Post-Op

So now that the procedure is over, here is a run down of what was done. In the previous procedure, the Dr went and emoblized 4 arteries that were feeding the aneurysm using titanium coils. This time when he went in, he saw a "web" of blood vessels that were feeding the aneurysm, that he said he had never seen anything like. They were able to go in and occlude the vessels with embolic glue to neutralize the aneurysm. He is confident that the glue will hold and keep this "web" from feeding the aneurysm for good, however he did say that there is a small chance for "recruitment" from other sources that they may not be aware of, so let's pray that this doesn't happen and that she doesn't have to go through this anymore.

This did cut off more blood supply inside the kidney, so she will still experience the infarcts in her kidney due to the tissue dying off. This is what causes the most pain & discomfort. Amazingly, though, after all of this, he thinks that she will still have around 90% kidney function remaining, so we praise God for that blessing.

Here is the image of her kidney before the procedure:

Here is the image during the procedure:

Here is the image once the procedure was complete: Giant black hole is now gone.

It was decided before the procedure that they would keep her overnight for observation since she was in so much pain from the first procedure. Being accustomed to Texas hospital, where you have a large private room with a sofa or reclining chair for guests, we assumed that I would be able to stay with her overnight in the room. Once we finally got up to her room around 9:00 pm, we learned that all of the rooms were shared rooms and that no guests were allowed after 9:00 pm. Luckily her dad was in town so I had a place to stay. 

Unfortunately she had a pretty uncomfortable night made worse by a terrible nurse who felt like asking for ice chips and an extra pillow were just too much. Leslie has not been able to hold anything down since the procedure and so having lots of medications on board which her body is not used to having coupled with no foods or liquids has created a pretty vicious cycle of nausea and her feeling pretty terrible. 

She was in quite a bit of pain this morning, so I spoke with the Dr. He said that she needed to be taking Ibuprofen regularly, which is the first time either of us had heard him say this. He also prescribed Toradol just in case the Ibuprofen did not work effectively. She immediately took the Ibuprofen, and after about 30 minutes started to feel some relief. We will keep her on regular doses of Ibuprofen and, as long as it is effective, we will stay away from the Toradol unless absolutely necessary.

In the last hour, she has been able to eat some peanut butter crackers and drink a little Sprite without any issues, so here's hoping that she will be able to keep food down. We both feel like this will help a lot in order to keep her strength up.

Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement. We are both exhausted, but thankful to have this behind us and to be on the road to recovery.