Update on Mandy with photo!

[ArabianFancy]

Mandy is 6 weeks post op for spinal fusion and rods, hooks and screws placed on Jan 14,2010. She is back at school full time on naproxen as needed for pain , very seldom needs anything.
She was in her school beauty pageant last night!!! Can you see the 13 inch incision?
Anyone who is going through this ordeal , Look what PRAYER and a great surgeon can do! I am so proud of my young lady !
She was cleared by her Dr Monday NO BRACE!!! No follow up visit for 6 months. Bracing was being considered because she was "leaning" on the previous x-ray.

[ArabianFancy]

Her post op x ray

[RitaR]

Wow!!!! 6 weeks? I am impressed!!! Just what I needed to hear with surgery scheduled for Monday. And, what a beautiful young lady she is! She should be in every beauty pageant to my notion!!!!! Congrats on a job well done!!!

[ddb]

I can hear how proud you are of her through your words. She has done a lot of work in the past 6 weeks to get here. Pics are beautiful!!! It didn't say in your post what was fused, but looks like it was a long fusion from the x-ray. So glad to here she's back to her normal life, wearing clothes:), school and pagent.

My DD is 3 weeks post op this coming Tues. It's remarkable the progress daliy!! Hope she is back in school soon too.

Dee

[ArabianFancy]

Thank you all! Mandy was fused from T-5 to L-3. The hard part is keeping her from doing too much now.
The only problem so far was that she had her first period the other day, since surgery, and it was AWFUL, the back spasms....... Had to put her back on her stronger pain meds for a day and miss some school poor baby :( but otherwise is doing amazingly well. She gets tired and achy but just keeps on going.
She does not always understand why she is not WELL already and back to full strength and activities when she FEELS so good.
Prayers for all going through, or about to go through this. Honestly, as tough as it was, it was not quite a bad as I thought it would be!
Gina
www.caringbridge.com/visit/mandydupree

[Bigbluefrog]

what a beautiful girl.....you would of never guessed she had scoliosis by looking at those photos...her shoulders look level. I didn't see the scar...

I hate seeing the post xrays...its so hard for me to imagine all that you must of went through...Glad the surgery went well.

she doesn't feel it? No pain?

Hugs!!

[ArabianFancy]

Thank you all. Mandy does have some pain. She aches some but at 6 weeks post op is doing AMAZINGLY well to me.
Still numb in the incision site and says she can FEEL the rods and that I told her she wouldn't be able to . Agreeing to disagree on that one :p They don't hurt her as such, just can tell they are there......... She says she can tell when it starts raining without looking. I told her to stay out of the lightening ;)We keep an upbeat laughing attitude about it. I tell her to stay out of the rain so she does not get rust on her pipes etc. It helps to be very light hearted I think.
Gina

[pmsmom]

Congratulations to you both! Our kids are amazing! :D

[Kelsey's Mom]

I hadn't thought about whether they would be able to feel the rods. I have a question or two about dealing with bathing for the two weeks post op. I know we can sponge bathe, but how did you deal with hair washing? Were there any difficulties with this? I know it seems like such a small thing, but I think it will be a big deal to my daughter.

We are still waiting for a surgery date. Hope they send the info soon. She progressed from 58T and 58L to 67t and 70L between August and Jan and appears to have progressed since then to this worried mom's eye. She'll be fused from T4 to L4, as well. So, I'd be interested to know any of the complications you had to deal with in recovery, as your daughters fusion is almost as long as Kelsey's will be.

[pmsmom]

I hadn't thought about whether they would be able to feel the rods. I have a question or two about dealing with bathing for the two weeks post op. I know we can sponge bathe, but how did you deal with hair washing? Were there any difficulties with this? I know it seems like such a small thing, but I think it will be a big deal to my daughter.

We are still waiting for a surgery date. Hope they send the info soon. She progressed from 58T and 58L to 67t and 70L between August and Jan and appears to have progressed since then to this worried mom's eye. She'll be fused from T4 to L4, as well. So, I'd be interested to know any of the complications you had to deal with in recovery, as your daughters fusion is almost as long as Kelsey's will be.

Each surgeon has different instructions about showering. My dd had a dressing on her back and we were told not to get the dressing wet, so we had her sit on a shower bench to clean her and then I put some towels over her back and incision when I washed her hair.

As far as the "complications" I think perhaps reading some of the threads about the kids' surgeries can give you some ideas on what to expect.

I think the best advice I received was to keep a journal in the hospital. That way you can get doctors' names, see when her meds were given, etc.

Both my husband and I referred to our journal *a lot* when talking to drs., especially since some of them didn't have her chart right there in front of them when talking to us. We could refer to the dates/times/etc. about when different things were going on.

