On Tuesday, we met the pediatric surgeon at Children's Mercy. He agreed with all of our other doctor's that she is a perfect candidate for a fundoplication and g-tube. We are sch
eduled for surgery on November 25th, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The surgeon said parents typically don't want to schedule anything that day, but we thought it would work great. The hospital should be a little quieter over the holidays and Chad can have a four day weekend to be with Josie. The surgery takes about 45 minutes and Josie will be the first one on the schedule that day due to her age. Josie will have 5 small incisions on her tummy and one will become the site for her g-tube. The surgeon said they will begin feeding her 6 hours after surgery which is amazing. She should be in the hospital about 48 hours, so we are hopefully we will be home on the weekend. We are very hopefully that this dramatically reduces her reflux and she can begin to truly heal. It will also be so nice to see an end to the NG tube. We expect the G-tube to be in place until she is gaining weight independently for a few months. This may take 6 months or a year. We just don't know what to expect once her throat is healed and she no longer refluxes. She may take off and drink formula like normal or we may have to transition to solids quicker and it will take a little longer. The good news is we will have a more permanent way to feed Josie when she doesn't feel well enough to eat. For the next few weeks we are going to try to put as much weight as we can on Josie and hope for no new illnesses.
On a happier note, Josie is getting much better at sitting and is going to be sitting her own before we know it. She is also starting to laugh more and more. She is really enjoying music and loves the song "You are My Sunshine". She smiles the minute you start singing. We continue to work on Josie's tech skills Skyping with Grammy and Papa Stewart more frequently. They saw Josie in her costume via the computer on Halloween and we have seen Cousin Lane a little more. This week we've been connecting to Hanoi, Vietnam to see Grampa Scott. Josie is getting up a little earlier than normal with time change so it works out well to catch Grampa before he goes to bed on the other side of the world. This weekend we are headed to Derby to see Grandma Virginia since we aren't going to make it for Thanksgiving. We can't wait for her to see Josie and how much bigger she is now!
eduled for surgery on November 25th, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The surgeon said parents typically don't want to schedule anything that day, but we thought it would work great. The hospital should be a little quieter over the holidays and Chad can have a four day weekend to be with Josie. The surgery takes about 45 minutes and Josie will be the first one on the schedule that day due to her age. Josie will have 5 small incisions on her tummy and one will become the site for her g-tube. The surgeon said they will begin feeding her 6 hours after surgery which is amazing. She should be in the hospital about 48 hours, so we are hopefully we will be home on the weekend. We are very hopefully that this dramatically reduces her reflux and she can begin to truly heal. It will also be so nice to see an end to the NG tube. We expect the G-tube to be in place until she is gaining weight independently for a few months. This may take 6 months or a year. We just don't know what to expect once her throat is healed and she no longer refluxes. She may take off and drink formula like normal or we may have to transition to solids quicker and it will take a little longer. The good news is we will have a more permanent way to feed Josie when she doesn't feel well enough to eat. For the next few weeks we are going to try to put as much weight as we can on Josie and hope for no new illnesses.On a happier note, Josie is getting much better at sitting and is going to be sitting her own before we know it. She is also starting to laugh more and more. She is really enjoying music and loves the song "You are My Sunshine". She smiles the minute you start singing. We continue to work on Josie's tech skills Skyping with Grammy and Papa Stewart more frequently. They saw Josie in her costume via the computer on Halloween and we have seen Cousin Lane a little more. This week we've been connecting to Hanoi, Vietnam to see Grampa Scott. Josie is getting up a little earlier than normal with time change so it works out well to catch Grampa before he goes to bed on the other side of the world. This weekend we are headed to Derby to see Grandma Virginia since we aren't going to make it for Thanksgiving. We can't wait for her to see Josie and how much bigger she is now!
