stays healthy prior to surgery. And pray that God works in us and though us during this time.