Surgery update

Here's the VEPTR (Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Ribs). I think this picture is pretty accurate to what Sumana's getting. It'll be 2 rods on the right side of her body. One attaching to her natural ribs (higher to lower) and one attaching from a higher rib to her spine. The surgery is Thursday, August 27. We call on Wednesday afternoon to get a start time. We'll just drive up Thursday morning (we'll try to get one last good night's sleep at home!)

Dr. Pagoli (sp?) and Dr. Sanders will do the operation in stages. Dr. P does the initial incision and deflates Sumana's lung and then covers it with some kind of sheet to protect it during surgery. Then, Dr. Sanders comes in and places the rods. When he's done, Dr. P come back and undoes everything he did at the beginning of surgery. The surgery is supposed to take about 5 hours.

She'll be on a ventilator for 1-2 days (sedated the whole time to keep her from pulling out the tube). Please pray that her lung will re-inflate and 'get back to work' with no problems AND that she'll only be on the ventilator one day, instead of two. The pain will be excruciating for the first few days (maybe weeks?) as she gets used to the rods being in her back. You can pray that the rods 'stay put' and don't migrate (this is a common problem). Also, that the incision heals and that the rod doesn't poke thru the skin (another common problem). It's yucky, I know! Once we get thru this tough part she'll be better than ever! (It's just getting thru the initial surgery and 6 week recovery).

I'll try to update again. But since I had a few minutes I wanted to let y'all know how to pray. Thanks for being there!!!