July 11

You had your fourth surgery in as many weeks today, and it was such a success! Your retinas are completely intact and the surgery went smoothly including the intubation. The anesthesiologist confirmed you are difficult to intubate, but since he was prepared it only took one try. The most exciting news was that the retinal surgeon said you had, “A good chance for good vision”. Your Grammy liked to have fallen out on the floor when she heard that and made him repeat it! We are all so relieved foremost that you came out of the surgery well and secondly that you most likely will have vision.

Once you are back up to full feeds with the G-Tube in a week or so they will pull the central line out and it will be time to go home! We should be done with surgeries for a few months now; the next one will be to have your colostomy reversed, and then at 6-18 months you will have the first of several surgeries to repair the hole in your palate. It’s interesting to me how my perspective has changed so quickly about so many things. Just last week I was so anxious to have the NG tube and central line removed. Today I can’t wait for the patches, ostomy bag and G-Tube to go away. When Daddy and I were trying to make a decision on whether to do the NG or G-Tube, both options made me nauseous, but eventually I made some peace with the G-Tube. About the same time I was told you would need the colostomy, and suddenly the G-Tube seemed like a piece of cake. I really want to hate the procedures you are having, knowing the pain you go through and the risks involved. But I keep telling myself to be grateful that this technology is available, because the alternative to not having these surgeries is much worse. And how blessed are you to be born in Houston, Texas where we have some of the best medical care available in the world? Anything you could ever need is just down the street from us. We are fortunate in so many ways—God has been so good.

This first picture is of you sleeping in your snazzy new sunglasses Honey and Grandpapa gave you today! Get used to the feeling Precious, you will have glasses on your face for at least 6 years. Good thing you are still cute as a bug.

Daddy was determined to take a picture of you while recovering from surgery. You were laid out so that all your new contraptions were exposed. We didn’t want to use the flash since we could see part of your new eyes peeking out from the patch, so he covered it with his finger, and you turned out red. He thought it was so cool, I bet a bunch of red pictures start popping up.