At 12:30 totoday, Aubrey underwent what we hope is the final page in this chapter of the story of his intestines. The goal prior to the surgery was for Aubrey to reduce his total fluid. Although the surgeon was able to sew all of his intestines together, he has been so swollen that the incision on his stomach can’t be closed.

The doctor used a biodegradable mesh to cover what Aubrey’s skin cannot reach and the more fluid Aubrey has lost, the smaller his scar will be. Despite needing to lose fluid, he also needed fluid, including platelets. Aubrey’s doctors did a fantastic job and reduced Aubrey’s fluid levels, safely, by a surprising amount.

During today’s surgery, the surgeon was able to close Aubrey’s abdomen. He inserted a drain (similar to the one Aubrey had before with his perforated intestine repair) in his stomach and we will wait watchfully for a week in the hopes the intestine heals properly and fully. Although Aubrey lost a lot of fluids, the hole was still too big to close with the skin he has. So the doctor sewed in the biodegradable mesh and Aubrey’s skin will grow over it, completely covering the opening.

The doctor also put in a g-tube which can be used to feed Aubrey directly into his stomach. He did this for 2 reasons: 1) Aubrey’s intestines have been pretty stressed. It may be that he eats best by having a constant drip of food instead of being fed larger amounts all at once (like how we eat). 2) Aubrey is a young, immature baby. It is not uncommon that babies like him need a G-tube anyway to eat because it’s just exhausting to do all of that work themselves. By doing the G-tube now, they avoid any necessity for another surgery in the future.

As of now, we are hoping that Aubrey’s intestines continue to heal, his stomach heals and the muscle knits together (so he doesn’t keep the hernia he now has), and that he is able to resume eating in a week or so.