Overwhelmed...

The results are in. We have some pieces of good news. We have some pieces of hard news. and We have some bad news.

The good news: We got a great report from the gynecologist. She will need to have c-sections, but she should, with one more possible surgery, be able to have normal intimacy with her husband and conceive children.
Other good news: Their is a urologist in Charlotte who maintains a really good relationship with the one here in Cincinnati. And their is an awesome colorectal doctor in Asheville who used to work here until 2 years ago and has a great relationship with this team as well.

The hard news, part 1: Her bowel management regimen takes 15 minutes a day to administer and 45 minutes of potty time before it is complete. That is every day without fail, with the exact measures and at the same time everyday. And it is not all that easy to administer, so it will have to be Wes and me. We pray God will show us someone who could fill in for us for a long weekend on occasion. It is an effective treatment for complete bowel cleanness in 95% of cases. We would come back in a year for another week of bowel management that might progress to laxatives or require continued daily enemas for another year. They might, two years or so from now, form a belly button port for enemas. There are 30 years of experience to tell this world renowned doctor some indicators that bowel continence can eventually be achieved without daily enemas. Cori is currently considered a good candidate.

Hard news, part 2: We are not near to a solution for the urine. She should have reconstructive surgery for all three systems in the next 6 months or so. It is possible that the reconstruction may return urinary continence. If not, at the same time she might need to belly button port for enemas they would form an abdominal port for urinary cateterizing every 3 to 4 hours.

Her horrible rash should get better without bowel matter involved and we have a new cream that has helped greatly. They have a homemade solution that is less expensive I should hear about soon.

Bad News: The first repair surgery will be in Cincinnati and will require around 14 or more days in the hospital and additional days in the area. She will go 10 days with only fluids through a tube in her nose. Then they will gradually add back fluids by mouth, eventually soft food, etc until she is passing normal stool. During this time she will likely need bladder cathing through her private parts. She will go for a month without enemas but resume that daily regimen.

The worst news: She has reflux or urine back to the kidneys and has already suffered kidney damage. Any fever with vomiting is to be treated as a bladder infection with immediate attention to prevent further and worse damage. The since she is emptying her bladder the most likely explanation is a malformation of the bladder. She needs a nuclear medicine type test in the future for more specific information about her kidneys.

Twice today and nurse stayed in the room and asked me how I was handling the information. Not well. Wes has been chewing on it for about an hour and he is very over whelmed.

Wes, birthday girl Lily, and Jena are speeding towards us even now. We will go to the zoo and the aquarium this weekend. Wes will drive back for work and for Katherine and Grace while us girls do the daily enema and trip to the hospital for the xray.

As you can imagine, Cori and her dazed parents need your prayers.