Scolimom

Slow and Painful (Scoliosis)

posted on : July 18, 2016posted by : April11 Comments

Hello All,

I left off in the last post with April just getting her PICC line.  After her PICC line, April’s NG tube was still producing a lot of bile and she was still extremely nauseous.  April, even with the NG tube in place and sucking out the contents of her stomach, was still having moments of vomiting.  The night was a fairly long one with her vomiting and gagging, and now in pain from the NG tube and her pain in her back and abdomen went up from all the vomiting and retching. When I tried to close my eyes it was about 1 am and she had another 850ml in her NG canister.  April woke up throughout the night, it was just a bad night.

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Scolimom

Set Back #…

posted on : July 15, 2016posted by : April8 Comments

Here we are again in the same familiar place with me hijacking April’s blog to give an update on what has happened since I left everyone last night.  So yesterday April was moved up to what they call a post surgical diet 2 which includes all liquids, some raw fruits, raw veggies, crackers, pudding, and some meats like chicken or turkey.  April took it easy only eating a few bites here and there making sure not to overdo it.  Later in the evening though, April became extremely nauseated and vomited.  She vomited 650ml of fluids and bile.  650ml is quite a bit, over half a liter. The other problem was that she had taken her meds no more than a minute before so most of them came up, but if the nurses can not find the pills or see them they have to assume they stayed in April’s stomach.  After this she was only allowed sips of water with her meds.  She slept ok through the night usually waking up every two hours or so in pain.  So I did our ritual of helping put her in a new position and stuffing pillows in the appropriate areas to keep her back straight.

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Scolimom

The Unknown (Scoliosis)

posted on : July 14, 2016posted by : April17 Comments

April is sleeping and my mind is racing.  Now that April is well, as in she is alive and is in no current danger, what is next.  Next, obviously is healing.  The easy part will be her healing from her incisions, the disecting through muscle, the rods and screws being placed in her back, the osteotomies that literally ripped her vertebrae apart to make her spinal column flexible enough to straighten, and all the other normal things associated with Scoliosis surgery and colectomy surgery.  The hard part will be learning how to walk again, coping with the mental toll of not being able to use her left leg, not seeing her children, and in general just not knowing what is going to happen in the future.  April last saw our two youngest children, Will and Nick, on the 4th of July.  We aren’t even sure when she will be discharged from here, and when she is finally discharged April won’t be able to go home, she has to go to a live in rehab facility.  So who knows when she will actually be home.

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Scolimom

Sigh of Relief and then… (Scoliosis)

posted on : July 12, 2016posted by : April7 Comments

Hey Everyone,

This is Neil once again.  I apologize for not posting again until now and leaving everyone hanging.  So first things first, April is well.

April’s surgery took almost 2 hours and it was after midnight when the doctor came out and spoke with me.  She told me the surgery went great and she had no issues.  She also said that the surgery was most definitely warranted.  The average cecum is about 4cm in diameter, but April’s on the CT was measuring 9cm. The doctor said that her cecum was quite impressive and even bigger than what the CT showed and it definitely needed to come out because it was getting close to the point of either rupturing or becoming ischemic causing dead bowel.  The doctor said she ran her bowel and everything else looked healthy and normal, and that April had plenty of large bowel left so she should not have any issues going forward with nutrient absorption.

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