Surgery

I wanted to leave a few tidbits for anyone interested in what Mateo's surgery might entail. First off, he will have a central line placed as an IV. This is surgically placed in his chest, to avoid having to poke him several times to keep TPN going... TPN is Total Perenteral Nutrition. It takes the place of food while his bowels heal from surgery. Then Dr Wadie will do an exploratory surgery to figure out where the distended (swollen) bowel is at. If it is in the distal bowel (the lower end), that would be the best case scenerio. He could just remove this section of intestine, as it is not functioning anyways, due to the lack of ganglion cells due to Hirschsprungs Disease. If it is in the upper portion of his bowel, Dr Wadie will do what is called the STEP Procedure, which will narrow and lengthen this distended portion. This could be beneficiary to Mateo because it will help bacterial overgrowth and also give him more length of bowel to absorb more nutrients and have firmer stool.
Here is a link to see a little bit of info on the step procedure.
http://www.childrenshospital.org/cfapps/step/index.cfm

Mateo's surgery is scheduled for October 7th at Riverbend. We are looking at around a week of hospitalization... Please keep those prayers and well wishes coming!

COMPLICATIONS

We have had quite a bumpy road the last six months or so. Mateo has repeatedly been hospitalized for dehydration caused by diarrhea. He had an upper Gi done, which showed a large portion of bowel being quite distended. Dr Wadie ordered a barium enema to see exactly where the problem lies. This test came back showing that it is indeed his small intestine that is swollen. Since this has been an ongoing problem, it has been decided that surgery is our only option.
We are currently in Peds at SHMC at Riverbend and have been since Monday. He is on IV fluids and antibiotics for dehydration caused by diarrhea caused by bacterial overgrowth due to the distended bowel.

His upcoming surgery is scheduled for Thursday Oct 7th. It will be exploratory, to find out if the distended bowel is on top of his stoma or below. If it is below, this would be great! Dr Wadie will just remove this portion of intestine, and we will be good to go. If it is above, Dr Wadie will do what is called the STEP procedure (google it- great info) to narrow and lengthen his bowel, which will cause more absorption of nutrients, more formed stool, and less bacterial overgrowth. ALL GOOD STUFF FOR MATEO! He will also remove the intestine that Mateo is not using, which is approx 24 cm and his entire colon.

As we take our next journey, we do ask our family and friends to send some prayers for us! This will be a difficult time for us, especially for Mateo!

I will post more and keep everyone updated as I learn more.