Before the surgery, Dr. Dickie was still unsure how much colon Aiden actually has. He has malrotation which means his intestines didn't form properly and are flipped around, so even though he has had contrast enemas, it was hard to tell what was colon and what was small intestine. She wouldn't know until she got him into surgery. Then she would determine if she would give him a colostomy or an ileostomy.
His surgery was scheduled to last an hour and a half. He went back at 1:30 and at 3:00 I was called to meet Dr. Dickie in a conference room. I assumed she was going to let me know that surgery was over and he was headed to recovery, but she didn't. Instead she told me that Aiden has no colon. This means the China doctors just removed all of it thinking they were helping him, I guess. I just sat there stunned. This is when I wished I had taken my friend, Chandalee, back with me because the next few minutes are hard to remember. I was trying to think of what questions to ask, what life would be like for Aiden, and that I just wanted to go hold him. We had suspected very little colon to work with, but I was not prepared for this. She ran two options by me and drew pictures for me to help me better understand his anatomy. I finally asked her what she would do if this were her child. She said his best quality of life would be to give him a permanent stoma and ileostomy. I agreed with her, and she went back to surgery which took three more hours.
Now that I have had time to process this, God has given me such a peace about this. Having an ostomy bag is going to mean Aiden doesn't have to endure anymore enemas, he doesn't have to sit on the potty every day for at least an hour, he doesn't have to have anal dilations anymore, he doesn't have a constricting diet, and for the first time in two years, he will be free from the pain of that terrible rash! Oh how God's plans are greater than our own! Proverbs 16:9
Today we begin a new adventure into the world of stomas and ostomies. I have already found an ostomy doll I want to get Aiden and ostomy bag covers. We are going to start a fashion trend=)