Day 5 - Willow comes home

[Pooka1]

They released her after she did the stairs. Still at the hospital waiting for some paperwork to be signed. Her sister and I have decorated the room for her return.

She was walking all over the place last night and today. Very bored.

Still hasn't eaten much.

Radiographs today. She looks completely straight through the thorax. She has a small residual curve below the rods that I don't recall seeing on Savannah's in-hospital radiographs. I assume that will straighten out by the 6-week first appointment but we will see. From the side, the two rods almost completely overlap which I take to mean she is pretty much derotated. Spine artistry there.

She sleeps a lot but is physically able to do almost anything when awake. It will be interesting to see when she returns to school. I have a prediction which I will write down, put in a sealed envelope, and send to Ti Ed... er... uh... I mean me.

One note on the ice-chips-before-gut-sounds issue since it is my favorite issue it seems... I make it a point to ask any and every doctor who entered the room about it because they changed the policy some time in the last 1.5 years. The last guy I asked said, "It's a moving target" and that this game is really an art form. No kidding.

Despite the relatively few ice chips, she never had any bloating or discomfort. But we did go very slow on those before her gut woke up.

[laurieg6]

Hi Sharon,

Congratulations on surviving your 2nd scoliosis surgery! It sounds like Willow is having a really great outcome like her sister and that is such great news. What a relief it must be to be taking her home in such relatively active and positive shape.

I'm so happy for you!

[Pooka1]

Laurie, I very much appreciate your kind words. Thank you.

Both my kids seem to have very squirrelly spines. Maybe that made it easier to coax them back into alignment. We'll have to wait and see on the long term like everyone else.

[JenniferG]

Home on Day 5! How wonderful! As someone who didn't go home until Day 19, I am just blown away at how quickly some spineys are discharged.

Congrats. on surviving another child's surgery Sharon. I hope you will stay with this forum for other parents because your experience and knowledge is so valuable.

[pmsmom]

Yes! Congratulations to you both! Welcome home, Willow!

[mariaf]

So glad that Willow is home - it must be a great feeling!!

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Sharon,

Great news! I am glad you are all home, I hope everyone sleeps well tonight.

Please keep us posted how Willow's recovery is going.

[debbei]

Hi Sharon,

I'm so glad she's home now. You must be breathing a big sigh of relief. I'm curious when she'll go back to school too. These young ones are just AMAZING! Is she on much pain meds at home? The young girl I know locally who had this surgery was off pain meds within 2 weeks, which seemed incredible to me!

[Pooka1]

Jennifer, pmsmom, Maria, and Gayle,

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Debbei, she was prescribed 1-2 percosets every 4-6 hours. Since she came home, I have been giving her 2 every 4 hours but will taper that as soon as possible.

She was very uncomfortable on the bed here so we ran out last night and got two 1.5 inch memory foam toppers. That helped a lot. After she is recovered, each girl can take one for their bed.

My other kid went through the prescription meds and needed several days of OTC pain meds. She never could have gone off pain meds completely when the script was out. I am guessing the same for this kid.

We started with 60 percosets each time.

In re school, she just started high school. They have block scheduling here where they do the entire year in one semester (90 minute classes). It's good in general but bad in that you miss a day you are really missing two days. This of course is a killer when you have major surgery.

She has biology and geometry in the middle the day and electives in the morning and afternoon. I am hoping she can return at least to the two core classes after two weeks but we will have to see. I will not mention that to her... she has to figure it out for herself when she can return.

She knows the clock is ticking double time and that she is missing a great deal of work. I decided I need to take off a week from work in order to catch her up in geometry and biology. It's a great deal of work. I can work directly from the geometry textbook. I have spoken with her biology teacher and will have Willow do the labs she missed either at home or at another lab so she doesn't miss that work. I'll teach her the biology lectures. Although I'm SO not a biologist, I did well in the intro year of college bio so I feel like I'm not in over my head.

Biology is Willow's favorite class as she wants to be a research biologist. I think both girls will go into some field of science which considerably warms a mother's heart.

[titaniumed]

I have a prediction which I will write down, put in a sealed envelope, and send to Ti Ed... er... uh... I mean me.

And? Inquiring minds need to know that prediction.

We know that science "warms a mothers heart" LOL But please, go easy, its only been 6 days. Geometry on percoset doesnt sound like fun.

I like the block scheduling. Maybe, she can make up at a later time? Just in case.
I blew out advanced geometry in 5 weeks the summer of my 9th grade. It was great.
Hackensack High, Hackensack, NJ 1973. LOL Go hack,hack,Hackensack you know.....

No wait, It was sack,sack,Hackensack, depending on which quarterback the cheerleaders wanted sacked. That was a while ago.......
Ed

[Pooka1]

Ti Ed, I am hoping she can return to bio and geometry by next Monday or Tuesday. That would be 13/14 days post op. We'll see.

She can do the creative writing and art assignments at home as far as I'm concerned. But she can't keep missing bio labs.

So you took geometry in the summer after 9th grade? I don't know if that is an option here. I don't think they have summer school here even before the budget cuts for anything besides PE and driver's ed as far as I know.

I grew up only a few years behind you east of the Hudson in Queens.

[Pooka1]

And in re science warming my heart, I have never found anything that comes close to the amazements of nature as revealed through science.

I recently heard Carl Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, mention that "Cosmos" has never left the air after it was first broadcast. It is always playing somewhere. I suggest anyone who saw that series will not be surprised to hear that. Beyond fascinating.

[concerned dad]

They have block scheduling here where they do the entire year in one semester (90 minute classes).

What do they do the second semester?

[Pooka1]

CD,

Each school year they take eight classes, four in the fall and four in the spring. For ninth grade, these eight include four core classes (Science, Math, Social Studies and English), three electives, and PE. As soon as I informed the school that Willow was having surgery and that she would be on restrictions for eight months, they pulled her out of PE and put her in another elective class.

Willow has Geometry, Biology, Creative Writing, and Art I this semester. Next semester she will have English, Social Studies, French II and Art II.

She is in mostly honors classes so there is extra work she has to make up.

She will be off restrictions by next summer and may choose to take PE then rather than use one of eight class slots for that. Otherwise she will have to take PE in tenth grade.

This block scheduling allows a student to complete high school sooner than four years but I think many stay on and take electives and AP classes. I'm not sure which strategy is better yet... have to analyze it.

[mariaf]

I grew up only a few years behind you east of the Hudson in Queens.

That is too funny. I was in 9th grade in 1975 (also a few years behind Ti Ed), also in Queens.

Small world.