Jazz Jennings Suffered ‘Severe Complications’ During Surgery

Jazz Jennings’ journey after her initial gender confirmation surgery certainly hasn’t been an easy one, but the I Am Jazz star was hopeful heading into her third and possibly final procedure during Tuesday’s episode of the TLC show. Meeting with Dr. Marci Bowers and Dr. Jess Ting and her parents, Jeanette and Greg, Jazz was hopeful to learn more about what went wrong with her first procedures.

“I feel like we’re near the end of the journey at this point,” Greg said, as per PEOPLE. “And I do feel like this is going to be one where they say, ‘This is what we’ve got to do to finish everything up, complete the process, and let Jazz go on her merry way.’”

Bowers explained that while she knew Jennings had “a very difficult surgical course,” part of the difficulty came from the groundbreaking nature of the procedures.

“She had a very incredible first surgery — it went seemingly very well, but there were problems,” she continued. “And that prompted a second surgery, which I was not a part of, unfortunately.”

“Taking Jazz on as a patient for surgery, we knew it was going to be a one-of-a-kind surgery,” Ting chimed in. “We don’t have the experience of having said we’ve done 50 of these. I was just not expecting her to have a complication as severe as what she did have.”

Jennings’ surgery journey, Bowers admitted, didn’t go as planned.

“This has been a real journey, hasn’t it? We knew it would be tough — it turned out tougher than any of us imagined,” she said. “I think in hindsight we would have never sent you home from the hospital. You know, easy to say now. When I wasn’t here when you had problems and had to go back, I can’t tell you how stressful that was.”

Hearing that from the doctors was healing for Jennings’ family, with her father telling the camera later, “You know, it’s nice to hear, ‘I did something,’ and acknowledging that. On the other hand, there’s the medical side and an expectation that really should have been met.”

Just last month, Jennings showed off her surgical scars on Instagram with an inspiring caption, writing, “These are my scars on full display in #2019.”

“I’m proud of my scars and love my body just the way it is,” she continued. “I call them my battle wounds because they signify the strength and perseverance it took to finally complete my transition.”

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