Courtney Update - Thursday, May 6th

9:00 AM - Well, it looks like we will NOT be leaving until at least Friday. We can't really leave yet if she can't keep food down and she is not able to process what she is eating.

The doctors are really pleased with how she is handling the pain and how well she is getting around. They added another med to help with the motility of her stomach and also adding Miralax to her apple juice (we usually do that at home anyway). We are hoping this will get her stomach processing better and allow her to have a bowel movement.

The positive side of things - She had a pretty good night (slept okay and not much pain in her shoulder). She did have another bowel movement last night (however it was not much and it was loose). Her UTI test came back normal (so the hurting must just be from the irritation of the catheter when they had to readjust it a few times). The new IV is also still working okay.

12:00 Noon - Spoke with Jennifer a few minutes ago and got the latest. It seems that Courtney always has to stir things up a little and do something that is not ordinary. :-) When we discussed the recovery process with the surgeon after the surgery, we told him that one concern we had was her past stomach issues. She tends to have issues with her intestines waking back up and functioning after surgery. We also had the issue several years ago where she got a hematoma in her intestine that totally obstructed it and we spent 5 weeks in the PICU. The surgeon was confident that he could be the first one to get her in and out on time without the stomach problems. :-)

Well, he left a few days after the surgery for a conference in Hawaii (he wasn't looking forward to it - imagine that). He came in to see Courtney this morning and said that he came back early because he heard that Courtney would not leave until he got back. :-) He came in with the GI doctor and they explained that sometimes with this type of surgery the intestine can get kinked when it is moved around and has less room and kinks itself against the spine or bones. They want to do an upper GI to see if that is the case. If it isn't kinked, they want to start feeding her continuously via her Mic-key (g-tube) to get her the nutrition she needs. The surgeon said that this type of surgery needs lots of nutrition to help in the recovery process and Courtney has lost about 9 pounds since her pre-surgery weigh-in.

They are holding off any other food until they do the upper GI and then decide how to proceed from there. Please pray that they will determine what the issue is and that they will make the best decision about how to fix it.

3:15 PM - I just got word from Jenn that the Upper GI has been moved to 3:30 today.

8:30 PM - The Upper GI test came back normal (no kink or obstruction in her intestine). That is good news in one respect, but we still have to be able to get the stomach working properly. They started pushing in a mixture of Pedialyte and Pediasure through her Mic-Key button to make sure that what she is keeping in or absorbing has plenty of nutrients.

I got here a little before 6:00 and she went to the bathroom and she had another loose stool. She wanted to go to the Play Room, so we took her down there. Her and Kelsey were getting ready to play Wii and she started having a pain in her right shoulder and started crying. I went to get the nurse to get some extra pain medicine. Before I could get the nurse, she decided to come back to the room and lie down. She wanted the lights off, so Jennifer stayed here with her while me, Kelsey, and Austin went to eat supper. We came back up and I went to get Jennifer some supper. When I got back Kelsey and Austin left and Courtney is still resting.

We are hoping that all this medicine kicks in soon and helps her to get her stomach processing and push out this backed up stool.

Kelsey is spending the night with another friend and she goes back to school tomorrow. DCA will not be ready for classes, so they are going to have class at Two Rivers Baptist Church. Kelsey has one make-up test, then review for her Chemistry test and study halls. She takes her AP Chemistry test next Tuesday.

Thank you for your continued prayer support.