Back to school

[Mary Lou]

Mary,

Thank you so much for posting! My 13 y.o. daughter is 8 weeks post-op. It is so reassuring to hear success stories. Like you, I also took pictures of my daughter before and after surgery. I just got the after pictures back today and the difference is amazing! Since she isn't allowed to bend yet, we only have the standing ones so far. The standing pictures are amazing and I can only imagine the difference we'll see in the bending pictures.

Mary Lou

[Kell Bell]

Mary

Reading about your son at the ER was funny. Since my lungs have a diminished capacity because of my curves, I get lung infections a lot. The first time I got plurasy I thought I was dying and had my parents take me to the ER, they took an X-ray to look at my lungs and after it was developed and we were waiting for so long, we finally asked what was taking so long....The radiologist came out and said he had paged my doctor (which made our hearts skip a beat) because he smiled sheepishly....with the bars and bolts he couldn't read it, I had forgot to tell him about it and he got the surprise when the film developed.

Silly how things work out sometimes.

[jc3]

hi Kelli
i am so sorry, that note was for you and i wrote the wrong name. I do apoligize. Wow, that is some story. I am sorry you have had to go through so many surgeries. That scares me for my daughter. Once was definitely enough!! But i'm glad to hear that you are doing well now. Thanks for sharing your story.
Jennifer

[susannajon]

Hi Jennifer,

That would be great if you could stop by. It would be so great to meet you in person, and it will be great for my daughter ( and for us) to see a kid who's post op and doing well. I can't wait to say hi to you!

Pat, Kim and Marym it's great to hear your stories! It makes it easier to go through this and feel hopeful about my daughter's ultimate outcome! Thanks for taking the time to post.

Susanna

[Mary Lou]

Jamie went back to the doctor today for her 8 week checkup. She is doing great! She starts p.t. as soon as we get it scheduled. Her restrictions remain the same--no lifting more than 5-10 lbs; no gym; still has to leave classes early. She can't go to the amusement park in May with her band either. The doctor had her bend and that went better than I thought it would. He wants to see her back in June.


Jennifer & Pat--

Looks like those darn pedicle screws are making all the difference in our daughters' different restrictions.

Mary Lou

[jc3]

hi marylou
glad to hear the appointment went well, except i'm sure jamie wasn't too happy about not being able to go to the amusement park in may That is a bummer. Is she upset over it?? That is hard all the restrictions that are for so long.
I don't think my dr. would let nicole go to an amusement park so soon after either. Nicole hasn't complained or mentioned her back in weeks and weeks and last night she said her back was bothering her and this morning said it was still bothering her. She stayed home from school today. I hope it goes away. I don't think it's anything serious, i just think that it might be the muscles mending or maybe that it is supposed to rain tomorrow. She isn't in too much pain, she said just alittle uncomfortable. I hope it goes away. It just bothers me because there hasn't been one complaint in so long.
Jennifer

susanna
We will definitely try and come see you. I look forward to it also!
Jennifer

[Theresa]

Mary Lou

I don't think the pedicle screws make a difference in recovery time and restrictions. When I was e-mailing my doctor about some questions, I mentioned that other people were doing things that I couldn't do yet. He said not to generalize this type of surgery. In my case, he said due to the severity of the curve, the length of time that I have been living with it like that, and the magnitude of my surgery that I shouldn't be doing things that other people are able to do. I had alot of muscle atrophy from before the surgery so I'm having to redevelop those muscles plus they also have to heal from the surgery. Just take one day at a time. Missing out on a few things now (full recovery can take up to a year) will in the long run give your daughter a much brighter and healthier life.

[Alison]

Umm Hi :-) mary lou

Just some food for thought on the use of/non use of pedicle screws and effects on restrictions. I had a relatively "short" fusion, T2 to T11 and they did use pedicle screws but i had the same restrictions and over the same time period that your daughter.

Alison

[Mary Lou]

Hi Jennifer....

How's Nicole feeling? We both know it is probably nothing, just over tired or something like that, but again, there is always something to worry about! Jamie wasn't really too bummed out about not going to the amusement park. I think her sister is more bummed because she isn't going either. I told them they probably weren't going, because it just doesn't sound to well organized/supervised and I don't want my 11 y.o. daughter running around an amusement park alone or with a few friends.

Theresa & Alison,

Thanks for your thoughts. The only reason I blame the restrictions on Jamie's lack of pedicles screws is that the doctor keeps repeating that fact. He commented at her 2 1/2 week checkup that he is really concerned about the top portion of her back and that he wished her pedicles weren't so small. There could be several other reasons for her restrictions-long fusion (T-3-L-2); long time in O.R. (7:45 a.m.-5:00 p.m.); the fact that they corrected both her Scoliosis and Kyphosis; so I guess maybe I shouldn't blame it all on the lack of pedicles screws, but it sounds like the most logical reason. As you said, full recovery can take up to a full year and that's what we've planned on, but we Moms like to compare notes and we need to know every detail of what's going on with our daughters.

Mary Lou

[jc3]

hi marylou
thanks for asking about nicole. She seemed fine this morning when i woke her up for school. She didn't complain of it. I guess she wasn't in too much pain yesterday since i asked her if she wanted to run to the mall with me she had a few returns to make and i can't stand going on weekends with all the crowds, so i said since you are home do you feel up to taking a ride to the mall and immediately she said yes. When i said are you in too much pain to go she said no. So i guess it wasn't that bad. It does seem like some drs. lift restrictions earlier than others. I guess it depends on the fusion and the dr. My daughter has spoken to some girls from the other message board who have had their surgery after nicole and one of them is already allowed to go back to dance class! I didn't realize how long Jamie's surgery took. Why did it take so many hours?? Nicole is fused T4-L2 and her surgery was exactly 4 hours. That was a long time waiting in the waiting area. I'm sure that wasn't easy.
Jennifer

[Mary Lou]

Hi Jennifer....

Isn't it funny how the girls can have pain, but when you mention going to the mall, things change? I am glad she is felling better and you know it didn't hurt her to miss one day of school.

Part of the reason Jamie was in the O.R. for so long was that they had a very difficult time starting some of the lines they needed, but her surgery itself took over five hours and that isn't even counting the time it took to close the incision. From the time they made their incsion until they were ready to start closing the incision was 5 hours 15 minutes. And yes, it was a long wait, but thankfully we have an excellent surgeon who gave us updates at least every hour, and sometimes more often.

I do think some doctors lift restrictions very early. I wonder how those kids will do long term compared to our girls who are more restricted? I would stick with full restrictions for a year if it meant a better recovery or better long term results.

Have a great weekend!

Mary Lou