Who follows your child once you're home?

[pmsmom]

For those of you who've had surgery or your child's surgery was done many hours away from home, who follows your child once they're home? Your family GP? Are you referred to any other doctor who might be fairly local?

Thanks,
Marian

[Sherie]

Hi Marian

We flew 2 hours away to St. Louis for my daughter's surgery. Prior to surgery, I had lined up a local scoliosis surgeon to follow her up but it turned out, we have not used him yet. He was very nice and agreeable to the whole thing. We've gone to St. Louis for 2 followups since surgery but I would definitely go to this local surgeon for any urgent issues.

Sheena had several episodes of achiness and fever for several months after surgery. I corresponded with Dr. Lenke's nurse and we went to Sheena's pediatrician for tests and medication.

For immediate post-op pain meds, Dr. Lenke made the prescriptions out for about 30 days of meds and we filled them at the hospital before we left. That was plenty and we had some left over because she transitioned to tylenol about 2 weeks after we were home.

It all worked out fine in the end.

[pmsmom]

Hi Marian

We flew 2 hours away to St. Louis for my daughter's surgery. Prior to surgery, I had lined up a local scoliosis surgeon to follow her up but it turned out, we have not used him yet. He was very nice and agreeable to the whole thing. We've gone to St. Louis for 2 followups since surgery but I would definitely go to this local surgeon for any urgent issues.

Sheena had several episodes of achiness and fever for several months after surgery. I corresponded with Dr. Lenke's nurse and we went to Sheena's pediatrician for tests and medication.

For immediate post-op pain meds, Dr. Lenke made the prescriptions out for about 30 days of meds and we filled them at the hospital before we left. That was plenty and we had some left over because she transitioned to tylenol about 2 weeks after we were home.

It all worked out fine in the end.

Thanks for the input, Sheena.

What was going on with your daughter with the achiness and fever?

I'm glad things worked out for you all.

Marian

[Kitty]

Hi Marian,
We got a discharge letter from the hospital to take to our GP, plus they gave us about 4 weeks' supply of panadol which was all she was on at the time. We've seen seen our GP who removed the rest of Tahlia's tapes/dressing and that was pretty much it. Tahlia is now off all meds and we are just waiting for our 6-week post op with the surgeon.

Lisa

[Kitty]

Oops!!!



...i've just realised you meant people who travelled far for their surgery and now back home......sorry, i think my fingers were working faster than my brain...LOL!!!

L

[Sherie]

I'm Sherie, Sheena's my daughter.

We never pinpointed what was going on. She also had an elevated sed rate which is a blood test and an indicator for infection or inflammation. I believe it was related to the drain site. After surgery, they put long rubber tubes in to drain off fluids. She was fine until they pulled them out and then she started having excruciating pain in that hip, there was also a lump there where it exited the skin. They said it could have been a hematoma. The pain was very bad for several weeks (worse than her back most of the time) and gradually lessened but she had flair ups for quite a long time. I can't be sure it was from that but she's been ok for the last 4-5 months so I'm not worrying about it anymore. I'm pretty sure this is not a common occurrence so don't worry about it happening to your daughter.

[pmsmom]

Hi Marian,
We got a discharge letter from the hospital to take to our GP, plus they gave us about 4 weeks' supply of panadol which was all she was on at the time. We've seen seen our GP who removed the rest of Tahlia's tapes/dressing and that was pretty much it. Tahlia is now off all meds and we are just waiting for our 6-week post op with the surgeon.

Lisa

Lisa, that is *great* about Tahlia! God bless both you and her!

Thanks for the input!
Marian

[pmsmom]

I'm Sherie, Sheena's my daughter.

We never pinpointed what was going on. She also had an elevated sed rate which is a blood test and an indicator for infection or inflammation. I believe it was related to the drain site. After surgery, they put long rubber tubes in to drain off fluids. She was fine until they pulled them out and then she started having excruciating pain in that hip, there was also a lump there where it exited the skin. They said it could have been a hematoma. The pain was very bad for several weeks (worse than her back most of the time) and gradually lessened but she had flair ups for quite a long time. I can't be sure it was from that but she's been ok for the last 4-5 months so I'm not worrying about it anymore. I'm pretty sure this is not a common occurrence so don't worry about it happening to your daughter.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, Sherie. Those dag-gummed bifocals of mine--my eyes are like cookie monster's.

Thanks for the reassurance as well about the possible hematoma. I'm glad that your daughter is doing much better now. I agree--don't worry (read, don't go looking for trouble).

Marian