Could Be a Week Before Decision on Amputation Is Made : Jessica Undergoes Operation to Stem Swelling in Foot

Jessica McClure, the 18-month-old who survived 58 1/2 hours trapped in an abandoned water well, underwent more than an hour of surgery Saturday morning as doctors attempted to save her right foot.

And the girl’s 17-year-old mother, Reba, broke her silence for the first time since Jessica slipped down the well shaft Wednesday morning, saying she wanted to “thank everyone in the world for your caring.”

“I’m just glad she is safe,” she said. “I’m so happy we’ve got her back.”

She then opened a box sent from Disney Studios in Burbank, which contained a giant Winnie the Pooh bear. Federal Express employees along the way had inscribed their own greetings to Jessica as the box made its way across the country.

Jessica’s battle for survival in the well had gripped the country and the world to a point where she has become a household name--literally overnight. Midland florists were swamped Saturday with orders to be sent to the little girl, and the U.S. Post Office called the hospital for guidance about what to do with the thousands of cards and letters that had arrived.

But doctors at Midland Community Hospital said Saturday that there was a chance they would have to amputate Jessica’s right foot, which was jammed in the well in such a way that almost all circulation was lost for 2 1/2 days.

Dr. Shelton Viney, a surgeon who spoke for the team that performed the operation, said it could be as long as a week before it is determined whether the toddler will lose her foot. He said doctors performed an operation known as a fasciotomy, in which three incisions were made in the foot to relieve the pressure from swelling.

The swelling began Saturday morning, after Jessica was given fluids the night before, her first nourishment since Wednesday morning. Viney said the fluid intake triggered other processes, including expansion of the foot. He said the swelling had to be stopped because it was blocking blood circulation and increasing chances of amputation. He said it was difficult to determine the angle of her right foot in the narrow well casing.

“But it was in a position that caused a great deal of vascular compromise,” he said. “We are cautiously optimistic about the skin and muscles involved. We will not know for a number of days and possibly a week if we are going to be able to salvage this foot.”

Viney said that Jessica would be placed in a hyperbaric oxygen unit, used to improve blood circulation and increase the chances of saving damaged body tissue. Doctors said Friday night that treatment in the oxygen unit had apparently helped circulation in the foot immediately after she was brought to the hospital.

Another doctor, plastic surgeon Terry Tubb, said two wounds on the child’s head--apparently caused by her rubbing against the well casing--will not be difficult to repair. The more difficult of the two, he said, is the small wound on Jessica’s forehead. He said he will use a surgical process that eventually allows him to stretch the forehead skin and bring it together.

Viney, meanwhile, said the only thing to be done now is to wait and see how Jessica responds to treatment.

“She’s alert but she’s a tired little baby,” he said. “What this baby needs is for her mother to hold her in her arms. That’s the best therapy.”

Reba McClure, who spent the night at her daughter’s side, said Jessica had spoken her first words since being rescued.

“She said ‘momma’ and she said she wanted her bottle and she said ‘Pooh,’ Winnie the Pooh.”

Thanks Reagan, Bush

She thanked President Reagan and Vice President George Bush, both of whom placed calls Saturday morning while Jessica was undergoing surgery. A White House spokesman said Saturday that the President did not speak directly to Jessica’s mother but planned to call again today.

Hospital spokeswoman Laurie Johnson said she understood there was a possibility that Bush would visit the little girl in Midland, where the vice president once lived when he was in the oil business.

At the admissions desk of the hospital, dozens of balloons and stuffed animals lined the countertop and extra volunteer aides had been brought in to take care of the load that was expected over the weekend.

Verna Mae Caldwell, one of the volunteers, was particularly taken by one of the notes attached to a bunch of colorful balloons: “These balloons are for Jessica. Watching the news, I cry with you seeing so many people pulling to save a small child. I have a daughter Jessica’s age. Although I am miles away, I feel very close to your child. Hope and prayers from someone who cares in Wisconsin.”

Johnson said that the gifts began arriving after it became apparent Jessica would be freed in the early afternoon Friday. But because the girl was lodged so tightly in the 22-foot hole, it took rescuers another eight hours of drilling to extricate her from her prison, finally resorting to lubricating gel to dislodge her.

When she was gently raised to the surface by the rough-looking, grimy men on top--many of whom had not left the site since the ordeal began--it was to cheers and dampened eyes and a vast sense of relief. When the accident occurred Wednesday morning in the backyard of Reba McClure’s sister, Janice, rescuers believed it would take only a few hours to retrieve the toddler.

Instead, they struck rock described as harder than granite and at times could only drill less than an inch an hour on the shaft connecting the well and a parallel rescue hole dug nearby.

On Saturday morning, there was little activity in the neighborhood that, until Friday night, had been filled with rescue equipment and hundreds of journalists. The drilling rig was still there, along with the sign taped to it that said, “Thank you, America.”

Two young women in front of the small, frame house taped up a paper banner that said, “Welcome Home Jessica. We Love U.”

Jack Doyle was getting ready to close up the Salvation Army truck that had doled out food and drinks since the early hours of the rescue effort. He reckoned he had gone through 48 pounds of coffee, 52 pizzas, 150 cases of soft drinks and 150 pieces of chicken.

Over at the drilling site was the eight-inch hole where Jessica had fallen. It was capped and welded shut and would be opened only to receive the cement that will eventually seal it and the other shaft.

Police officer Bobby Sanders was one of the few people about.

“It’s the kind of ending I like,” he said.

And Tim Parker, one of the rescuers, had been wandering about the site earlier in the morning. He had found one of the original drill bits used in the rescue effort. Parker said he had plans for that bit. He was going to give it to the McClures, with this inscription: “For Jessica, 58 hours of love.”