We were brought to Millie as she was being wheeled up to her recovery room. She looked beautiful. She's sort of been coming around but they have her on a medication through her IV that will prevent contractions that makes her very groggy. Her pain has been high, but they just adjusted her epidural and it seems to be a bit better. When she first heard my voice she tried to smile. She kept saying a word that we couldn't understand until one of the doctors realized she was saying, "Maggie, Maggie." We reassured her that Maggie was just fine. The next few hours/days/weeks are important as everything done is aimed at keeping Millie and Maggie stable and preventing preterm labor. I'm so proud of my dear wife. In her groggy state she still shows some of her spunk and sass. Her mom went and got a cookie and when she came back to tell me we heard a voice say, "whaa whaa, rub it in." That's our girl. The epidural is working better now, she's resting quietly.
Maggie is out of surgery. Things did not go as planned. As the doctor put it, "she threw us for several curve balls." We could not do the ETV. Once in her brain, he discovered that it would be too risky to proceed because of her anatomy. From what we remember, her pituitary was too close to an artery. As they were pulling out, a blood vessel burst. They had to get that bleeding under control before sewing up that side of her head and cutting open the opposite side for a shunt. That's when the neurosurgeon called us to tell us the disappointing news that the ETV wouldn't work. He said he'd come back to visit us in 45 minutes once the shunt was placed. We always knew this was a possibility, but were told her anatomy was "perfect" for the ETV. Guess you can't judge a book by its cover, even with an MRI. Shunt surgeries are common, and it is rare to have serious complications. But two agonizing hours later, we were told what happened. Duri
Tell Millie I'll have a whole batch full of cookies waiting for her when she gets home! This just melts my heart. Thank you, thank you for sharing this experience with us all!
ReplyDeleteMatt, I have been thinking of you and Millie (and Maggie) all day! Thanks for these awesome updates! I am so glad that everyone is doing well and will continue to pray for the 20/37!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad for these updates, Matt. You're so sweet writing about Mil. Glad to hear it's gone so well. Love you guys!
ReplyDeleteSo grateful things are going so well! We will continue to keep you all in our prayers! Give that girl a great big hug from me! Love, Steph
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that everything went well. We will continue to pray for Millie and Maggie (and you too Bishop) :). I know it's hard to watch someone else go through all the pain of surgery.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for keeping us updated. We have been thinking about you guys all day! Im so glad everything has gone so well. You guys are in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the updates!!! I got on here after work for that purpose. Been thinking about you guys all day. I am so thankful everything is going well. I will still be watching for updates so I can email Dusty. I have not written his weekly letter yet so that I can let him know how things are going. He loves you guys so much and so do we!!! Give your sweet wife a hug from me:).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad everything went well. You guys have been in my thoughts all day! Josie drew a picture today at school she wants to send. Let me know if there's a good place to send it. If not, I'll just send it home with her.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting all of the updates! I am so happy and relieved that everything went well! We'll continue praying. We love you guys!
ReplyDeleteThat Millie - what a fighter! Such great news - so happy and relieved to hear everything is going good so far! Lots of prayers and love to all of you.
ReplyDelete