Done!

We just talked to the surgeon, the procedure was successful, and Andrew is back in his room. We'll get to go see him after they get everything settled, but here's the gist:

The surgery, as expected, was difficult. The liver was "massive" and was fused to the spleen, which was fused to the stomach. All three were then fused to the Gore-Tex patch. He had to separate each of the organs (the hard part) then do the fundoplication (the easy part). He also replaced the G-J tube with a standard gastrostomy tube in his stomach.

Aside from the expected difficulty, there were also a couple of unexpected findings. His liver was much larger than normal due to the TPN (nutrients) that he's been receiving. Fortunately, his liver function seems to be normal and it will get smaller as his feedings replace the TPN. The other surprise was something called a Meckel's diverticulum, which is an extra appendix-like organ attached between the large and small intestine. It's yet-another digestive development abnormality (it occurs in 2 percent of children) and has the potential to cause a rupture in the digestive system. The surgeon removed it and sutured together the bowel where it was attached. More details on this later.

All of the blood gas tests taken during the surgery came back almost perfect, so he came through it (lung-wise) with flying colors. The nurse has warned us that he's a little pale, but he's getting a transfusion right now to make up for any blood lost during the procedure.

All in all, a big thumbs-up. I'll try to post one more time tonight with a final check-in after we see him, but everyone can breathe easy for now.