Preliminary Surgery Results from Dr. Strand

We talked to our doctor tonight and here's the scoop on the surgery. We've got two pieces of good news and two pieces of bad news. The good news is that Dr. Strand was able to taper Caleb's right ureter and he thinks that he has taken care of the problem on the right side. Coupled with his right kidney surgery back in December, the right side should be good to go. Time will tell through ultrasounds (over the next month, 6 months, year) if the pressure on his kidney is reduced and the right kidney shrinks in size. The other good news is that his left ureter was in good shape and didn't need any surgery. The bad news (which really isn't that bad) is that Caleb will need a day surgery in 6 weeks to remove the unexpected stint that Dr. Strand had to use as part of the tapered right ureter. The other bad news (which again is not the bad) is that Caleb's left kidney is shaped a bit odd which we'll need to keep an eye on. His left kidney and ureter appear to be functioning just fine, but his plumbing looks a little different so Dr. Strand wants to make sure over time this doesn't present a problem. To summarize, the four big learnings from today are: 1) we think the procedure was effective, 2) over the next few months we'll know how effective they were, 3) we'll need to do a follow-up day surgery, and 4) we'll need to track his left kidney more than we historically have.

Caleb is recovering well but is in a bit more pain than the last surgery so he is on morphine. We'd appreciate you praying that Caleb is able to comfortably go off the morphine tomorrow and his pain subsides.

Tonight we hope to get some sleep at the hospital, but it will likely be a long night. Lord willing, we'll be released tomorrow from the hospital but that depends on Caleb's pain level.

Below is a picture from a few minutes ago. We caught him during a good moment when he managed a little smile...