Did Everyone Survive Christmas Okay?

[nikyergen]

Just wanted to be sure the the one's that have recently had surgery survived the Christmas weekend. I hope all of you that recently had surgery are feeling better and were able to enjoy some of the Christmas celebrations in your homes.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.
Nikki

[flowerpower]

Hi Nikki,

Just a quick note to let you know that after a successful surgery and a couple of rough days, were able to make it home by last night - Christmas - which was our goal. Joseph is doing amazingly well right now. He has gone up and down the stairs a few times unassisted (with me at his heels though!) and is up and walking around so much more than I anticipated. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. Take care, Renee

[nikyergen]

Renee,
Glad you guys made it home for Christmas. It is so good to hear that Joseph is doing so amazing. His recovery sounds a lot like Crystal's. Getting home was the best thing for her recovery. She was up and moving when she got home. I can just see you hot on Joseph's heels with a pillow or something, just in case (LOL). He will do nothing but improve now. Crystal says surgery is the best thing she has ever done for her back.

Nikki

[flowerpower]

Nikki, just like Crystal, Joseph already appreciates being "on the other side" . Even though he did have some rough times this week, as we were pulling out of the hospital parking lot and driving away he did say that overall the hospital experience was "good". Childrens Hospital really went all out to do special things for all the kids spending the holidays there. Joseph and the other kids received some really nice gifts from "Santa" and hospital staff, as well as special visits and gifts/autographs from a local radio station DJ, Padres outfielder Ryan Klesko and a world class surfer who's name I didn't catch (too tired from lack of sleep) but his photo appeared in our Union Tribune riding a huge wave in Ensenada. Oh yeah, last night as we were leaving my husband said he saw the team from the Oregon Ducks(?) I think they may have been visiting someone in particular. Anyway, those were the highlights of the last couple of days, a different way to spend Christmas, that's for sure. Glad to be home, we are all so tired. Will catch up with everyone later. Take Care, Renee

[Cheryl M]

Renee,
So glad to finally hear from you and so excited that all is well. Merry Christmas! I have been praying for Joseph and your family. Now that you're home he will recover quickly and you will feel more rested. Remember to rest yourself whenever you can.

Praising the Lord that we have another child on the other side!

Cheryl

[flowerpower]

Cheryl, yes can't believe I can now say those beautiful words, "We are on the other side", and it feels great!!! Being home made all the difference to Joe's spirits and he is doing so much better that I even hoped! We still have a ways to go recovery wise, but I am so grateful that things are going well, and a big thank you to everyone here, you all helped give me "legs to stand on" during this whole process and everything I learned from the "experienced" people really helped during the hospital stay and now at home. Hope the November girls and everyone else is doing well in their various stages of recovery. I feel privileged we "belong" to such a special, caring group of people.

Holiday Blessings,

Renee

[s&d]

Saw your post and quickly wanted to send a note. I know you're busy, but you and Joseph were in my thoughts.

David has done very, very well and I hope the same for you. Yesterday was the 2 week mark and I never imagined he'd already be off narcotics and just on Tylenol. He's walking a good bit - says it does help. His sister who's home from college, and a couple of visits with a friend have really helped. His follow-up at TSRH is tomorrow, but we're going this afternoon to cut down on the car stress.

Cheryl is right about getting rest when you can. I was hovering at the breaking point for a bit, but my daughter has been a huge help since she arrived. Husband had to go back to work as soon as we returned from Dallas, but has pitched in wherever.

Tell Joseph we're glad to have him on "this side" of the surgery, and continue to pray for a rapid recovery.

SanD

[Laura P]

Hello, Glad Joseph is home. Hope all is going well. Jamie is glad to be on the other side as well. We are switching to a lower dose pain med tonight so hope we continue to do well. She has one spot on her upper back that is giving her fits. Not sure if it is just spasms or what. It was so good to be home for the holidays. We just enjoyed each other. Glad everyone is doing good. Any help on moving on to the next thing of getting off of pain med. Her spasms seem to be worse than the pain. Rambling. Happy holidays to all. I feel like I am on Pain medicine sometimes (lack of sleep causes me to do the stupidist things). I grabbed a pan out of the oven without a mit, I poured buttermilk over Jamie's cereal. I worry about myself. How about youall are doing things like this also. Thanks for all of your wonderful support.


