In Recovery

Lilly is now in recovery and we are sitting beside her bed. The surgery took nearly 5 hours and was not as easy as they were hoping. They actually found 2 areas of her large intestine that were very small and constricted. The first they came to was a very small portion and easily removed and sewn back together. The second section was much larger estimated to be around 15 cm (6 inches). This was removed as well and the intestines connected there as well with stitches. So she has two separate areas with stitches in the large intestine. Because of this they are going to leave the colostomy in place. This will allow the affected area to heal before it is exposed to fecal matter. She will have another X-ray in about 3 weeks to see how the areas look. She will certainly undergo another surgery in the coming weeks or months but the doctor is quite certain that we will eventually be able to get rid of the colostomy bag and have everything working the way it should.

So not the solution we hoped to have from this surgery, but Lilly is stable and has good pain medicine through an epidural.