8-16-07 (started) – 8-19-07 (continued)
Now for an update on Kit. The original plan was for her follow-up surgery to be three or four months down the road once she had recovered from the first surgery. This would have been an arterial bypass and reconnection of the bowels. After nearly three weeks in the hospital, she was discharged Thursday (8/9), and by that evening she began having pain in her side again. My sister-in-law Dee was staying the night with her, and when Kit seemed to pass out in the middle of the night, Dee called 911.
We were told that her vital stats dropped so low in the ambulance that she probably wouldn’t have made it if they had come much later. Once she arrived at the hospital, they were able to stabilize her until the surgeon came in to see her. He seemed very worried and decided to go in right away for exploratory surgery, but he warned us that there might not be anything he could do at this point.
He had to remove another foot of her bowel (making about 4 ½ foot total), and he decided he had to do the bypass right away to save the rest of bowels. She made it out of the surgery, but it was obvious that the doctor was still very concerned because she would be sick for the next few days as her body had to flush out a lot of toxins, etc.
She made it through the critical period, and on Tuesday, the surgeon went back in to reattach the bowels. That surgery also went well, and the doctor himself seemed visibly relieved when he came to speak with us after the operation. We’ve been told that she’s not completely out of the woods yet because of her age, possible complications and simple fact that she has to recover from three operations in just over three weeks, but she appears to be on the mend.
Many prayers have been said on Kit’s behalf, and we are grateful for each one. She has been greatly blessed as have we all. Thank you very much for the support and caring. Until we meet again.
