Surgery Has Been Set

CURRENT WEIGHT: 4 LBS, 5.4 OUNCES (1977 GRAMS)

Truman had only .8 ounces to go to reach the 2000 grams target this morning. However, we found out sometime in the last few days that the target is very arbitrary and is usually adjusted for each individual child. Because the neonatologists felt that Truman was ready a couple of days ago, the call to schedule the surgery was placed in advance of Truman actually hitting the 2000 grams mark. So, there is no longer a "magic number" that Truman has to achieve, and from here forward we can just worry about growing for the sake of growth, and don't have to be overly concerned that it will create an obstacle to surgery.

Initial results on the barium enema from yesterday look good as no strictures or other mechanical issues were found. The enema also managed to help Truman pass some lingering meconium a few hours later. We still don't know if they plan on doing another one before his surgery.

Speaking of the surgery, the time and date have finally been set: Tuesday, November 21st at 4:30pm. It's a tremendous relief to have it scheduled for many reasons, including the fact that Truman's abdominal hernia has continued to worsen over the last few weeks, and is now very pronounced. During the surgery to put his bowel back together again the surgeon will also repair the hernia. Also, living with an incomplete bowel and an ostomy bag have been hinderances to working up to full nippling and weaning off the nasal canula entirely. Once he has recovered (which could take a week or two) we've been told to expect faster progress.

Truman will have to be intubated and placed back on the ventilator again for this procedure, and it's likely that he'll remain on ventilation for at least a couple of days afterwards. There's also a good chance he'll lose some weight afterwards since he will be unable to take food in the same volume that he has been recently (remember, Truman has not used the lower third of his small intestine or any of his large intestine for the last 11 weeks, so they will have to be given time to adjust to resuming their normal function), which is part of the reason to fatten Truman up as much as possible prior to next Tuesday. In the interim he'll be put back onto a TPN drip, which provides needed proteins and amino acids, and is what Truman lived off of before he was able to start taking milk.

This certainly means that there will be no travelling for us over the Thanksgiving holiday, but we really don't care about that because this surgery is one of the last major hurdles Truman has to cross before being discharged and finally coming home.

--Ben