“It’s Reasonable to Hope”

Mercy is out of surgery. It’s the best news we could have hoped for: they found a huge problem and fixed it.

When the surgeons opened her up, they discovered a chyle leak, indicating that her something was damaging her lymphatic system. When they examined her intestines, they discovered an adhesion that was causing a large knot in her small intestine. This knot was twisting her intestine, occluding her bowel, and squishing her lymphatic system. They performed a Ladd procedure and then cleaned up the chyle, and they felt extremely confident they solved the cause of the problem. Because they found a definite, emergent problem, Mercy was able to avoid an ileostomy. Additionally, they confirmed that her bowel resection from back in December still looked beautiful and sound.

Given the situation, this was the absolute best outcome possible. Praise God. I know in my head that this is such a blessing. My emotions, however, have a long way to go. It’s tough to relax right now.

Two phrases are helping me to begin to celebrate this huge win. The first is from David, one of the surgeons. I asked him when we could celebrate and clap. He said, “When she’s five, playing bunch-ball, rugrat soccer. But it is reasonable to hope right now.”

The second was from a dear friend of mine who told me, “How could you not be terrified?!?!…Give your emotions the chance to catch up.”

Exactly what I needed to hear at the end of a long day. Praise God for all of His blessings. Praise Him for you all, praying and caring and loving all of us.

The Lord has heard my cry for Mercy

- Psalm 6:9