Setbacks, Scars, Socialites & Surgeries

My daughter, Macy has a high pain tolerance. I attribute it to the fact that she endured a lot surgeries and setbacks as an infant.  She was a very high-maintenance child, and I could actually tell when she was sick as she would be still, quiet and not throw her normal tantrums.  So now when she does actually complain of not feeling well, which isn’t often, I know something is definitely wrong with her.

Since Macy’s stomach has been hurting on her main incision line across her abdomen and not stretching as she grows, I made an appointment with the surgeon. The other indented scars seen above are from her colostomy and bile drainage tubes.

We went to see Dr. Stephen Raynor at Children’s Hospital in Omaha last week, the same surgeon that performed all of Macy’s surgeries as an infant. He remembered her well, saying she was responsible for all of his gray hair. It was nice to catch up with him, as we haven’t seen him in over a decade.

We scheduled exploratory surgery for October 5th, as the doctor thinks she most likely needs some hernias repaired. He will also be able to do some scar revision and remove some adhesions. Macy is sometimes upset that she will never have a bikini-perfect tummy, but I told her she should be proud of her battle wounds, for without them, she would not be alive today.

We could have scheduled the surgery sooner, but Macy is also a certifiable socialite and didn’t want to ruin any already made plans.  She was fussing a lot today of stomach pain, so much that I offered to call the hospital and see if I could move up her surgery. But I just got the eye-rolling look that she is not going to miss the big Homecoming dance. Everyone has priorities.