Washington State?

[SarahH]

Anyone from WA State?

[cdhheidi]

Washington State... Seattle?

Hi Sarah,

My son had his 2nd fusion done last November in Seattle, at the Children's hospital with Dr Kit Song. He was totally awesome... Sat down and talked with Sean about it, and was great at answering Sean's questions (even when they ahd nothing at all to do with the surgery). Where is your son having the surgery?

Happy to help if I can... (we live in Idaho and moved to Seattle for 2 1/2 months as Sean needed to be in traction for 7 weeks before the fusion).

Heidi

[SarahH]

Thanks Heidi! Dr. Song is our Dr. too He has been fabulous thus far! How was your hospital stay? How is Sean doing now?

[cdhheidi]

Sean is doing great

Amazingly so. The reason we did the fusion/halo traction was his curve was growing in a kyphotic direction and collapsing his lungs. When he had his old hardware removed in October it was about 90 degrees. After the fusion/post halo traction it was about 60, and instead of needing to be on Oxygen most of the day, he has only needed it when he was sick a few weeks ago, as well as at night due to pulmonary hypertension.

Sean is a complicated little guy, pulmonology was one of the big reasons we were in Seattle, coupled with the talent and skill of Dr Song it was a good combination for him to get the help he needed. Because he is complicated, we did end up having some trouble with our hospital stay, primarily because of lack of communication between the various services, and I had trouble with some of the services (NOT ortho or pulmo) actually listening to my account of Sean's history.

I think, as really with any child undergoing surgery, you would be wise to be sure that a parent is with him as much as possible to be an advocate for him, and to be sure you know and understand what is going on with him. I tend not to leave Sean alone much, except maybe for 10 minutes or so to get food and bring back to the room, but thats me. Thankfully the nursing staff was awesome, they let me do as much of his care as possible, including having me be the only one to touch his central line since we have done it so well for so long.

My personal opinion of Dr Song is that he is one of the best, if not THE best surgeon/physician we have ever had for Sean. He is thorough and caring, really adores kids, you can tell by the way he speaks directly to them and tells them what they need to hear (Sean needs the truth up front... he has had 30 surgeries of various kinds and knows far more than a typical child). This was our first experience at Seattle Childrens for inpatient anyway since he was a year old, most of our physicians and hospitalizations are in Boise. Dr Song helped to make it go well, as did his nurse, Sue. She was also great..... if you see either of them, please pass on our best wishes and we are looking forward to having them see how well Sean is doing when we come in April!

Holler if you have other quetsions....

Hugs, Heidi

[SarahH]

Heidi, thank you so very much for sharing yoru personal life and experiences with me. It really is helping me to hear others stories and especially because we have the same Dr. I am thrilled to hear that Sean is doing well, I will pass that on to Sue. I spoke with her yesterday. Trenton is going to donate his own blood, so she had to get the "order" written. Id love to email you Trenton's website at Caring Bridge, if you'd like. Also, I saw that you mention being here in April. If time allows we'd love to meet you and Sean. Trenton will be only 4 weeks post op, so we'll have to see how he feels, but I think it would be comforting. Let me know if you may be interested. I can pm you my email address if your interested. Take care and thank you again for your kindness!

[cdhheidi]

Check your PM file for a message from me!