An Isaac Update

On Tuesday, we had our appointment with the pediatric surgeon at Children's Mercy Hospital - Downtown Kansas City. His name is Dr. Snyder. I meant to post earlier, but all of the information has been swirling around in my mind. With more research via the internet, I am beginning to understand more of what's wrong and the procedures needed to correct it.

The consensus is that Isaac has a Pulmonary Sequestration on his right lower lung. I could write a really long explanation of what that is, but I'm not going to. I found two different sites that explain it really well. Check them out here and here.

Isaac's surgery was scheduled for Monday, February 9th.

Dr. Snyder is going to start with a thoracoscopic surgery. He's not certain this will work because of the location of the sequestration. Not only that, but they need to find the artery that is supplying extra blood flow to the sequestration or there could be massive blood loss. If they're not able to find the artery using the scope, then they will remove the scope and perform open surgery. The open surgery will involve an incision starting a little less than mid-way on Isaac's front right rib, around his side, stopping a little less then halfway on the back of his right rib. This is quite a hefty incision. Dr. Snyder is going to see if they can remove just the sequestration, but also told us they may need to remove the entire lower lobe of Isaac's lung.

Depending on which surgery works, he'll be in the hospital for up to four days. Then home for recovery for an additional week to ten days. The surgery itself is supposed to take about three hours. After the surgery, Isaac will be monitored for infection. His lungs will be monitored as they could fill with fluid and collapse.

I'm personally having a hard time with this. My mom had lung cancer twice. The first time, I was a junior in high school. Her surgery was much like Isaac's if he has the open surgery. She encountered many complications, such has her lungs filling with fluid and collapsing. I remember her telling me it was like drowning and terrifying. I also remember how difficult it was for her to recover after she was home. As you can imagine, I'm more than a little emotional and nervous about Isaac's upcoming surgery. So please, continue praying Isaac will do okay and that everything will go well. We've appreciated everyone's love and prayers. Thank you so much. I'll keep you updated as we get closer to the surgery and while we're in the hospital.