Laura P

[nikyergen]

Laura P,
Sometimes I wonder if it is harder being the mom. I did some really stupid things just before Crystal's surgery. I could poor a cup of coffee and put it down and forget where I put it. I would later in the day, clean up 4-5 full cups of coffee I had poured that day as I cleaned up the house. It really frustrated me. I was just so terribly wore out from the stress. After we got home from surgery, things got better. Bless my other two daughters hearts. They would take turns sleeping with Crystal so I could get some rest. Crystal's recovery has truly been a family effort and adventure. Now, the big deal is that she still isn't released to lift anything over 20 lbs., and the other two are just getting a little tired of doing the things she used to help with. Guess I can sympothize with them, but it has to be that way.

I bet the buttermilk in Jamie's cereal was a shocker to her. Watch those hot pans in the oven. I've done that one too. It's pretty painful. Try to take a nap when Jamie naps. Don't worry about the piles of laundry or the dirty dishes in the sink. They will be there when you get your nap for the day. At least in my house they have never jumped in the washer/dishwasher by themselves. You need your rest as much as Jamie needs her rest.

I hope the new pain med works for Jamie. Crystal was off of prescription pain meds at the end of her second week. She was just using tylenol-extra strength. She used pain meds occassionally, if she had a tough day, but not every day through out the day. But, that doesn't mean Jamie will be able to do that. Crystal has an incredibly high pain tolerance. She is one of those that when she says she hurts and needs to go to the hospital you'd better take her. Her freshman year of high school she finished out the basketball season with broken ribs, because she was bound and determined to finish the season. Me, I'm a big wussy. I'd lay down and die if I had broken ribs.

Get some rest any chance you get. You are so definitely getting ready to hit some real progress in recovery and then Jamie will wear you out wanting to do things again.

'til later,
Nikki

[lorrie]

Hi Laura P
Nikki is so right to say you need to rest and look after yourself - it's incredible how tiring stress is. This year we had a houseful as usual but I made a menu plan and allocated cooking days to everyone to try to keep my exhaustion levels under control! It really helped and nobody has complained. Genevieve likes to supervise in the kitchen and she has found it fun having different people to boss around too. Think I may do it again next year even without the excuse of our last few chaotic months!
Happy Christmas everyone!
Lorrie

[Celia Vogel]

I didn't have a great Christmas at all ! My Christmas was spent for the most part in the kitchen preparing the "feast" for a bunch of ungrateful aging relatives who didn't even lend a helping hand :mad: I felt like a caterer to a party.

[nikyergen]

Celia, I wish you would of had a better Christmas. I know the feeling of fixing the feast for the ungrateful. I don't do it anymore. If dinner is at my house, I assign people food to bring. I always fix the main course, as that only makes sense. But, I assign the rest of the food to the others. I don't care if it is homemade or store bought, just as long as I don't have to fix it. I had to prepare the Turkey and Ham. I actually cooked it Friday for dinner Sunday. It really helped lighten my load on Sunday. Saturady night I got it all sliced up to reheat in the microwave on Sunday. Worked out great. I used to fix the whole mean, but I don't know. We are always juggling feeding livestock, taking our high schoolers to basketball practice (yes, during the holidays they practice as much as they can), and just getting ready for the holidays. I don't have the time to do all the cooking any more. If you have Christmas at your house next year, assign foods. Tell them they can buy it or make it. It doesn't matter as long as it lightens your load.

Have a good New Years.
Nikki

[Laura P]

Thank you for all of your sweet support. We have hit a road block today but know tommorrow will be better. I guess she was doing so good that we assumed we were over the worst. Just having alot more pain then has had since the surgery. I think her doctor is gonna want to see her next week if it isn't better. She did miss the bed a couple of times and set down hard on the floor. Hoping she hasn't jarred anything loose. Hope everyone has a very happy new year.

Laura P.
Jamie's mom fused t-2 to L-1 12/16/05

[nikyergen]

Laura,
Give Jamie a hug for me. Missing the bed has to be terribly painful. I hope she didn't do any harm, and sure she probably didn't. She is probably good and sore from it though. Remember the three week mark is generally a big improvement marker. Three weeks and then the next one is three months. Hang in there. You will all survive this. Wait until she starts chasing dad through the house. Trust me, it happened at our house. Now, I just turn my head and pray. But, we will be at the one year mark on March 15, so being careful isn't quite so scarey now.

