Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Quick update

We are finished with our marathon of 7 pre-op appointments...yea! We've been here since 9:00 and momma is hungry, so this will be short and sweet.

Everything is set for surgery tomorrow. Alex got a brand new tattoo to mark where his ostomy will be placed, we met with the ostomy nurse, surgeon, internal med, cardiology and surgeon's nurses. All of our millions of questions were answered and we are feeling well informed, but a bit overwhelmed. We arrive for surgery at 10am with surgery scheduled for around noon. The procedures will include removal of diseased part of colon, temporary ostomy placement, removal of any mesh necessary, removal of any small bowel attached to mesh, and replacement of mesh with more biologic material (less likely to become infected). The surgery will last anywhere from 2-8 hours with the goal being as little small bowel loss as possible. Thank you again for all the prayers and we will update more tomorrow. Love to you all!

On the Road Again...

Alex and I arrived in Cleveland safe and sound last night at about 7:30 or so. We split the trip up into two days, stopping just outside of Indianapolis to stay the night on Sunday. It was a nice drive with wonderful weather and plenty of good places to stop along the way. We are staying at a couples house in a suburb of Cleveland called Parma Heights through the Hospitality Homes of Cleveland (another lodging option the Clinic offers). The house is a really neat home that reminds us a lot of Alex's Aunt Emma's house. The couple is very nice and friendly. We look forward to getting a chance to get to know them even better in the weeks to come.

As a follow up to the previous post, and as most of you already know...Alex will be having surgery tomorrow morning to have a temporary ileostomy placed, resection of portions of his bowel, and possibly removal of the mesh that was placed to repair hernias from previous abdominal surgeries. We will know more specifics about what exactly will take place during surgery after our pre-op appointment this afternoon. We'll update everyone after we know more later today.

Specific prayer praises: Safe arrival to Cleveland and to the clinic this morning, excitement and anticipation of finding out if we are having a boy or girl baby(July 23rd!), and smooth sailing on pre-op appointments so far. Specific requests: Peace and calmness leading up to surgery tomorrow, rest tonight, safe travels for Carol this evening as she flies into Cleveland, understanding of what will come following surgery, and rest and guidance for the surgeon and surgical team. Thank you so much to our prayer warriors out there....we can feel and greatly appreciate your love and support.