Surgery

Avigayil needs to have surgery. She has to have a g-tube put in. A g-tube is a feeding tube placed directly into her stomach. For most children this is a small simple procedure. That will not be the case for Avigayil.

Her GI wanted to do a more complicated surgery at the same time called a fundoplacation. This would in effect stop her from vomiting - forever. Usually this is not done on children who are "neurologically intact" because they grow out of the reflux. The question in Avigayil's case was "Can we wait that long?" Her vomiting is currently on of the things that is keeping her from gaining weight. Since she is not gaining weight, her lungs can't grow and heal. Since her lungs aren't healing more energy is going into breathing and she can't gain weight. You get the idea.

The problem is that the surgery is permanent and irreversible. Also, not all the doctors agree that it will help her.

To further complicate matters, Avigayil is not a candidate for sedation. This means that no matter what we decide It will be a big surgery. She will need general anesthesia and intubation. What is usually a small procedure is now a big deal.

So we did an upper GI study to help us decide what to do. B"H it came back fine and now she will only have the smaller procedure. However, it will not be simple. We are going for tests on Wednesday and if everything checks out hope to do the surgery on Monday.

While she is under anesthesia, if she responds well, they hope to do a few other small procedures as well.

We really don't know what to expect. A lot will depend on how she reacts to the anesthesia. In theory, it could still be outpatient, however they told us that they will reserve her an ICU bed just in case. Once intubated she may have a very hard time coming off the ventilator. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.