From his Dad’s accounting of the past several days:
On December 26 and 27 the hospital did every test and culture they could do on Jesse. Each one seemingly putting him in more pain than the previous one. On December 28th the doctors delivered the results – he had an abscess the size of a tangerine in his neck and it was likely being caused by a hole in his esophagus! He needs to have a major surgery to fix it or he will die a slow and painful death. The surgery would involve 3 different surgeons and would be done on December 31st, the first day that they all could be made available. 3 days to wait, in pain, and think about the major surgery coming up – more mental torture for Jesse as he was just starting to feel healthy.
12-31-13: The surgery lasted 8 hours! He went in at 8am, they started at 9am and they did not bring him to the surgical ICU until 6pm. They had to cut a 6 inch slit into his stomach to use part of his stomach tissue to patch his esophagus. They had to cut into his hip to use hip bone for the discs between his vertebrae. They had to remove a salivary gland to sew the blood vessels from it to his stomach tissue patch to supply blood to it and help assure it adheres to his esophagus. The neurosurgeon removed the metal plate, sanded down the pointy bone that was causing the THREE holes they found in his esophagus and fused several of his vertebrae together with his hip bone. He also removed the abscess as best he could and inserted drainage tubes that are sticking out of Jesse’s neck for the next several weeks.
When we saw him after the surgery, he was awake and in excruciating pain. He was in so much pain he could not sleep. He can’t speak. His throat is bigger than his head. His nightmare continues, his pain continues, his condition worsens as his already weakened body is now being asked to sit in place for the next several weeks. We have hundreds of people praying for him and sending their most positive thoughts to him – just hoping those prayers will be answered soon because I am not sure how much more he can take.