The Sanborn Family Website

Good news for a change.

Michelle has been moved to the nursing facility. That means her infection is gone, and they don’t have to do emergency surgery. She still has the two holes, and the doctors say that they will need to do surgery to fix that after she’s had a couple weeks to recover. I’m praying, though, that the Lord will heal those holes and that the second surgery will be unnecessary. Also praying that Michelle doesn’t have any more setbacks that send her back to the hospital.

More news. Michelle does have an infection. In addition, they discovered that the hole in her intestines has grown and a second one has appeared. They have her on antibiotics and the doctors are still debating on whether surgery needs to be done or not.

On top of that, my work has thrown me a curveball. I have a project to complete by Tuesday. Or that was the original plan. I now have to complete it this weekend instead. Also, I was just given another project to do, and it has to be done by end of day on Thursday. These dates are not negotiable (and I did try). I still have to go up to see Michelle tomorrow. I don’t know how I’m going to fit everything in.

I trust the Lord to carry me through this, but I am still feeling the incredible pressure of all this going on. I know that, without Him, I would be completely crushed right now.

Well, as of today, Michelle is still in the hospital in San Francisco. Yesterday, she started developing a fever. The doctors are concerned that she might be developing an infection. They did a CT scan a short time ago to see what is going on. There is a possibility that Michelle have to get an emergency surgery soon. If so, this would be a very high risk surgery, according to the doctors.

Well, Michelle is still up in San Francisco. They put in a colostomy bag and did a CAT scan. They found that she only had the one hole in her intestines, and that her wound was pretty clean, considering. The doctor says that there is a small chance that the intestines will heal on their own. They want to avoid surgery, if possible, as a surgery to repair the hole would be a very high risk surgery.

For now, they are watching Michelle in the hospital, making sure everything goes ok. When they do release her, they are going to release her to a nursing facility for a few weeks. They’re looking for one in the Monterey area, which will make it easier on us.

This morning the nurse was at the house and said that apparently Michelle has a perforation in her intestines, as it is leaking into her wound. This is not a good thing at all. Her father took her to the ER at CHOMP (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula) where the doctors checked on her there. The hospital is arranging medical transportation for Michelle from the hospital in Monterey to the hospital in San Francisco. She already has a room ready for her in SF. As for what they’re going to do, I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that they’re going to clean out all the junk that her intestines pushing into her body, find, and patch the intestines. Beyond that, I don’t know what else they’ll do, or how long she’ll be in the hospital this time.

Well, got news this morning that we needed to pick Michelle up today. Drove the three hours to San Francisco to pick her up, and then another three hours to get home. Needless to say, it has been a LONG day.

The doctor opened the area that had the fluid and cleaned it out. Now it just needs to be cleaned, packed and covered a couple times a day. The antibiotics took care of the infection, and things are good now. A nurse will be coming by once a day, and her father will take care of the wound the other time. Just hoping that this will be the last SF trip we have to do.

She was out, now she’s back in.

Her father and I just got home a few minutes ago from San Francisco. She had started bleeding from her stomach (the surgery site) yesterday. It turned out to be mostly fluids, which was good, but unfortunately, those fluids became infected. They have her on antibiotics now. Tomorrow they will do a CT scan to see if there are any more areas of fluid in her stomach, and she will see the surgeon to see what they want to do about the fluids and determine the next steps. Hopefully she won’t be in the hospital more than a couple of days.

Well, I’m feeling better now. Michelle is getting out today after all. She misunderstood the nurses. She’s scared to leave, though. She’s had two blood transfusions and had a fever. Nurses say that her fever has broke, and her blood count is fine now. Doesn’t change the fact that she is afraid of further complications from the surgery. Worst case scenario, though, we just take her to an ER by our house. They can deal with fevers, blood transfusions, or nausea problems without needing to go to San Francisco.

As of today, Michelle is still in the hospital. She told me yesterday that she would be getting out today, but as of today, she said that doesn’t look likely. Tomorrow her father gets here to help out. Normally, that would be a good thing, but if she’s still in the hospital, it will make things more difficult not better. I’m tired, not discouraged or lacking in trust, just tired. She has been in the hospital three weeks now, and it has been a week since the surgery. She is in San Francisco, which is like 150 miles away (two and a half to three hour commute one-way). We can’t afford the gas and the cost for parking. I haven’t been able to see her much. Her father is probably going to want to see her more than I can afford to go up there, and he doesn’t have the money to help with the expense. If she gets out by Friday, the added stress should only be a minor inconvenience. If not, well, I don’t know how things are going to go. I’m just glad I have the Lord helping me.

Michelle is recovering well. She had a complication Wednesday night. Blood pressure was too low, and they thought she may have been bleeding internally. They got the situation under control, and her recovering is continuing along well enough. The surgeon said she may be out on Sunday or Monday. Most likely it will be Monday or Tuesday, I think. Her father arrives Thursday evening and will be staying with us for a while to help out.