I have been reading all of your posts and learning from all of you. My daughter Olivia had her surgery last Mon, April 7, 2008. We just came home Friday. Just a little about her: Olivia has a chromosomal abnormality (Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome) and scoliosis is one of the things the kids tend to develop over time. She was 10 yrs old last Oct and we just found out that she had significant scolisis in Dec. We were sent for a surgical consult the last week of Dec and were told that her lumbar curve was 55 degrees. She also has had kyphosis (outward curve in upper back) that has been getting worse over time. As she started her period last Aug (early puberty being another issue with the syndrome), the surgeon strongly recommended that she have surgery within the next year before her bones become "set" in place after puberty is completed. We originally were scheduled for Feb 25, but Olivia got the flu the week before and surgery was postponed for 6 weeks. We were very nervous about her recovery because of her inability to ambulate. She uses a wheelchair or we carry her everywhere. (She is small for her age - another syndrome thing). But she has done very well!! Her surgery took 3 hours, and she is able to sit up for about 2 hours at a time right now. We are weaning her pain med. But the best thing is that her surgeon, Dr. Killian, said that he was able to get her COMPLETELY STRAIGHT in the lumbar curve, and almost completely straight in the kyphotic curve. She is sitting up so tall!!
Just a question to anyone: will she be able to look down? She will currently only raise her head to look up, but I cannot get her to bend her head down. Maybe it just hurts? Olivia is nonverbal and I just don't know. Her fusion is from T2 to L? (The incision is all the way to her tailbone).Her follow up appt is April 29. I will find out then exactly how far down they fused. I know they were not able to tie off to her pelvis as originally planned - they said her pelvis was just too small.
(I don't know how to put the little area with info at the bottom of my post.)Could someone please tell me? I look forward to chatting with all of you.
Just a question to anyone: will she be able to look down? She will currently only raise her head to look up, but I cannot get her to bend her head down. Maybe it just hurts? Olivia is nonverbal and I just don't know. Her fusion is from T2 to L? (The incision is all the way to her tailbone).Her follow up appt is April 29. I will find out then exactly how far down they fused. I know they were not able to tie off to her pelvis as originally planned - they said her pelvis was just too small.
(I don't know how to put the little area with info at the bottom of my post.)Could someone please tell me? I look forward to chatting with all of you.
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