Encouraging News

August 30, 2011
It has been a long, long day at the hospital, however, it is also a day that leaves me (Amy) with some cautious hope.  Dr. Kareem was pleased with the surgery outcome and even said that there is a 50/50 chance that (for now) Matthew may not need an intestinal transplant.   Surprising and amazing news that I was so grateful to hear. For those of you who want (and can handle) the "gory" details, keep reading.  All others that just need to know that Matthew is okay...stop reading here. : )


Details:
The surgery was about 8 hours long;  Dr. Kareem removed all the areas of fistulas, did a liver biopsy (which looks good) and then "cleaned up" Matthew's belly.   Dr. Kareem shared that he was pleasantly surprised by the amount  (101 centimeters) of healthy small bowel that he was able to save.  With this amount of healthy intestine he thinks that there is a 50/50 chance that Matthew may NOT need an intestinal transplant (at this time).   In the next 4-6 weeks it will be important to monitor Matthew's "output" as well as his weight loss/gain.  Barring any complications, he should be able to eat in about a week at which point they will slowly ween his body from t.p.n. I am sure we will be learning more about how they will determine if a transplant is necessary (or not).

I shared my concerns with Dr. Kareem about Matthew's history of developing fistula's a few months after he's had a surgery.  but Dr. Kareem really thinks that the fistula's will not come back and I am praying and hoping that will be case.

Matthew will be spending the night in ICU (because he was in surgery and sedated for so long they need to closely monitor him to make sure there are no complication, etc.); he should be out of ICU tomorrow.  I am with him now and he is sleeping, but awakens every so often to tell me how much pain he is in.....I can only imagine.  Matthew is an amazingly strong and resilient man, but being in intense pain is not a fun experience for anybody.  I'm thankful for modern inventions like continuous drip, pain pumps.

I am thankful for the wonderful doctors and nurses here at UPMC, particularly for Dr. Kareem's expertise with intestinal surgries.  Near the end of my conversation with Dr. Kareem I asked him if he would be stopping by Matthew's room tomorrow morning or if it would be one of his parnters.  It was interesting because he shared with me that today was a religious holiday for him (Ramadan), and yesterday he was thinking that he would be taking the day off, as he is leaving for vacation tomorrow.  (We even had a call from a nurse yesterday afternoon (much to our panic), wondering if we would be willing to post-pone the surgery.  Matthew had shared that he was really ready for surgery, our children were coming out to Pittsburgh, that it just "worked" better for our family if the surgery could stay as scheduleld.)   Obviously we had the surgery but Dr. Kareem told me that he had been praying....is it you God or him (Matthew)?, but ultimately he felt that God was telling him - Matthew.  He said, "My work is an act of worship."  I am so grateful that Dr. Kareem performed the surgery today and that he sees his gifts as a surgeon, his work, as an act of worshiping God.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we begin the recovery stage.  I'm thankful for encouraging news and am cautiously optimistic.