Hi everyone. This board has been such a wonderful source of information and support for me this past year. I have yet to post but felt since my daughter Becca is now home from surgery four days ago it was time to share my story and provide information to others that are now in the position I had been.
I first noticed Becca's curve in May of 2008 and had her X-rayed in June. In July we met with Dr. Paul Sponseller at Hopkins. Her curve was around 50 degrees and we decided to wait and observe and then return for another Xray in March 2009. Her curve was then 55 degrees so we felt pretty confident our best move was the surgery. Most importantly Becca was up for it (her feeling was it was necessary although she was bummed out at home much it might screw up her summer fun). At the end of June we went for the pre-op visit and at this point her curve was 61 degrees, a 6 degree increase in 12 weeks. This past Wednesday was the surgery at Hopkins. Dr. Sponseller and his wonderful team had the surgery done in just under four hours. The nurse called my husband hourly with an update. Because there was a shortage of beds (or probably nurses) they put Becca in the pediatric ICU the first night. That's a tough place to be as no one sleeps there. The lights are always on and there are lots of beeping monitors. By Thursday morning at 11 she was moved to the adolescent ward into a shared room. Within an hour the physical therapist arrived and had Becca up and walking. We were dismissed from the hospital around 5:30 on Friday, less than 48 hours post op. Becca was pretty determined to go home and although I was nervous about being her home nurse was also looking forward to being home.
As I write this I am sitting in her room watching her sleep. She is on oxycodone and tylenol and is still working through the pain. She gets up every couple of hours and walks around a bit. She has very little appetite and has been pretty much eating only watermelon and ice cream. But she is sucking down lots of water.
The most amazing thing about this whole ordeal is that when Becca's sister and I stood her up for the first time we all looked at each other eye to eye. Becca was 5 feet 2.5 inches prior to surgery and although I haven't officially measured her my sense is she's about 5 feet 4 or 5 feet 4.5 inches. Amazing. And she has this beautiful straight back.
This is major surgery but relatively low risk. The surgery itself has apparently come leaps and bounds from what patients had to endure even 20 years ago. Becca's goal is to be able to comforatably sit through the Harry Potter movie that hits theatres July 14. My goal is to have her feeling great on her 15th birthday which is July 21.
I hope my post is helpful and I wish all the readers great things in their journey to help themselves or their child.
I first noticed Becca's curve in May of 2008 and had her X-rayed in June. In July we met with Dr. Paul Sponseller at Hopkins. Her curve was around 50 degrees and we decided to wait and observe and then return for another Xray in March 2009. Her curve was then 55 degrees so we felt pretty confident our best move was the surgery. Most importantly Becca was up for it (her feeling was it was necessary although she was bummed out at home much it might screw up her summer fun). At the end of June we went for the pre-op visit and at this point her curve was 61 degrees, a 6 degree increase in 12 weeks. This past Wednesday was the surgery at Hopkins. Dr. Sponseller and his wonderful team had the surgery done in just under four hours. The nurse called my husband hourly with an update. Because there was a shortage of beds (or probably nurses) they put Becca in the pediatric ICU the first night. That's a tough place to be as no one sleeps there. The lights are always on and there are lots of beeping monitors. By Thursday morning at 11 she was moved to the adolescent ward into a shared room. Within an hour the physical therapist arrived and had Becca up and walking. We were dismissed from the hospital around 5:30 on Friday, less than 48 hours post op. Becca was pretty determined to go home and although I was nervous about being her home nurse was also looking forward to being home.
As I write this I am sitting in her room watching her sleep. She is on oxycodone and tylenol and is still working through the pain. She gets up every couple of hours and walks around a bit. She has very little appetite and has been pretty much eating only watermelon and ice cream. But she is sucking down lots of water.
The most amazing thing about this whole ordeal is that when Becca's sister and I stood her up for the first time we all looked at each other eye to eye. Becca was 5 feet 2.5 inches prior to surgery and although I haven't officially measured her my sense is she's about 5 feet 4 or 5 feet 4.5 inches. Amazing. And she has this beautiful straight back.
This is major surgery but relatively low risk. The surgery itself has apparently come leaps and bounds from what patients had to endure even 20 years ago. Becca's goal is to be able to comforatably sit through the Harry Potter movie that hits theatres July 14. My goal is to have her feeling great on her 15th birthday which is July 21.
I hope my post is helpful and I wish all the readers great things in their journey to help themselves or their child.
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