If my calculations are correct, today's surgery marks #9 for Emily including the two initial spinal cord surgeries. This surgery was initially scheduled for August, however, we were checked in with all pre ops being completed only to have the surgeon have an emergency come up for another patient. We were most agreeable in deferring.
Today was a bit unique in the sense that the surgery has typically been on a Thursday with check in the prior day. In this case, since we had just done pre ops (blood and xrays) the month prior, we didn't have to go through that again and were able to drive in this morning around 6 a.m.
We are most appreciated that a friend, Mark Welch, came and joined me before Emily went in and spent the entire time waiting until she was out of surgery before having to leave. We tried our best to wake her before he left, but to no avail.
She's in quite a bit of pain, but just was administered some medicine and is now sleeping after chugging a cup of cranberry juice. The surgeon removed the right veptr and lengthened the spine veptr by about a half inch. We're wondering how she will respond to not having that right veptr in for over 5 years.
Will keep you posted.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Friday, November 22, 2013
Thank you for the prayers everyone!
Thank you so much for everyone's inquiries and prayers. Emily is out of surgery and in recovery. They were successful in once again lengthening the rods. Anxious to get home and measure to see how much she's grown in a day. :)
The surgeon expressed that everything went great and he will probably schedule the next one in 6-8 months, but after that, there's the possibility of removing the outer rod on the rib cage since that all is forming nicely. The rod on the spine will remain to ensure her growing straight.
Everything is looking like we'll be going home tomorrow...thankfully.
The surgeon expressed that everything went great and he will probably schedule the next one in 6-8 months, but after that, there's the possibility of removing the outer rod on the rib cage since that all is forming nicely. The rod on the spine will remain to ensure her growing straight.
Everything is looking like we'll be going home tomorrow...thankfully.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Next Surgery Coming Up...
Just to keep everyone posted, Emily's next surgery is coming up two weeks from today. It turns out that this will probably be record time for timeliness between surgeries. It's been the original intent to have them every 8 months, but because of scheduling, it turns out to be 10-12 months.
She certainly is growing, which is necessitating the greater frequency of ensuring the rods are making her as straight as possible.
Looks like I will be staying with her again this time since we just got a new addition to the family yesterday...Uriah Hope, 7 months old. We'll have more information on her in days to follow.
She certainly is growing, which is necessitating the greater frequency of ensuring the rods are making her as straight as possible.
Looks like I will be staying with her again this time since we just got a new addition to the family yesterday...Uriah Hope, 7 months old. We'll have more information on her in days to follow.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Back Home in Record Time
We must have hit a record in getting in and out of the hospital this time. We mentioned to the nurse this morning of our hopes of going home and she came back with an attending physician who gave us the nod. Believe it or not, we were out of there and back home before noon today.
She's still quite sore and seems to have some tenderness around the neck which could be any number of things from reaction to the pain killers, antibiotics or anesthesia.
I hesitate in saying this, but we had an interesting experience in them believing she had some nits in her hair just as she was going in to surgery yesterday. I guess it can happen to all of us, but as I was looking at what they were seeing, I didn't agree, however, I don't have a trained eye and they had to take precautions, and therefore treat and quarantine her the remainder of the stay. In fact, it was the first time I've even heard of the term "nits," which means the presence of head lice, but in the form of a caccoon in larva stage. No telling where it could have been picked up since we read that it can take up to 2 weeks to incubate. There was no sign of any living specimans or bites, so I suppose, if it is an actual case, it was caught in good time.
Anyway, it's good to be home. As usual, she may very well be up to school on Monday, but we may keep her home for precaution.
She's still quite sore and seems to have some tenderness around the neck which could be any number of things from reaction to the pain killers, antibiotics or anesthesia.
I hesitate in saying this, but we had an interesting experience in them believing she had some nits in her hair just as she was going in to surgery yesterday. I guess it can happen to all of us, but as I was looking at what they were seeing, I didn't agree, however, I don't have a trained eye and they had to take precautions, and therefore treat and quarantine her the remainder of the stay. In fact, it was the first time I've even heard of the term "nits," which means the presence of head lice, but in the form of a caccoon in larva stage. No telling where it could have been picked up since we read that it can take up to 2 weeks to incubate. There was no sign of any living specimans or bites, so I suppose, if it is an actual case, it was caught in good time.
