Third times a charm...or at least that is what we hope!

Things had seemed to be going good after Sawyer's surgery back in February. About two weeks after we had been discharged from the hospital, we went in for a routine follow up where we would begin to start dilations (stretching out his rectum). The appointment ended up not going well at all. As soon as Dr. Hoover started to dilate Sawyer, he could tell something wasn't right. There was some tightness there that made Dr. Hoover want to bring Sawyer to Wake Med the following morning for an exam under anesthesia. He thought there may be some scar tissue making it difficult to dilate him or there could be something else. He was only going to be out for half an hour under anesthesia and we would have to spend the night (because of his corrected gestational age). I told Brad to not take off work because I didn't think it was going to be too big of a deal. So we dealt with the no eating after midnight and I got Sawyer over to Wake Med bright and early at 6:00am. Shortly after they started the exam, Dr. Hoover came out and delivered some bad news. He discovered that there was some sort of blockage a little bit above where they had done the pull through procedure. Dr. Hoover was amazed that Sawyer had been able to go the bathroom as much as he had been going. "We are going to have to open him back up tomorrow to fix him," said Dr. Hoover. The morning took on a very different weight after that shock to my system.

Sawyer was admitted to the Peds floor again and we had to begin prepping him for surgery which meant an NG tube down his nose and he would been given GoLytely to clean out his system for a 12:00 surgery the following day. It was a rough night because Sawyer couldn't eat again and a pacifier is only going to work so much. As Friday morning started, surgery was still on time. Several hours later, we learned it would be pushed back to 5:00 due to several emergency surgeries that came in. Finally around 3:00, Brad and I decided to postpone his surgery to the next day so that his surgeon could go home and get a good nights sleep. The length of time the surgery was supposed to take was very open ended. We heard many times that it could take two hours or it could take five hours. It just depended on what it looked like once he got in there. Sawyer was also going to have a very nice scar this time. Before they were able to go in laparoscopic but since they didn't know where the blockage was or how bad it was, they were just going to cut him open and see.

They took him back around 8:00 on Saturday morning. This was the most difficult of all his surgeries for me. The fact that the issue was unknown and that it could take a long time scared me. He also was going to recover in the PICU this time and could possibly come back with a temporary colostomy bag and a breathing tube down his throat. In the end, his surgery went well. Dr. Hoover was easily able to find the stricture and remove it. He did end up removing his appendix just because there is a high correlation between kids with Hirschprungs and having an appendicitis.

Sawyer recovered well in the PICU and we were able to move back onto the Peds floor the following day after surgery. We went home on Tuesday morning and he has been recovering well. The coolest thing I can say that has happened in all of this is that Sawyer pooped out his appendix! Not sure why Dr. Hoover didn't just remove but you have to admit it is pretty funny. We hope and pray that this will be the last time we have to spend time at Wake Med for a very long time if ever again!