Urinary Diversion Surgery @ Carolinas Medical Center

Previously, in this NPR Story Corps post, I wrote about our daughter, Juliet, who was born with the birth defect of spina bifida and hydrocephalus. I am writing today about her ongoing surgical experience at the Carolinas Medical Center-University.

Julie underwent a day long surgery Tuesday at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Generalized information about this type surgery can be found at Surgery Facts. Another website with more stats can be accessed here at More Information. The procedure was a major ordeal, as the websites explain. I talked with the nurse a few hours ago; she was in stable condition.

Further complicating matters was the additional removal of previously undetected extended, large ovarian masses which pushed the surgery to over ten hours in length. She currently has a nasogastric feeding tube and a pic line for intervenous medication delivery.

Julie is being cared for through the McKay Urology Group, "dedicated to the highest standards of clinical care, research and education with the latest urologic technology". Its programs are nationally recognized for quality and were named as one of the Top 50 Urology Programs in the nation by U.S.News & World Report 2008 edition of America's Best Hospitals.

I am told that Julie's surgeon, Michael Kennelly, M.D., a principal in the McKay Group, is known nationally in this urological practice. She was fortunate to get a referral to this physician and practice.

CarolinasHealthcare:
Dr. Kennelly was one of the first physicians in North Carolina to subspecialize in female urology and neurourology; and, he is currently one of only three doctors in the state who concentrates in these highly specialized fields.

We trust that Julie is receiving state of the art medical care from both her physicians and this teaching hospital affiliated with the University of North Carolina. I will be going to visit Julie in the next few days. This blog will be intermittently posted while I am away from Colorado and staying in a hotel nearby the medical center in Charlotte.

More about the birth defect she was born with can be accessed at The Spina_Bifida_Association or at Spina Bifida Facts.

Here is a picture of Julie and her dog Muggsy taken last January:


Prayers for Julie and Jack, her husband, are appreciated.