Molly has confirmation of the date and time of her second Chiari I Malformation surgery: Friday, September 26th at 10am. Yeah, that's a week from today. We knew that date was possible earlier this week, but the nurse just made it official today. So here we go with some details.
1. The surgery is the same but different. It's the same incision, the same recovery time, the same post-surgery rules, the same doctor (Dr. David Frim), and the same hospital (University of Chicago). The different part is what the doctor does once he's opened up the back of Molly's head. Last time he created space for spinal fluid to flow. This time he is going to add a stent, technically (I think this is right) a "fourth ventriculostomy stent." It's putting a tube at the base of the brain in order to keep the pathway for fluid flow open. It's a brain straw. We've asked for the flexy one, but who knows. So in comparison...the first surgery is making space at the back of the head and second surgery is making a pathway at the base of the brain. Got it? Good.
2. I will be live blogging/Twittering this thing. Reformissionary/Twitter will have all the info you need to keep up, pray, panic, laugh, cry, throw up, or celebrate. I'm there for you! Last time all was focused on the blog and there were few pictures. Pictures will be up all the time through Twitter this time.
3. The kiddos are staying with church members in Crystal Lake, IL (20 minutes from here). They are homeschoolers and really great friends. Their kids are right in the range of ours, so it's perfect. Our kids will miss school Friday and Monday, but I'm sure they will be heavily involved in homeschooling stuff. They'll love it.
4. We are nervous. Molly has been really emotional about all of this lately. But it's not that we think something bad will happen. God is good and we trust him fully with all that's to come, even if it's not what we hope for and expect. We just know what's ahead for the next couple of weeks and none of it is all that fun...it wasn't last time. We ask for you to pray, especially on the morning of surgery day. We want this surgery to work and last a long time! You have all helped us through to this point, and we appreciate you very much.