Friday, February 22, 2008

They closed Abby's chest!!!

Yes, after a mind boggling 10 weeks, (her first surgery was Dec.14th) Dr. John finally closed her chest. Of course, it's not really "conventional" - but nothing is with Abigail. She seemed to be recovering well after the procedure, didn't seem to get real puffy or anything. She got many visitors as word spread they finally closed her up. Beforehand, Dr. John went over the procedure with me to have me sign the consent form. I told him he better close her up today, or I wouldn't sign it! He said he was going to close her up and he did!

It's kind of hard to describe. I'll get a picture of the x-ray. Dr. John cut the "bend" out of the bars. There were 2 ringlets on each side. He brought the 2 sides together and put a "bolt" or small pin through the ringlets. This brought the 2 edges of the sternum close enough together so that over time (at least one month, maybe more) the bone will fuse together and the skin will heal and grow over top. Sounds to me like a piece of cake! He will leave the bars in there until her little sternum is done healing, then remove the bars.

Our next goal is to get her off the ventilator. I assume the first attempt will be sometime this week. She will probably go on cpap and we'll see how our Supergirl does.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so wonderful! We are so happy and know that Supergirl Abby will do great! We'll keep praying for you all!

Sandra & Paul Carter

Anonymous said...

Great News.

Anonymous said...

OMG~~~~!!!!!!!!! YAY