17 days and counting…
Last Monday, June 28, Maliyah went in for a washout surgery at 8:30 am. Even though the anesthesiologist gave her some Versed to help make her sleepy and less anxious, she still cried and tried to cling to me as they took her back to the OR. Thankfully Adam and I were both able to be there to see her off, but it is still a hard moment to experience. However, it does show what a fighter Maliyah is.
We thought that once they washed out the infection things would improve at a quicker rate but that has not been the case. For the next 24 hours after surgery Maliyah’s heart rate was in the 190’s, oxygen saturations in the low 90 and respirations in the 60’s-70’s. To be honest, it was a rough couple of days for us. It’s easy to feel lonely, helpless, and discouraged when you have one set back after another. Thankfully, Maliyah’s vital signs settled down and she has started to feel better.
Unfortunately, Maliyah has been spiking a fever almost daily and today we got an ultrasound of her abdomen and found an abscess about 9 cm wide. The tentative plan is to go back in possibly by interventional radiology to drain the abscess. This would mean more anesthesia and again resetting the clock on her digestive system and her over all recovery.
We are doing the best that we can under the circumstances. The days in the hospital kind of blur together and all revolve around how Maliyah feels. When she is up to it we take her for a ride in her pink car to see the aquarium fish, or we spend the day coloring, painting, building legos, or blowing bubbles. When she has a fever spike she usually sleeps or watches a movie. We try to get her up every 2-3 hours to walk to the bathroom to go potty, which to her, is the most awful part of the day. Typically she cries when she moves and the more she moves, the more encouragement her bowels have to wake up. It is a vicious cycle.
As far as our mental stability, it is difficult to say the least. I’m in the hospital pretty much 24/7 with Maliyah. Adam has been able to stay at the youth pastors apartment a few blocks away. Although he’s usually here after Maliyah falls asleep at night and arrives at the hospital before either of us is awake. The two things that have helped with our sanity involve food. One is the gift cards people have given us for DoorDash which gets us away from Cafeteria food. The second has been the Starbucks in the hospital.
The rest of the story is a roller coaster as Maliyah goes from feeling good and laughing to completely exhausted and crying in pain. As she goes through these extremes we pray, and we ask you to join us in prayer. She’s an amazing fighter and we’d be in a very different place without all your help and support.
