"We're winning"

The title of this post is a direct quote from Blaise's surgeon. "We're winning." She's doing great. She tolerates feeds, both oral and enteral. Her liver is improving. Her general health is excellent and her behavior is developmentally appropriate. She's gaining weight well. AND SHE HAS A LARGE INTESTINE!

The lower GI contrast study yesterday showed a lot of large intestine, all apparently intact. They can't say for certain that it's the whole thing, although they think it might be, and they have no way of determining whether it ends in an ileocecal valve or just just a plain old dead-end. Still, she has a nice long piece of it to work with and that can only help. The plan for her surgery is officially to close her ostomy and connect her small and large intestines. Barring any kind of infection between now and then, the surgery will be April 6.

Needless to say, we're very, very happy about this news. We were braced to hear that she had almost no large intestine and hoping to hear that she had at least half. Most, if not all, is excellent. We're obviously apprehensive about her surgery in April, but knowing the plan helps a lot.

Coincidentally, Ben's fortune cookie tonight said, "Believe in miracles." Of course, mine said, "Even the greatest whale is helpless in the middle of a desert" (what??) so we're not reading too much into the fortune cookies.