Well, Fark

My husband has had a hernia repaired.  I have a 'bellybutton' hernia. And my baby HAD a diaphragmatic hernia at birth.  Now?  It's a Paraesophageal hernia (hernia #2 for little Hailey). From what they can see (and it isn't all that much), it seems as though the exit of the stomach (the first part of the intestines), instead of heading downward, has snaked its way up, pushed through a little hole beside where the esophagus comes down through the diaphragm and some of it is trapped up there, causing occasional backup, and likely explaining ongoing 'noise' we hear insider her chest after feeding.  The section of the intestine is hidden, apparently, behind the liver, and tissue has likely attached the two together, making for delicate work to extracate it and bring the bowel down without damaging the bowel or the liver. 

Sigh.

So, what this means is that the FIRST thing they want to do is microscopic camerawork to determine what is going on and how severe it is, and if it is what they think it is.  At that same time, once they determine the nature of the condition, they will do whatever it is they have to do to fix it.  This could be quick and not too difficult, or it could, because of the fact that it is hidden behind the liver, require a nice, big incision up the middle of her chest.  Time will tell.

So now I sit here waiting for CHEO to call back and let me know when we can get her in for the surgery.  In a sense, it is 'elective', meaning that unless or until Hailey has more episodes, we don't NEED to have the surgery, but the condition, pending another episode, can get more severe and cause complications if not dealt with.  So here we go again.

She's strong and we're strong, but this still really bites the big one. 

My poor little fighter...

More to come later.