Post Surgical Update 10/9 3:35 PM CST

Liam is out of surgery. We talked with the surgeon a few minutes ago and then headed to the computers to update the blog, etc. because we can see him for another hour or so. So far, so good--he has come through with flying colors. He'll spend some time in the PACU (recovery) and then we'll head up to the PICU. Right now we're just waiting for him to wake up. They were planning to try to extubate and get him off the vent immediately, but they warned us not to be surprised if he heads to PICU still on the vent because the babies who have had this surgery often need to stay intubated over night (the heavy anesthesia required supresses breathing pretty significantly). If he fails the first try, they won't try again until tomorrow morning. He had to have 2 1/2 units of blood and will likely need more tomorrow, so thank you to all of you blood donors out there!

We continue to do well--we even caught a small nap in the waiting area after lunch today.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update: 10/9 at 1:25 CST

One of the surgical team members just called out to say Liam is doing well and the doc continues to operate. They took him back to the O.R. at 9:10 a.m., they opened at 11:05 a.m. I think they time it from the point at which they take him from us, which would be the 9 AM time.

We're doing fine. We just ate some lunch and we're settling in for the afternoon. Joe from church came by this morning and stayed for a long time, which was really nice. It was a welcome distraction chatting with him!

More later...

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

He's in the O.R. now...

So we showed up at the hospital this morning appropriately sleep deprived and were told that insurance hadn't pre-authorized the surgery. Great. I sat there having all kinds of cognitive distortions (sorry folks, but my counselor friends will love that one!) until I just started praying that God's will be done and that He give us peace to accept whatever new plan we developed. A few minutes after I began praying, we got the news that it turned out that the doc's office hadn't made the final call to the hospital insurance office to give them the info that the insurance issue had been resolved successfully. I later asked the surgical team that was milling around if they took chickens for payment. Surgeons just don't have a very good sense of humor, you know? Maybe I should have offered my Civic Hybrid instead. I hear that's a hot ticket item these days. ;)

Therefore, we are a little behind schedule. He went in at 9:10 a.m. and we are now being told to expect a 6-7 hour surgery (I'm no longer sure who told me it would be 3-4 hours, but I don't think I just dreamed that up!). I'll post updates as I'm able today and in the coming week.

In Christ,
Lisa (and Bill, too, of course!)