Good luck to you!
Marian

[ArabianFancy]

Hair washing! The WORST part of the whole thing. You can NOT wash hair in the hospital because you can't get the incision wet and they just don't FEEL like it. I think they also put sensors of some type in Mandy's hair because she had tons of huge white flakes coming out of her head for weeks.
If the hair is long enough find out if you can do small braids before surgery to keep it from matting up. Mandy's was a NIGHTMARE once we could wash it. Tangled unbelievably!
She wont' feel like leaning forward for you to do the braids afterwards .
Sponge baths in the bed for a few days . Wash what you can wash and forget the rest :) Girls of a certain age, menses will likely start after surgery :( more to have to deal with sigh......
I will try to think of anything else helpful. Mandy was in a hospital gown then t-shirts, never used the cute pj's we bought!
Gina

[Momoftwins]

I have 14 year old twin girls both with scoliosis. One is worse than the other and on the surgery wait list. We were originally told it would be a 2 year wait list but when I took the girls for their 6 month appointment the doctor bump Brenna to July for her surgery she is at T62% up 7% from September. Sydney is at T23% with no change since Sept. I am relieved that the surgery is this summer and not next especially if she is continuing to curve.
Never thought about the post surgery stuff like bathing and washing hair. This will be very interesting! :rolleyes: Even for her to go to the bathroom or picking things up. Good thing it will be in the summer and her sister will be home to help as well.:)
Thank you for putting this information on here it's very helpful. I like the idea about the journal as well. We did something like that when the girls were newborns so that we knew who we fed, and who pooped and who we changed when. I think I will start that journal now and back date it to last September.
PS Mandy looked beautiful in her dress. Did she gain any height after they straightened her spine?

[aweiker]

I just had to reply - what a wonderful, positive story - so reminded me of me and my surgery I had when I was 18! FYI, I am now 38, pregnant with my third baby, healthy, straight-spined, never ANY issues or problems with my rod! Mandy is a beautiful girl and was so brave to have gone through what she did!:)

[ArabianFancy]

Hey, Sorry I have not been back for a while. Thank you for all your comments!
aweiker, Thank for your response. I can't wait to show Mandy.
I am thrilled to report that Mandy is PAIN FREE. She does not complain of any pain, unless it's that time of month or she overdoes it. She is walking nearly a mile every day to get in shape too.
We leave tomorrow evening for her "reward", a trip to Las Vegas to the Arabian Breeder's World Cup show. I am going on business , she is taking a cousin and going to have fun! They can't WAIT! :D Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to pray for all of you!
Mandy looks about 3 inches taller, but the Dr said 1 1/2 inches. EVERYONE comments on how tall she looks, especially those who don't know about her surgery . BTW, You can BARELY see her incision and only if you are really looking for it!
Can't say enough good things about her Dr and hospital!

[Pooka1]

That's so great that your daughter had a quick recovery and is doing so well now.

By the way, I'm sure you are aware by now that an Arabian (SGS Ahmour) was 14th overall in the recent 70-day stallion testing. Up against mostly warmbloods so that's pretty sporty of him. :) I know of at least one Arab breeder who is producing extremely nice sport type Arabs.

I had read he was Egyptian but later learned he is (mostly?) Polish IIRC.

[Lorraine 1966]

What a positive story to read, I am so happy for you all. What a wonderful attitude you all had by the sound of things , I feel this is one of the main things when facing any crisis in life.

I too had a similar fusion but a long time ago and I went on to have two children without any trouble, and a great life where nothing was impossible. Just have some problems now probably because of the Harrington rods I think.
I did find it interesting that Mandy got her periods not long after the operation as I was the same, and quite a few posts I have read have been the same as well, periods following ops. Nothing ground breaking there I know but just found it interesting as said.

Just fantastic as I said before on such a good outcome, good luck and best wishes to all of you. I am sure your daughter is the positive, strong young lady because of you, her mum, she is blessed.

Lorraine.

[Brianna's_Mom]

I haven't been on the forum for quite awhile and it was so great to see you comment on Mandy!! Brianna has a few weeks until her surgery. I'm just very feeling very edgy (if thats a way to feel) but praying for the best. I can't believe how wonderful everything worked out for Mandy. This is an inspiration to us all.
Maryann:rolleyes:

[ArabianFancy]

Mandy's reward for going through this surgery and getting better so quickly was to get to go to Las Vegas to an Arabian horse show with me. Her 15 year old cousin also got to go.
She was dissapointed to NOT set off the metal detectors at any of the security points. :rolleyes: She had no trouble sitting on the long flights or doing any of the walking though she did get very tired ( as we all did!)
This was only 3 months past surgery!
In Las Vegas and Santa Monica Ca. Mandy has brown hair, Lora has black, Momma is the OLD one!

[ArabianFancy]

I wanted to keep posting these updates to show that having scoliosis and surgery has not really changed Mandy's life at ALL. I have to caution her about running and jumping because she forgets that she is not supposed to do that. If you or a loved one are facing this, read her story and maybe it will help to ease any concerns that you have. We have left nothing out, her whole story is here and on caringbridge.
It's really NOT a big adjustment like I thought it would be! ;)
Can you tell which of these 6th grade girls in this photo , all near the same age, had scoliosis surgery just 3 months ago ??

[ddb]

Really great to see Mandy's positive progress. It sure is a good feeling to be on this side of surgery!

I've been bad about updating on Katlin (surgery 2/9/10) - seems life gets back to normal fast after surgery. She too has recovered nicely, and is getting on with life. Only issues so far is school make up work - this was a fully packed school year (10th grade) so lots to catch up on.

Has the doctors said anything about Mandy riding in the future? Katlin has expressed an interest lately, but since she hadn't really done much in the past that wasn't a question we asked. I know it is still a long way away and I plan to bring it up next visit, but wondered if you had asked this.

Dee