Surgery Update 2

This is a picture of me with Adam last night. Last night our baby had no eyelids. 

Today has gone smoothly. We have had precious friends with us throughout the day. Including my friend Brooke, the wife of the family we are staying with, a new friend Maria working on a photojournalism project, a new friend Steven, the pastor of the church we have been attending, an elder from the church, and even others throughout the day.

Before surgery, we had a precious time to read Psalm 139 over Adam and the head surgeon and pastor led us in a time of prayer. Jesus is clearly here and at work in amazing ways.

We are still in the waiting room. Going on 7.5 hours of surgery. We have been updated frequently from the Operating Room that Adam is doing well. The last part of procedures are starting now. That is the skin grafts in the eye region. We think it should be 1 more hour.

The pediatric surgeon created an ostomy and feeding tube which went well. The anatomy is normal and normally arranged. No abnormalities which is good to hear.

The eye lids have been created. Adam’s eyes are sutured shut. The eye doctor emphasized how close Adam was to having severe damage to his cornea. Now that the eye is stitched shut, the cornea will be protected for a few days. The one concern is how quickly young children can lose eyesight without having the vision stimulated. So they want to release the sutures on the eyelids and give Adam the chance to open and shut his eyes on his own, as well as has the ability to have his vision stimulated. But, they need to balance that with the need for his cornea to be covered and recover from such a long exposure. It is a hard balance, but as of now the corneal protection outweighs the need for visual stimulation. Does that make sense? I hope so;)

Regarding his eyes. Please pray:

1. That he will have strong “eyelid closing muscles”. He has strong opening muscles but his closing muscles are weaker. So please pray he can miraculously gain that.

2. That his vision will be preserved by the eyes being closed. If possible, that reversal of damage would be possible. God is faithful. We trust Him to sustain his vision. He has this far (10 weeks of opened eyes).

3. Speedy recovery for everything.

4. For us to rest in God instead of us to restlessly worry and question.