Well, I think we got fairly good news. Evie’s small intestine looked pretty good. There was a small spot at the part that we worked on last time that looked like it may have been bleeding, but it was pretty mild. That can sometimes happen with a bowel resection, so they weren’t too keen on doing yet another bowel resection. Then it could just happen again AND she’d have lost more of her small intestine. So they decided to just leave it.
What does this mean for her? Well, it means we’ll continue monitoring her. We’ll watch for black stools, check her hemoglobin, and do blood transfusions as needed. If the bleeds stop on their own, we’ll just continue to wait and let it heal on its own. If a bleed does not stop or is more severe, then we’ll probably need to go back in and take that section out. Bowel resections can take about two years to fully heal, so hopefully if we give it time, it will get better. This last bleed was certainly much slower which is encouraging.
It’s not ideal. We’d all love a quick fix. But this is Evie. Things just are rarely that simple. The good/great news is that since that bowel resection in March, Evie’s done better than she’s ever done with feedings and growth. Even some of her heart rate issues seem to have improved (though no one is quite sure why). So what we did then was a GOOD thing and it made a big difference for her. It makes me think that this may have been a birth defect that’s been causing issues all along and I’m so so glad we found it.
Evie has a rough recovery ahead of her. The push endoscopy that was done today is significantly more traumatic on the bowels than the resection we did in March. It took nearly two weeks for her bowel to reawaken that time, so it could be a long stay again. She does have quite a bit more weight reserves this time, though, so it’s always possible that healing will be quicker. Just never know with this girl. They have the pain management team handling her case this time to make sure she’s kept comfortable which is encouraging.
Please just pray that she heals quickly, isn’t in too much pain, and that the bleeds DO get better on their own. Thank you all for your prayers and support. This has been such a long hard road for Evie and our family, but I think we feel encouraged by today’s discoveries.
All That Hath Life and Breath 
praying for Evie that she heals quickly, and that the doctors are able to continue to heal Evie and that she isn’t in too much pain, and that the bleeds does get better on their own.