Faith is out of Surgery!

She's all done!

We visited with both the neurosurgeon and the plastic surgeon after the surgery. Both doctors had nothing but great things to say about Faith's operation. The neurosurgeon said the shunt went in just as planned. The shunt now extends from the right ventricle in Faith's brain down to her abdomen. It will prevent any potential future swelling in her brain. Praise the Lord that this procedure went smoothly.

Both doctors were very pleased with the procedure performed on her back. There was plenty of healthy tissue to work with to provide two layers of protection for the spinal cord. One layer of muscle provided by her lumbar (back) muscles. These muscles will hopefully prevent any future leakage of spinal fluid below the skin. The second layer is made from skin from her mid back. There was enough skin in this area of her back to remove the portion we needed to patch the hole and pull the excess together and hold it with stitches. It sounds confusing, but looks fabulous. The plastic surgeon took several pictures of the procedure and said he would have them emailed to us. 

Now we are on the road to recovery. She still is on a respirator to help her breath as she comes out of anesthesia. They will remove this sometime tomorrow. The plastic surgeon said she should stay on her stomach for about 10 days. I'm not quite sure what this means for feeding yet, but these guys have a plan for everything so we aren't too worried about it. I don't think Ashley is going to visit her tonight, which is just as well, the nurses said she wouldn't be able to hold her for a while anyway.  She's really looking forward to visiting her tomorrow.

Its been a long day for everyone. Thanks for continuing to watch our blog and all of your prayers. This is probably all for tonight.

Tomorrow is a new day.

-Mic

This is a video that I took prior to surgery.

Cant wait till she recovers