2 surgeries today...

Today has been a very long day! As I wrote in yesterday's blog, Priscilla was scheduled to have a surgical procedure done at 8 a.m. this morning. So of course, I rushed out of bed and made it to the hospital shortly before 8. To my astonishment I beat my mom there; and to think I am not a morning person! Anyways back on topic, they did not take her down for the surgery until 10 a.m. and once in surgery I left to go home to get my baby, only to get a call from my mother and Scilla around noon; saying that they would need to perform a second surgery, most likely later on today.

    We were orignally told the second surgery would occur around 5 or 6 p.m. this evening, but it was moved up to 3:30 p.m. The Thoracentesis was unsuccessful due to the large size of the blood clot and fluid, which kept clogging the needle. So the same doctor who treated Scilla in the ER on the day of her accident came over to talk to us. And here is what she said :

• Scilla would be having a big surgery called Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). VATS is  performed using a small video camera that is introduced into the patient's chest via a scope. With the video camera, the surgeon is able to view the anatomy along with other surgical instruments that are introduced into the chest via small incisions or "ports".  The surgery should take no longer than 2 hours.
• Using VATS, they will drain the fluid from the fusion in the lung area using a suction and lightly scrape the lung.
• After doing the above they will be putting in a chest tube to keep draining any excess fluid. The chest tube will remain in for about 3 days or until the lung reinflates.
• While the tube is in, she will have a chest x-ray every morning to check the lung inflation progress.
• The blood clot itself will eventually reabsorb into the blood stream.
• With the VAT surgery, she will have a breathing tube during surgery and overnight. She will spend the night in ICU tonight, then she will be moved to a room at GHS on Thursday. The recovery period is 5 to 6 days, which means she will remain at GHS for this time period.
• Priscilla will return to Roger C. Peace sometime next week after her week of recovery at GHS.
  I think the time spent at GHS will add to the time in which she will have to spend at RCP, so the orignal 4 weeks before coming home has probably been pushed back, but we will know more about that when we get back to RCP and that is the least of our worries right now; we just want her to get better.

     The surgery went very well and they removed about a liter of fluid from her right lung area. They inserted the drain and she is resting in ICU in the heart instittute for the night. As stated above, she will be moved to a room tomorrow.  The doctor said she will be in a lot of pain and they are going to try to control it and hopefully once the drain comes out and the lung reinflates she will feel a whole lot better because she should no longer have problems with her breathing. I am so glad everything went well and I am hoping that from here on we make progress and no regressions because she is ready to leave the hospital. Please continue to keep Priscilla in your prayers.

"Walking in faith..."