Abandoned blog turned medical journal

Hello Friends,

I just wanted to start by thanking everyone who has been praying, writing, calling, texting and loving us.  I know that we have been terrible at responding lately and I appreciate your understanding and grace as we continue on this medical journey. In our efforts to keep you all better informed and disseminate the latest info without burning me out, we decided to revitalize my old blog as a place to post info so it will be accessible for everyone who has been so kind and is thinking about us.

I am going to start with where we are right now, so for those of you who haven't been aware of Robbie's medical issues the past 7 months I will try to catch you up with posts in the next few days.  For the current issues to make sense though, it is important to know that Robbie unexpectedly woke up with an umbilical hernia while we were on vacation this summer.  A visit to urgent care and ER later we were assured that it was a small, uncomplicated hernia that could wait for repair until we got home to Texas. Three weeks later, when he was finally seen by a surgeon, the hernia was no longer so simple and needed urgent surgery.  Robbie spent 4 days on bed rest per the surgeon's orders while waiting a surgery spot. On August 20th the hernia repair with mesh was completed. It was a long day as the earlier surgery had ended up complicated and took 5 hours more than they'd planned.  But it was done and by 10pm that night I had a very groggy, pained husband home.  We were told recovery would be 3-5 days of light activity with full recovery in 6-8 weeks.  Unfortunately that has not been our experience.  It has been 6 months and Robbie is still experiencing daily pain or "soreness" at his side where the mesh was attached, increased severe pain anytime he walks any distance more than just to the mailbox and back, and completely inability to lift, carry or normally participate in his previous daily activities.

Robbie was admitted to the hospital this past Friday, February 20th at about 3am with a bowel obstruction.  It had been exactly 4 weeks since he was last admitted for his first bowel obstruction.  Needless to say, two obstructions in 4 weeks isn't normal or a good sign.

While he is doing somewhat better now than when admitted (pain is mostly resolved, nausea is almost nonexistent and he is no longer vomiting) he appears to still be obstructed....if you know what I mean.  :-/

Yesterday he had the pleasure of consuming some lovely radioactive juice (barium) and getting a series of about 12 CTs of his belly taken until the barium hit his colon - at which time they watched it "live" as it made its way down.  It had sounded while he was in there like they had noticed something, but the radiology report came back as "normals study" so today the surgeon will be taking him to OR for "Exploratory Laproscopic" surgery. Basically he is hoping to find a location(s) where Robbie's abdomen or colon developed adhesions in the process of healing from the last surgery. If he does, he is hoping that these are small enough that he can snip the adhered portions apart and that this  will free the colon so there are no further obstructions. He is also hoping that there are adhesions of  some kind at the mesh attachment points toward the sides of Robbie's abdomen that will explain the constant side pain and can be revised to improve that situation.

They had been hoping to fit Robbie in between two patients on this morning's schedule but at this point, I don't think that will happen.  So I'm guessing surgery will finally happen sometime late this afternoon.  Here's what we would love for you to do for us:

Please PRAY.  Pray for them to find SOMETHING to explain all of these issues.  Robbie literally has not had a pain free day since the surgery in August.  Pray that whatever they find is minor, easily addressed and successful.

Please pray for peace. For both of us.  Surgery recovery did not go well at all in August.  Robbie will easily admit that he is honestly afraid - not of surgery, but of the pain, frustration and potential for more adhesions involved in recovery.  Pray for me.  For those who know my family history, the surgical waiting room is not a good place for me.  I don't do well in there.  Pray that I can keep myself distracted, remained focused on positive memories and that I'm not in there for long!

Pray for our sweet babies and the amazing people who have taken care of them while we are here yet again. We were so blessed that Nana and How were in town the night we came to the hospital and while everyone wishes that visit would have been different, it was so reassuring to know our girls were safe, loved and having fun. So many other people from homeschool moms in our co-op, the Godparents and friends down the street have been amazing and enabled me to be with Robbie and talk with docs while our babies are playing and happy.  But it's taking a toll on the girls. Evie wakes me up in the middle of the night just to check "Dada still in hoss-a-pull?"  Pray for Robbie's parents who are so far and so worried and feel so helpless.

I'll post again when we have some news about the surgery time...