The first February surgeries are here!

[LorDon]

Anne,
Welcome to the "other side"! So happy to hear that things went well for Annessa. Please keep us updated on her progress.

Continued well wishes for a smooth, uneventful recovery!

Hugs,

[Suzy]

I'm NOT surprised!!

Of COURSE Pam is posting right after surgery! You people expected less? LOL! I thought I was the scoliosis poster child (Per my Dr.) I will gladly hand the title to you Pam, you are blowing my recovery out of the park! (Softball humor!) I was surprised you hadn't seen your x-rays yet. I pictured you looking over the tech's shoulder as he processed them! Let us know as soon as you can what your new numbers are. I just know the results a going to be great.

To all those recovering, I am so glad to hear all is going well. As I told a friend recently (recovering from her scoli surgery.) there may be bumps in the road ahead but it will all seem like such small issues as you recover and look back on all you have accomplished. Best wishes to you all! Suzy

[kdawn]

Susie Bee- thanks for the thoughts. I'll see if my husband can post,but he doesn't do the internet thing to well. I'll post as soon as I'm home. trulyaries- good luck to you and I hope everything turns out well. Pam- hope everything is still going good. You are an inspiration. Good luck to all february surgerys

[trulyaries]

Backatcha, kdawn - good luck to you. It will be a good day for both of us!

[Neesasmum]

Annessa's 2nd night

Hi all

Annessa had a rough night, last night, she needed a blood transfusion and kept being sick and in pain and I just stood there, helplessly, holding the sick bowl - it was a long night! Today she managed to sit up and she looks so much taller! She is still in a bit of pain and the morphine is causing the sickness and itchiness too. Michelle gave me some good advice on that. Annessa is still managing a smile for the nurses and reserving a growl for me when I am too slow to bring her a drink of water but that is fine - what are mums for!

So many thanks to SusieBee for her brilliant PM's - they really helped me all the way through as did Michelle and Sam who are just a few steps ahead of us "over the water" and it is so good to be able to keep in touch. And to Lori for her advice and support too. This is such a fantastic forum full of wonderful and caring people and you have given me so much support through this, it has just made it all so much easier than it would have been, I'm sure.

Great to hear that Pam is doing well and hasn't lost her sense of humour (such a valuable thing) and loads of good luck and best wishes to kdawn and trulyaries for their upcoming surgeries!

I'm off for a shower and back up to the hospital, will keep you posted.
Anne

[trulyaries]

My heart goes out to both of you - Annessa for having a bad reaction to the meds (I hate it so much I will do everything possible to avoid throwing up!) and to you because I know how hard it is for the caregiver to watch a loved one in pain and feel so helpless. I hope today is a much better day for both of you!
Thanks for your good wishes and for thinking of us "next-ups" in the midst of your own journey.

[Susie*Bee]

Ditto!

trulyaries said it so well. I'm so sorry about the lousy night you both had. This too will pass, and things will get better. Hopefully you'll be able to take some catnaps when Annessa is sleeping. You need to keep your strength up for doing all that "mom" stuff! Thinking of you and sending you both hugs.

[LorDon]

Hi Anne,
Awww, so sorry that Annessa had such a rough night. It's heartwrenching as a parent to sit and watch your child suffer. The good news is that it will get better each day. Those first few days are really rough.

Chris had the exact same reaction to the Morphine. While it is great to control their pain, the side effects can be nasty. They gave him Reglan and Zofram to control the nausea and then he had a really bad reaction to the Reglan. Eventually, they switched him to Dilaudid which made a world of difference. Maybe you can inquire about having them switch her over to that or something else. There's no sense in having her be so miserable.

Hang in there. Brighter days are coming - I promise!! You're a great mom!

Big hugs to you and a gentle hug to Annessa!

kdawn and trulyaries- all the best to you in your upcoming surgeries! I look forward to hearing from you from the "other side'"!!

[MATJESNIC]

Anne,

We all feel for you and can relate to what you are going through. There are no magic words here, just one Mom to another offering some compassion. My daughter is turning 14 next month and we just went through this. I do understand. Everything will be okay. It will be great, actually. You just have to get through the first couple of crappy weeks and then things will really pick up. But before you get to that, you will see real progress from day to day and you will know that you will get through this. We are all in this together. That is how we can all survive this.

Please keep us posted.

[kdawn]

nessasmun- I agree with lordon, maybe you could see if the nurses could give her something different for pain. There is no reason she should put up with being nauseated and itching. There are to many other pain meds out there. Hopefully everything will get better. Hang in there

[Sherie]

Hello Anne

I hope things are better today. They should be switching to oral meds soon anyways? We did our best to advocate for our daughter, but sometimes you just don't know the right thing to do. No manual could possibly cover all the individual reactions people have to this surgery. For my daughter, it was extreme pain at the drain site that caused most of her distress.

It is very hard the week in the hospital and a little scary when you get home and trying to manage alone, but it is all downhill from here. Sheena's doing so well at almost 3 months postop, as hard as it is now, there's a light at the end. My best wishes to you and Annessa.

[Susie*Bee]

Anne-- has it settled down some?

Let us know if Annessa is still having it so rough, or if it's settled down a little. What a trying time for you! Hang in there--it will get better, slowly but surely...

[samsmom]

We're Back!

Just a note to let everyone know Samantha got released from the hospital today. Boy does it feel good to be home and have her safe in her own bed! The ride and the stairs were a piece of cake i am happy to report, but it did take awile for her to find a comfortable position in bed. Might run out and get "The Wedge" pillow.

Thanks to all for your good wishes.

- Michele

[LorDon]

Hi Michele,
Welcome home! There's no place like it!! Glad to hear that Sam is home safely and that you're finally on the other side of this surgery! It's all downhill from here. Let the healing begin!!

Continued best wishes for a smooth recovery!

Hugs,

[Suzy]

Hi Michele, Glad all is well with Sam. I had a wedge pillow and it was WAY too firm. Quite a few people had posted about them after someone had asked about getting one for post op. Most had better luck with a few regular pillows stacked up. I would hate for you to go buy one and find Sam didn't like it. Tell Sam to keep up the good work! Best wishes, Suzy