Aubrey really is a fighter. As I write this, he is in the 4th surgery of his 38 day life. The first was on December 12, 2018, when he had drains put in because he had a spontaneous intestinal perforation. the second was on Wednesday, January 2, 2019. Prior to the surgery, the doctors thought that Aubrey had developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) or a stricture which is a possible complication of the repair for an intestinal perforation.
During the surgery, the doctors realized that he had formed a stricture that led to another perforation which created an abscess. They drained the abscess, removed the damaged portions of intestines, and planned to close him up on January 4, 2019.
On January 4, 2019, during the surgery, the doctors had to remove some more damaged intestine and left some partially damaged intestine in the hopes that it would heal and not need to be removed. Because it was left, they couldn’t sew him up yet.
Today, they are re-examining all of Aubrey’s intestines to see if they are definitively viable or not. Hopefully, all of the sick spots have healed. We won’t know until the surgery is over. I haven’t been updating because there is so much unknown, which is a very uncomfortable place to be.
This was the drawing the surgeon made me after Aubrey’s procedure on the 4th. They hadn’t closed him. Part 1, attached to the stomach and at the top of the drawing, has a section (circled) that looks like it may or may not make it. The middle section (section 2) is just floating there and it is really healthy. The final section of small intestine (section 3) is probably going to need to be removed because it's really "ratty."
If the injured portion of his small intestine can remain, the doctor will sew parts 1 and 2 together and make an ostomy at the bottom of section 2. That is the best case scenario because Aubrey will be using more of his digestive tract. He will be on fancy Gatorade and milk for 8 weeks and then they will close the ostomy, remove the damaged part of small intestine attached to his colon, and sew him back up. Hopefully, he would have no long term impacts.
If the injured portion of part 1 has to be removed, the doctor would have to create the ostomy there. His digestive tract would be so short that Aubrey would probably be able to eat only fancy Gatorade for at least 8 weeks. The doctor would plan to close the ostomy in 8 weeks, removing damaged portion of part 3 and sewing everything back together.
Over the next 8 weeks, Aubrey's intestines will grow a TON so hopefully, either way, he will be fine.
But, if he eats only Gatorade for 8 weeks, there is a risk of liver damage and that his intestines don't learn to function properly.
Either way, he is going to get a G-Tube and will be fed through that for a while, probably for about 1-2 months after he comes home. The G-Tube allows for continuous feedings instead of bolus feedings. Continuous feedings would be more gentle and help his intestines learn to work.