Anyway, it's good to be home. As usual, she may very well be up to school on Monday, but we may keep her home for precaution.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Out of Surgery - Friday 3/15
Emily went into surgery this morning about 8:30 a.m. and it took about 2 hours before I was paged to tell me all went well. The screw on the rod at the base on the spine was reseated with two screws this time. The doctor stated that they expanded the rods considerably, but couldn't tell me exactly. He made a motion to me as if it were 2-3 inches, but that seems excessive. So I guess we'll know once she's up and around and we can measure her height to get a better idea.
She's been moved back to the room and is feeling discomfort and some pain in her back. She can't stay still fidgeting around and trying to get comfortable. But fidgeting is her modus operandi anyway.
No word on how long we'll be here, but my guess is they want us to stay one more night for observation.
The doctor did mention that he felt that both rods would need to be replaced with longer ones, not the next surgery, but the one after that.
Thank you everyone for prayers and thoughts. Still a road of recovery to travel. Hopefully it will be as short as the last one.
She's been moved back to the room and is feeling discomfort and some pain in her back. She can't stay still fidgeting around and trying to get comfortable. But fidgeting is her modus operandi anyway.
No word on how long we'll be here, but my guess is they want us to stay one more night for observation.
The doctor did mention that he felt that both rods would need to be replaced with longer ones, not the next surgery, but the one after that.
Thank you everyone for prayers and thoughts. Still a road of recovery to travel. Hopefully it will be as short as the last one.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Surgery Update
My apologies to everyone as I should have, as I thought I had, updated the status of Emily's surgery that was originally scheduled for December 27 of 2012.
It turned out that Emily had contracted a bad cough accompanied by some fever prior to the scheduled surgery. The fever last maybe 3 days, however, the cough lingered for 3 weeks. Best we can tell was that it remained in a form of bronchitus.
As you can imagine, nobody wanted to risk her going into surgery in that condition.
We were able to quickly turn around a new date for that surgery and that date is this coming Thursday, March 15, 2013, with a check-in the prior day.
This will be my turn to stay with Emily in the hospital, as Maria Marcela and I swap each time.
Also, you may recall in one of my previous updates that Scottish Rite has changed their no cost policy. Thankfully, the majority of the surgery is going to be covered by insurance, which is peculiar since we were intially told that the procedure they do with the 2 titanium rods (veptr) is not AMA approved, or at least wasn't at the time we started. Either way, we'll take it, because I don't want to know what the expense could be over the long haul of these periodic surgeries. As it turns out, we'll be required to meet a deductible, which at this point, will not surpass $2500.
Anyway, I would ask that everyone please consider this surgery, as all of them, as critical and always having the potential of putting us in a different direction than one would hope for. Please pray for our Creator's will and to protect her as He would have her protected.
Sincerely,
Johnny
It turned out that Emily had contracted a bad cough accompanied by some fever prior to the scheduled surgery. The fever last maybe 3 days, however, the cough lingered for 3 weeks. Best we can tell was that it remained in a form of bronchitus.
As you can imagine, nobody wanted to risk her going into surgery in that condition.
We were able to quickly turn around a new date for that surgery and that date is this coming Thursday, March 15, 2013, with a check-in the prior day.
This will be my turn to stay with Emily in the hospital, as Maria Marcela and I swap each time.
Also, you may recall in one of my previous updates that Scottish Rite has changed their no cost policy. Thankfully, the majority of the surgery is going to be covered by insurance, which is peculiar since we were intially told that the procedure they do with the 2 titanium rods (veptr) is not AMA approved, or at least wasn't at the time we started. Either way, we'll take it, because I don't want to know what the expense could be over the long haul of these periodic surgeries. As it turns out, we'll be required to meet a deductible, which at this point, will not surpass $2500.
Anyway, I would ask that everyone please consider this surgery, as all of them, as critical and always having the potential of putting us in a different direction than one would hope for. Please pray for our Creator's will and to protect her as He would have her protected.
Sincerely,
Johnny
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Next Surgery Scheduled
I actually don't know what number this is for her in surgeries. We had one scheduled for October 3, but made our yearly trip to the Feast of Tabernacles and had to postpone.
We just heard today that the soonest they can get her in will be Thursday, December 27, 2012. Which is a little while off, but it is very good timing in the hopes that she will miss minimal amount of school.
Speaking of school, Emily and Andrew are now in the same school together for the first time. A new charter school opened this year in McKinney called Imagine of North Texas and we're already seeing amazing differences just by the curriculum that they follow. Each child's strengths and weaknesses are identified early on. In the case of Emily, she was seen as doing two grades in advanced level reading, while Andrew is being challenged with the next level of math.
We'll keep you posted.
I just did a tally and this will be Emily's 7th surgery.
I just did a tally and this will be Emily's 7th surgery.
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