Surgery Day

We arrived to the hospital at 6:15. We talked with all the people that will be caring for Ellie today. All so wonderful and sweet. All saying all the right things to ease our nerves. We got seperate phones calls from Joe Patterson, Jason Brown and Christy Allen. Ellie put each one of them on speaker phone and they each prayed with us. It was very comforting - what an amazing church family we have. We are truly blessed. They wheeled her off at 8:15 and they called us at 9:15 to let us know she did great going to sleep and they were getting ready to start. They will be doing upper jaw first.

10:15 - They just called. Said they are still working on her upper jaw. Said her vital signs are good and she is doing fine. Makes me feel kind of sick to my stomach... Glad it was a good call though.

11:15 - They just called again. The cuts have all been made on the upper jaw and they are putting the screws and plates in now. They haven't started on the bone graft yet. They put the jaw into position and then will add the bone. Thank you for praying for her. Please continue to do so throughout the day.

12:15 - They have started working on the lower jaw. Her blood pressure and heart and vitals are all good. Praise God.

1:15 - They are still working on her lower jaw. I asked if Dr McKenna was happy with the way things were going and she said yes very much so. She said Ellie's vitals are staying strong. Keep praying.

2:15 - Everything still going well. They are still working on cutting the lower jaw.

3:15 - They are putting in the screws and plates in her lower jaw now. After this, they will go in and take the bone from her pelvic/hip.

3:45 - A little scary when my phone rings not on the scheduled time and it's Dr. McKenna! However he had great news!!!! He said that he has been so pleased with how everything has gone so far. He said her bone is so stable and hard and that is something that he can't tell on the CT scans. He said he feels like we can use cadaver bone instead of her own bone! He explained that because her jaw and bone is so stable and strong that he feels like we can go with this plan - which is wonderful! He said her recovery is going to be tough enough anyway and not having to use her own bone will make her recovery that much better. Thank you for all your prayers!! He is still working on the lower jaw, as it is a very tedious procedure. Praise  God for this wonderful news!! I will keep updating as I get calls.

4:30 - They are trimming and cutting the cadaver bones now to the correct sizes so they can be placed perfectly into Ellie's upper jaw. They said that Ellie's vital signs are staying stable and steady. Please continue to keep Ellie and this entire staff in your prayers. It's been over 7 hours now.

6:20 - They are still working on the lower jaw. It's been over 9 hours now. I'm ready to see our baby.

6:55 - Let's all pray for Dr. McKenna too. I can't imagine what he is going through working on her all day long like this!!! I'm grateful to God for blessing Dr McKenna with the ability to do this.

7:30 - She is out of surgery! Everything went perfect! He was so pleased and felt really good about it!!!!! She's in recovery now and we will get to go see her in about an hour. We are so happy to see her. Thank you for praying!!

11:50 - First let me say that we have so much to be thankful for. God answered our prayers and He guided Dr. McKenna and his staff today. You all don't know how much Stephen and I appreciate those of you who have prayed for Ellie and the staff today! We are so grateful.
Okay so over 10 hours is a very long time to be in surgery. She was able to wake up pretty well. She would doze in and out. She wrote us notes. She asked for H2O (as she wrote it), she asked for a soft blanket; and asked for a pillow under her legs; and asked why they didn't take her bone from her hip. We explained to her it was because she had such good strong bones and Dr. McKenna was able to get them so stable. Then I made a joke saying that all that junk food and chocolate eating has really paid off for her. She's not really in the mood for humor. :) She got very wide eyed when she realized where the bone came from.. But I tried to just skim over that and I reminded her that she now will be able to walk up that hill at the cabin. I know that made her happy even though she fell back asleep as I was saying that.
She has been amazing and such a strong brave girl! She will wave her hand to say "hi" as the new nurses introduce themselves. When she asks for something and the nurse gets it, we can hear a mumble of "thank you".
She has a pain pump. She has used it 3 times since she got to her room which is pretty good considering she can have it every 7 minutes if she wants. She also has a suction tube that she uses to remove saliva from her mouth. She is doing it by herself. She also has drank water tonight! She uses a syringe that is attached to a soft tube. She probably drank what might be equivalent to a small cup of water. This is wonderful. They have to keep her nasal passages clear so she also has a humidifier tube that she keeps blowing in her face. She has nose sprays as well. She has to keep that nose clear as it is her source of breathing for a while.
Her lips are very swollen. Her face is swollen too but it's really not as bad as I thought it would be. They say that the swelling peaks day 3-5 so I assume hers will hit later. And she has no bruising!!
We are thankful and grateful tonight. Thankful that she was in good hands today both God and her surgeon. Dr McKenna never took a break. He never stopped working on her. Wow - is all I can say. I can't imagine. Thank you to each and every one of you who have been praying. Please continue to pray for Ellie!