A Mother's Point of View

After 5 hours, Brittany Rose finally made it out of recovery when a bed became available. We were allowed to visit her 5 minutes every hour when it was convenient for the surgical waiting room staff to escort us into recovery. Right now I am sitting at her bedside waiting for Dr Thompson  to come talk to me. He did call and talk to me this morning on the phone after surgery. He said after releasing the ligament, the artery expanded making it unnecessary to perform a bypass. He said choosing abdominal surgery over laparoscopy was the right choice because there was so much scar tissue and  hypertrophy from damaged  nerves that they had to remove. He said they wouldn't have been able to get it all if they hadn't opened her up. She is awake complaining of boredom and  ready for the next step in her recovery. She is on bed rest tonight but tomorrow the plan  is to start getting her up and moving.

By sharing with my sister Mandy, I have found out Brittany has a cousin in Texas who is presently searching for answers for her abdominal pain. She has the same signs and symptoms. She has such severe abdominal pain after eating, she curls up in a fetal position, she has quit any activities she used to enjoy and doesn't even want to go to school because of the pain. Jordon has recently gone through a growth spurt. Her belly is distended at times to the point if she was older you might think she was pregnant, and I can't remember if there was weight loss but I want to say yes. They are in the process of going to a GI Doc because it is abdominal pain. I informed my sister today they need a vascular surgeon. I had asked  Dr Thompson  at our initial  appointment it there were any familial tendencies and he said there weren't enough cases to do research to know. When he comes in I plan to mention my niece. Food for thought.