Who knew that we would have started this journey when Miss Katie Lynn was born. We had been through rough times of trying to get pregnant and when we got pregnant, we had a vanishing twin and from there things were perfect.
I thought that giving birth was the hardest thing I had ever done, was I ever wrong. The course of the next 50 days would be the hardest thing I had ever done, let alone what Katie Lynn was going through. I couldn’t have imagined the joy and heartache of becoming a mom. I would and will do anything for my precious baby girl.
Our journey started on November 5th and led to Katie Lynn’s first surgery on November 10th. We were very hopeful that all would be okay, come to find out, things would get much worse before they would get better. The doctor sent off for more test and the results were devastating. The doctor projected a 4-5 year diagnoses with a transplant being the worst case scenario. Tom and I were in shock, we couldn’t believe it. We put our faith in the Lord and knew he would not give us more than we could handle. This was out of our hands and we knew we would get through this for our baby girl.
After the results came back, it was back to surgery for Katie Lynn. This surgery would give her an ostomy and a stoma. After surgery, the doctor had some good news. He saw some promising movement and gave us a new diagnoses of 2-3 years. This was a prayer answered from God.
Katie Lynn was released from NICU on December 3rd. The doctor scheduled an appointment for January 8th and had the hopes of surgery for reconnecting her intestines. The next month would be spent growing and dealing with all that Katie Lynn needed. Even though this time was very trying, it also brought Tom and me closer than ever. We would get through this together.
We then found out that surgery would be bumped up a whole 3 weeks, this brought a lot of hope and anxiety. Even though Katie Lynn was stooling from feeding the stoma, there was no guarantee that once she was reconnected, that she would work. We now faced a third surgery with no guarantee it would be successful. Once again, we lifted our baby girl to the Lord and asked for his healing powers. Once she came out of surgery, it was now a waiting game. It would still be several days before we knew if the surgery was a success.
The next 3 days were very trying; we would have a step forward followed by 2 steps back. Finally, there was a break through and things started to get better. We finally had our answer, the surgery was a success. Katie Lynn was released from the hospital on Christmas day, what a miracle. This day marked 50 days, from her birth to being healed.
We went from looking at 1825 days to 50 days. This is truly a miracle and only our God could have done this. We are so very
blessed to have a beautiful daughter who has been healed through our Lord. He is truly a miracle worker and we thank him everyday for his gifts.
50 days……only 50 days, one word…..miracle
She pushes it back in but says that it will just come back out again as she moves and fusses. She proceeds to ask what her stools are like. We tell her they’re fairly regular (about 50% of her diapers contain some stool). Then she drops the bomb on us.. she and Dr. McGill (Katie Lynn’s surgeon) believe the earlier diagnosis of Intestinal Neuronal Dysplasia was a mis-diagnosis. Dr. Goldthorn referenced other patients of hers that were 3, 4, and 5 years old who had never stooled. She told us that the biopsy tests results (that lead to the IND diagnosis) only come back as “not working” or “working” – not “immature/underdeveloped”, “not working”, or “working”. Based on this, she feels a reconnect is in order but would consult with Dr. McGill since it would be his call.