Prayer for potential upcoming procedures

Our beautiful girl!

Now that Arwen is 6 and becoming more aware of her Spina Bifida, she is wanting more independence with her daily continence needs. We are praying about a couple surgeries that would allow her to have that bowel and bladder independence that she is starting to look for. With it comes a lot of planning on our end as we have to travel either way for these, time off work for Richard that is limited, and have to set up care for our other kids as we would have to be one on one with Arwen during this and will have to be trained by the medical staff on how to use.

 Here are the procedures we are looking into for her-


http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/service/c/colorectal/treatments/appendicostomy/

The other procedure is the one we are praying about the most as it is a life changing way for her to learn how to cath herself and would be permanent. We want her to be apart of the decision making process, but also want to do it sooner rather than later for her to learn on her own.

http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/en/healthaz/testsandtreatments/procedures/pages/mitrofanoff.aspx

A Mitrofanoff (say: me-TROFF-an-off) is a small tunnel from the bladder to the outside of the body. This tunnel is used to empty the bladder with a catheter. A catheter is a small flexible tube that is put into the bladder through the Mitrofanoff.

The doctors had mentioned in the past that she may need a bladder augmentation, but we are praying that this isn't a need anymore as it can be more invasive than the other surgeries. 

http://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions-and-treatments/treatments/bladder-augmentation

We would be doing all of the surgeries at once to lessen risk of infection and makes it easier to all be done together as far as surgeries go. We ask for prayer for guidance on these big decisions and appreciate all of your prayer as we move forward making appointments with these doctors for more information and tests.