Hospital Update Day 1

First of all I want to thank everyone for thier thoughts, prayers,phone calls and text messages today.  It has been so humbling to see so many people have cared enough to check on us.  We are so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives. 

Our day started early at 4:30 in the morning.  We had to check in at 7 in Atlanta.  Matthew slept the entire trip.  He woke up as I carried him into the hospital.  They were so good to him in the surgery area.  After meeting almost everyone that would have anything to do with his surgery they took him back to get him ready around 10am.  Since they said the surgery would take around 3 hours we decided to eat, however the food court closed at 10 and didn't open until 11.  So Patrick and I sat and waited on them to reopen for lunch.  I'm not sure if I was hungry or wanted to get back up to the waiting room but as soon as the doors opened I was in.  The food was really good, and I stuffed mine down and hurried back up to the waiting room.  As soon as I got up there they informed me that I had missed a call from the O.R. of course my heart stopped and wanted to know what was going on.  They called me right and they just wanted to let me know that they had started the surgery.  There were a few other heart stopping phone calls but it was all just to tell me he was doing fine.  I guess I wasn't use to having such a long wait for them to be finished. 

Once the doctor finished he came to meet with us and explain what all they did.  They had to remove about 6-8inches of his sigmoid Colon.  He explained that it doesn't sound like much but that Matthew is a small boy and that was a large amount to take out.  He feels like this will fix Matthew's problems.  Matthew will have to get use to his stomach acting different, but over time it will react more like normal.  He should be getting back to normal in a few weeks but it will take about 6 months for a full recovery.  After all these years it will be worth it.

Matthew is having a rough time in his room. He is in pain in his stomach.  He has 3 cuts where they went in. He had some major work inside his stomach today so I am just glad he is awake some and talking.  He has slept most of the day.  The nurses are wonderful and he has only thrown up once and is drinking pretty good.  Hopefully tomorrow evening he can have some solid food.

I will continue to keep you all updated as he progresses.  We all agree that this has been one of the longest days ever.