Surgery Scheduled – Gabby Update

I know I keep saying ‘what a year!’ but it’s truly been tough. We’ve experienced worse so I keep reminding myself of that and thanking God for my beautiful miracle girl. We have been blessed! I know this…

I’ve always been a rebel of statistics. I guess it comes from being a teen mom. Everyone wanted to remind me what the odds were for my future and I was determined to prove them wrong. I always said ‘statistics are just a number!’ Just like the saying, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree or like mother like daughter, Gabby seems to be competing against the odds as well.

It actually started at birth. They said she’d never walk, now she runs. They said she may not talk, she hardly stops.

When Gabby went into the hospital for her first brain surgery they predicted a stay of one week, max two weeks. Gabby stayed four months. They said maybe one out of a hundred kids get an infection, Gabby almost died from one.

I’ve written a lot lately of her most recent struggles with the unknown knot she developed on her head last October. We have undergone CT scans, MRIs, and have seen three specialists now. About three weeks ago the knot became infected and she actually was diagnosed with MRSA, staph. Again, we were told it should clear up in a week. Even on the strongest antibiotics it got worse.

This week we saw the NeuroSurgeon again after being sent there by the Infectious Disease Specialist. He felt he did all he could and believes the infection must be deep enough it reaches bone thus needing surgery. Her NeuroSurgeon agreed. On Monday we sat in his office again, going over all her MRI scans for the past four years comparing them. I must say I’m getting pretty good at looking at scans. I can spot the smallest difference. We could see the knot slowly progressing over the past three years, more rapid over the past year.

Gabby’s NeuroSurgeon looks at me and says “I’ve never seen anything like it. Out of hundreds of surgeries I’ve only had two patients develop a bulge that needed surgery from something not healing correctly, usually a suture not dissolving and the body rejecting it but the knot is always on top of the incision.” Well of course he hasn’t. Of course Gabby must be different. I’m not comforted by his words yet I feel immune to being shocked with unexpected news.

The NeuroSurgeon had us meet a Plastic Surgeon on Wednesday for him to examine Gabby. He is planning to assist in the surgery room. Their goal is to make sure her new incision looks ‘pretty’ and she isn’t left with an ugly scar on her left temple near her forehead.

Surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday morning. What’s the surgery for?, you ask… Let’s call it Gabby’s Exploration Surgery. The team of doctors: NeuroSurgeon, Plastic Surgeon and Infectious Disease Specialist are going to open her head up and look around. Maybe remove the full tissue range around the knot, maybe scrap some bone, maybe do more… They honestly do not know. Seriously. They may close her up, they may leave a hole that must be packed and repacked twice a week in the office until it heals from inside out. They aren’t sure. When will I know? When surgery is over.

No matter how many years we go through more issues, it never gets easier. Sometimes I feel it’s harder. Maybe I’m just getting tired…