VBS Surgery Recovery

[ecnw]

Shelby had her surgery on Sept. 18. They first lengthened the rods and the added 7 staples T5-T12. Everything went fine during surgery, but the next afternoon she was having trouble breathing, her left lung had partially collapsed. Poor thing had the chest tube coming out the right side, lung issues on left, and just had surgery on her back. Needless to say, she couldn't lay on either side (her comfy position) only propped up.
Minus the lung collapse, how soon did other's go back to school afterwards? I have her on independent study through Oct. 17, which would be in two weeks. When she saw the resident on friday (dr. was out of town) he said three more weeks.
Also, anyone who has had the growth rods taken out, how much pain were you in afterwards? That's our next proceedure to be done next year.

Thanks,
Emily

[mariaf]

Hi Emily,

I'm so sorry to hear about those issues Shelby had to deal with.

David had VBS only (no rods) so I'm afraid I can't be of much help with recovery times as I assume it's a bit different (he had the OK to return to school 3 weeks post op but because of Easter break returned 4 weeks post op.) There are a few parents on the VBS site whose kids had both staples and growing rods - perhaps they can be of help regarding the average time for returning to school.

My best wishes to Shelby on a smooth and uneventful recovery from this point on. Please keep us posted. How is she feeling now? I guess she's only two weeks post op so she probably still needs some time to recover before returning to school.

[Carmell]

Hi Emily,

I'm sorry Shelby is having a hard time. Hope she feels much better very soon.

How old is she?

Rod removal is usually much less invasive than rod implant surgery. Hopefully she'll feel much better much sooner after the next procedure.

Good luck!

[smileyskl]

Hi Emily,

Sorry to here Shelbys having a hard time. I have been and will be praying she feels better really soon. Please let me know how things are going. I would let her stay out as long as possible. At least when she does go back, there are several holiday breaks so its not too much at once. Maybe she could do some half days at first or take extra breaks. Anyway, I hope shes doing lots better soon. Keep us posted.

Smileyskl