Jonah’s Up Date

Jonah’s Up Date – From Jessika...

We were down at Sick Kids Hospital today and we got some new news....so here it is.

We met with the new surgeon, and he has postponed Jonah's surgery. This is ok with us for the following reasons which he gave us.

Because he is a new surgeon on Jonah's case, he wants to make absolute sure that Jonah absolutely needs every aspect of the surgery that they have proposed. (we appreciate that, who wants their child to go through something they don't have to).

When he heard that cardiology wants to remove the vascular ring based on an MRI saying that Jonah has one( which he had when he was 1 month old), he would rather do some more tests, and see if Jonah actually has one. He said that he has been in many operations where cardiology opens a child up only to find there is not a vascular ring. This is because Jonah was so tiny when they did the MRI, and they didn't do any tests to follow it up. He is worried that they will compromise his heart unnecessarily, so he thinks that he should get the facts straight before he allows anyone to tamper with his heart.(we really appreciate this!).

The next one is ENT, he said that he wants them to make sure one way or another if Jonah will ever get the trach out, for instance if his vocal chords are paralyzed, then Jonah will never be able to breath on his own, and he will never get the trach out… what does that have to do with his stomach? Well, his surgeon explained that if Jonah is never going to be untrached, then he can wrap the stomach during the fundo so tight, that nothing ever passes up or down the esophagus (except that saliva can make it down, but never back up). In this instance, they would wrap the stomach very tightly to prevent anything from burning Jonah's throat again. Next, if the TEF (the connection between his esophagus and trachea), has reattached, then they need to deal with that issue first, and isn't it nice to know what you are getting into before you get into it? So if it has reattached, they will know and they should be able to see that on Monday...but wait..Monday is still on...I guess I forgot to mention that.

ENT is going to continue with their portion of the exam with Jonah under. They are going to do all the collar tests, scopes and hearing/tube placement that day. We are being admitted at 6 am Monday morning, and at 8 Jonah will have the surgery, and we will be home later that day.

So in conclusion to this essay...here's the summary. Jonah's surgeon would rather find out what he is dealing with than put Jonah through the aggravation of an unnecessary surgery that could harm him. He wants to get all of us (George, myself, the ENT doc, himself and cardiology) into one meeting, lay it all out on the table with all their findings and decide from there. It sounds like Jonah will be getting his fundo surgery in January, but we will know more after Monday.

Thanks for all your prayers up to now, we still need them for Monday...we will let you know how it went then.

Love: The Van Spronsen Clan.

P.S. If by chance this totally confuses you, let us know and we will try to re-explain it the best we can, because we were confused today too.

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Hey Jonah… Pastor Murray and all your friends are praying for you today. Tell your mommy and daddy we love them.

~ Pastor Murray ~