Thursday 16 April 2009

27 Weeks - Neonatal Surgeon

Following the scan we had a meeting with the surgeon who is likely to carry out James's repair surgery. What a wonderful man!!

He explained that the surgery is not a big deal - its the pre and post stabilization that matters. Once the baby is stable enough and showing that he can manage his oxygen a little they will take him for his repair.

In order to repair they will make a small incision in the left side of James's chest region. They will then pull all of the organs from the chest area and back into the abdomen. They will then stitch a patch over the hole in his diaphram and close him back up.

James then has a real fight on his hands. He needs to not only manage his oxygen levels but he also needs to use all the organs now they are in the right place. The best outcome is that they just work.....please pray for this.

Once he has recovered from the op they will reduce his ventilation levels and try and get him to breathe alone. They will also introduce his milk. Once he is breathing and eating independantly he will finally be able to come home......yipeee!!!!

So it appears that James has an ordeal ahead of him in his early little life and this is aweful to think of.

We were however given a fe reassuring statistics -

Firstly they are noticing an 80% survival rate in CDH babies at the hospital - much better than the 50% we were first quoted.

Secondly James's LHR is 1.9. This is a very positive prognostic sign! LHR is Lung to Head ratio and it essentially gives us some idea of the size of the babies developing lung. Anything below 1 is bad news, however ours is way above that so we're delighted. However, please note that the surgeon stressed this was not a cut and dry figure. There is no exact way to predict an outcome for a CDH baby. They are all different and they are without a doubt all special and strong little babies.

Our next scan has been booked for 23rd April 2009. I will be speaking with the midwife before then to book in my induction date - its likely to be 8th June....11 weeks to go!!!

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