Nikki

[marmyte]

from the perspective of a patient, nikki is absolutely right: 3 weeks and you notice a big upward turn, and from there on out it tends to get better. i had surgery in july and for christmas, i'm fully recovered. i'm driving again, i'm working, my family are abusing me making me run errands :D (don't panic, i've been released by my surgeon) and i definitely wasn't physically fit before surgery. you'll get there, unfortunately it just takes time

[Laura P]

Hey,
Thanks to everyone. Jamie is doing much better. Our doctor and nurse were off this week and they thought we were another one of his patients and said she should really be coming off of her pain med. Well, they called today and apologized her doctor checked in and said he had left a RX for us that they were to mail to us. A doctor on call had already told us to call our family doctor here and see if they would write one for us. This was done Wed. and she is great now. Nikki, Jamie didn't even complain when she fell it just scared her and when she realized it didn't hurt she just laughed. Kids will be kids. Hope eveyone has a great New Years and God Bless All Of You.

Laura P

[flowerpower]

Laura,

Glad to hear Jamie is doing better, I know these first couple of weeks home are a little challenging. if they feel ok, the kids can tend to forget their strict limitations on bending, twisting, etc. Hope it was just a pulled muscle and all will be ok.

Laura and Nikki,

I also had an absent-minded mishap with sticking my hand in a hot oven with no protection. I think it should be mandatory that the exhausted parents are sent home with their own set of instructions, #1 on list: Do not let parents operate appliances or machinery unless supervised, lol!

Renee

[Laura P]

Renee,

That is so true. We have done alot of laughing because of the dumb things I have done. Also, strange things that has come out of my mouth. It is funny and we just laugh. We have always laughed alot around here though. Hope you have a happy new year.

Laura P.

[matt]

Hey Nikki. I just wanted to say that we did survive Christmas okay this year. It was really different beacuse of the hurricane and my family and I, and thousands of other families in our communities who weren't able to spend Christmas in our homes. Some of us spent Christmas in hotels. Its still hard to bare. Well, hope you had a great Christmas. Sorry this is kinda late!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Ross

[nikyergen]

Ross, My heart goes out to all of you that are hurricane victims. I hope that you soon find homes to live in and can put your lives more fully back together. Please keep us posted on how you are doing. Glad you survived Christmas.

later,
nikki

[susannajon]

Hi Renee,

Haven't posted in a while but thought I'd stop by to see how you're doing. Glad to see you all made it through and were home in time for Christmas. My daughter is at the 9 month mark and doing great. For her, surgery is a thing of the past and something she rarely thinks about. Remeber that most kids measure recovery in weeks, and healing takes time, but before you know it he will be back to his normal self, only with a straighter spine and a new outlook on life!

Hugs to you,

[flowerpower]

Susanna, how nice to hear from you! You were one of the first people to offer me advice and I still have your list of suggestions for hospital/home. It really came in handy and we were well prepared for both the hospital stay and homecoming. I'm happy to hear your daughter is doing so well post-surgery. It will be nice to reach the point where surgery is more of an afterthought than anything. What is she able to do activity-wise? And what is she still restricted from?

Renee

[susannajon]

Hi Renee,

Our doctor is very conservative, but he has a great success rate, so we're listening. She, at the 9 month mark, is not permitted to lift anything over 15 lbs. She is allowed to do anything she wants as far as dance. She is allowed to play softball (she's not particularly good or competitive, so this might not be true for all kids). She is not allowed to play lacrosse until the 2 year mark.

As far as day-to-day life, she has no pain at all. She is sleeping normally, her endurance is back, and school is going well. Socially, no one seems to remember the Quasimodo days, and she looks perfectly normal and never gets teased. Those who were shallow enough to tease her pre-surgery thankfully have short attention spans! Her close friends continue to look out for her and protect her from harm and the occasional forgetful careless person.

You guys will be in our shoes in a few months. Don't forget to stop back and help out the newbies who's kids have just been diagnosed!

xoxox and welcome to the other side!