Back in Hospital (August 31)

Dani Jo went back to Brenner's yesterday afternoon. She had not been eating well for a few days and her belly was beginning to swell a lot. They did some tests on her last night and discovered that she has what is called a "stricture." Basically what has happened is that when they reversed her colostomy in April, scar tissue has developed where her intestines were sewn together. This tissue has grown together to cause a narrowing and closing in her intestines. Her belly had become swollen because of a backup of gas and bowel movement. The drs. have made progress since she came in yesterday. They initially thought they may have to do surgery to open the stricture; however, the doctor this morning made great progress widening the stricture. She has had a very stressful morning while they attempt to widen the stricture. They take a metal probe and insert it several inches into her intestines rectally and gradually increase the size of the probe until the stricture is widened back to normal size. They are about half way to normal size right now, but can only do so much per day to prevent bleeding. The hope is that they will have it completed by Tuesday or Wednesday so that her bowels can function properly. That's about all we know right now. She is still doing well with her breathing, typically using the vent when sleeping only. She is growing up too fast. I can't believe she will be a year old in 6 weeks. She has learned how to sign "Mommy" and "Daddy" since she can't speak right now. There is nothing like hearing your little baby say "Daddy" for the first time; but I don't think anything could top seeing her sign it for the first time. Thank you all for your continued prayers for Dani Jo and our family. Hope to post more soon.

God bless you all,

Joey