Luke's Helicopter ride

Many people know already that Luke was Mediflighted to Primary Children's medical center Wednesday after several hours in the E.R. of Timpanogos regional.

Around lunch time Wednesday Luke suddenly became pale, uncomfortable, and clammy. Because Luke is normally such a happy easy going baby we knew something was wrong. Call it parental intuition. Robby immediatley gave him a blessing but when he still couldn't be consoled we decided to take him to the emergency room.

Once we arrived at the E.R. he started developing more symptoms ( bloody diapers, throwing up, and lethargy) They did blood work and a CT scan but couldn't find anything. Luckily Luke's e.r. doctor was on the ball and noticed that his symptoms were classic sign's of a condition called Intussusception. (This conditions is when the small intestine is pulled into the large intestine and it only happens to infants between 6 month's to a year.) The doctors re-reviewed the CT scan and noticed something. So they sent us into radiology where they gave him barium enema. This is when they force a white fluid up into the bowels via the rectum while watching the intestines on an x-ray. Sure enough about 14" of his small intestine had been pulled (or telescoped) into his large intestine. They then tried to put enough pressure behind the barium to force the small intestine out but, without any luck.

That's when they mediflighted him up to primary children's while we followed in the car. (which, by the way is one of the hardest thing I've had to do as a mom was to watch my baby fly away in the helicopter while I stood helpless on the tarmac)

At primary children's they tried to push the intestine out using an air enema. Essentially it is the same proceedure just using air pressure instead of barium liquid. The pediatric radiologist tried for a full hour to force his small intestine out (while Luke lay awake strapped to a board to hold him still, hollering and pushing hard due to the 15 PSI in his bowel) but couldn't move it completely. This meant that surgery was the only option left. At 1 a.m. they took "Baby Luke" into surgery. The aim was to make a 1 inch incision and get the small intestine out by squeezing the large intestine like a tube of toothpaste. If all went well, they would take his appendix out while they were there, close him up, and he could come home in 3 to 5 days. If things looked damaged, they would removed any damaged part of his intestine, reattach the intestine, sew him up and he would have to stay 7 to 10 days for recovery.

At 2:45 am the doctors reported that it was more difficult than they had originally thought, and they needed to cut him open wider so they could get to all of the affected bowel. They worked hard at it, and when they had the small insetine portion out that was inverted, it was damaged enough along one section that they removed a couple inches.

The hard part is now over. Luke can't eat for 3 to 4 days, and will be on an IV in the mean time. After that, they will start feeding him, and he will be released as soon as he has a bowel movement. He is still heavily sedated, and acting like he is in some pain, but they are keeping him comfortable with pain meds. We'll let you know as soon as he's able to come home.