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Heather’s daughter (born with spina bifida) is having back surgery. Please pray.

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Penelope’s surgery was finished about 4:30. We didn’t get to see her until about 5:30. The surgery was more complex than they initially thought, because her spinal cord was connected to the skin(something that didn’t show on the myriad of tests that she has had). However they did not have to severe any of the nerves they all remained intact(the ones that control the bowel and bladder). They were able to close the spinal cord. They did leave the little bump because it had fat in it, and they are using the fat to compress the closure and help it to seal.
She has to remain flat at least until tomorrow, to lessen the chance of a spinal fluid leak.
The nurses kept trying to get her to wake up, she would wake for a second or two and then go back to sleep. When she was moved to the PICU the nurses there wanted to feed her, but she had thrown up after initially coming out of the anesthesia. The PICU nurses were so concerned about her eating and the Doctor’s orders that she be kept flat, that they called him and asked what to do about her eating. The surgeon gave them strict orders to keep her flat and ordered a glucose drip. He also advised them to leave her alone and let her sleep, because if she is agitated there is a greater risk of the spinal fluid leakage. So they are giving her morphine and letting her sleep. After they gave her the morphine she was able to rest and she seemed more content. That’s when the nurse told us that we should probably go back to the Ronald McDonald house and get some rest because tomorrow would be so much harder in fighting with Penelope to keep her still.
So keep praying for her and us.
God Bless,
Heather