Saturday, June 6, 2009

Elijah Litzner Update


Elijah had his surgery last Wed and he did really well- Here's Giles recap of the surgery...
Elijah here--
Hey guys, I'm a little tuckered out...had kinda a big day. Just went in for a "routine diaphragmatic hernia operation" and somehow came out with no appendix. Must have signed the wrong dotted line or something. Surgery went very well (so I'm told, didn't get a chance to watch since I was kinda knocked out). The shocking news is that I was missing about 90% of my diaphragm! Yep, I kinda had to sit down once I heard that too. The surgery went something like this: they gave me a dose of the knock out stuff (they told me to count down from 10 in spanish, but I never made it that far---I was out), then the doctor (Dr. Oldham) and his team went to work making an incision about two inches or so just below my ribs. Once open, they took their time delicately moving my stomach, liver, intestines, and other miscellaneous parts into their proper location. They thought my left lung might only be a nubby, but it turns out that it's about 50% whole (I'm a glass half full kinda guy). All in all the surgery went pretty smoothly---4 hours of smoothly. They capped off the adventure by actually taking my appendix too--and you thought I was joking. It's not actually gone yet, just tied off until it decides to hitch a ride to my diaper (if ya know what I mean). The reason for the whole appendix ordeal is that my tummy is all mixed up like a tossed salad and would be in the wrong spot; so if in the future I happened to need my appendix out it could throw the doctors a little curve ball. And finally, I'm wheeled back to my cozy little Pod (E25) awaiting the finishing touches on Friday. They left my tummy open so everything can get adjusted to their new home. If they sewed me up nice and tight, then my little lungs would have a fit and my tummy would hurt a whole lot. So back to the O.R. on Friday for a couple of stitches, and maybe we'll stop off for some ice cream (if I can pay off the nurses).

Just want to warn you though, I am going to be a lot sicker for the next couple of days before I start to get better. Instead of tubes going in through my mouth, the doctors stuck them through my nose! Daddy already warned me that just because the doctor put tubes in my nose doesn't mean that I can stick things in my nose as I get older (just between you and me, I told him what he wanted to hear but we'll have to see what cool objects life brings my way). So, I'm gonna look a little different for a while, but sometimes you have to go through the tough stuff before you can get better. Hey, the doctor had to cut me wide open and do lots of ouchy things in order for me to even have a chance to heal and live a normal life. God has to do that to us sometimes too. Even though we don't want to go through the tough times---you know, the really ouchy times of life like trials and tests---God has to put us under the knife, to move things in place and even remove other things so we can live the life we were meant to live. So if God has to bring you to the O.R. don't fight it. Just submit to the Master Surgeon...and live.

So, keep praying everyone! He got sewed up on Friday and still seems to be stable... More updates later!

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