decisions, decisions and different opinions

[loves to skate]

Thanks for posting Rob. I'm glad the surgery is over and that everything went according to plan. Give Evelyn my best.
Sally

[TwinmomTN]

So glad she is doing well. Please give her our best.

[titaniumed]

Thx for posting Rob.

Things are hard in the beginning....you guys hang in there, things will get better.

Ed

[Spring72]

Great news, welcome to the otherside Evelyn....you are in my thoughts.

[golfnut]

THanks for posting, Rob. I'm glad everything went well. We will be looking forward to updates when there is time.

[hasteffen]

Glad Evelyn is doing well

So Glad to hear that Evelyn is doing well. Praise God! Rob, Can you tell us a little bit what it was like waiting while Evelyn was under? I would like to prepare my husband and family (I'm scheduled in Oct. w/ Dr. Lenke) as much as possible.
Best wishes for continued healing and strength!
Heidi

[Doreen1]

So Glad to hear that Evelyn is doing well. Praise God! Rob, Can you tell us a little bit what it was like waiting while Evelyn was under? I would like to prepare my husband and family (I'm scheduled in Oct. w/ Dr. Lenke) as much as possible.
Best wishes for continued healing and strength!
Heidi

Hi Heidi

Congrats on your surgery date with Dr Lenke. What are your
curve(s) measurements? Have your hubby read my blog
so he can learn from my hubby's experience of taking care of
me.

Warmly
Doreen

[Doodles]

Rob--
It was so good to check in and see your post. Tell her welcome to the other side and best wishes for a good steady recovery. Thanks so much. Janet

[KathK]

Rob,

Great News! I'm glad everything went well for Evelyn! I have been thinking of her yesterday and today. I was wondering if she got "upright" today.

A tip for you, Rob...My family thought the Queeny Tower Cafeteria there at Barnes had a nice view. I never got to see it (smile).

Kathy

[Confusedmom]

Rob Again, Checking in

Hi all. Evelyn and I (Rob) are in a private room on the seventh floor ortho unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital South. I am typing, but Evelyn wanted to share her experience. So here goes:

Evelyn: First of all, thanks you so much to everyone on the forum for the support before surgery.

I went in Wed morning at 6:30. I waited in preop until about 8:30 when they gave me anesthesia. I don;t even remember being wheeled into the operating room. The first thing I remember was waking up and having my ventilator tube taken out. They took me down to the CCA (Critical Care Area), which I thought would be for a few hours. Ended up being 24 hours since there were no rroms on the seventh floor.

Critical care was good from standpoint of a nurse devoted almost entirely to you. But it is very loud and bright and seems more like an emergency room. So not great for rest. Finally around 7:30 Thursday night, we moved into my room upstairs. Things have gotten better since then. Initially, I was in a lot of pain because my oxycontin dose got delayed by three hours due to the room change. Plus, they increased the delay between doses of pain medication from one/ten minutes to one/twenty before moving me. I would say my pain shot out to about an 8 out of ten. But then I got the ortho nurse talked to the doctor on call and increase the pain meds. So gradually, overnight, it went down to about a six. Then in the morning, I begged the rounding doctor (Dr. Lenke had to go to a Chicago conference) to do a little more. So he added percocet, valium and flexerol. So, I am definitely taking a large cocktail of pain medication. But now the pain is down to a 2 or 3.

So today (Friday, 9:30 PM, second day after surgery) was a much better day. I got to sit up in a chair for about twenty minutes twice and I walked baby steps inside the hospital room. Also, Kathy from Dr. Lenke's office came by today with my x-rays. I don't know the degree of my correction, but it looks pretty straight. I have pictures and plan to post them later. I can tell by looking out my window that the weather in St. Louis is great. So I sent my husband and mo out to enjoy it for dinner. And I've beenh getting a lot of naps. (Oh by the way, the first 24 hours, I never slept more then ten minutes at a time because of the pain.)

The next big hurdle will be getting my foley catheter removed so I can use the restroom. (Just as a side note, the tech in Critical Care Unit tried to take it out before I had gotten out of bed. Fortunetly, Dr. Lenke stoped by about that time, and told them to leave it.) All in all, the pain has been a little worse than expected, but I am extremely relieved to be on the other side, and very happy that so far there have not been any major complications.

Thanks again to all for listening and supporting me. I will be in touch soon. Best, Evelyn

[jrnyc]

congratulations, Ev
wonderful to hear from you...to know the surgery went well and that
healing has begun...
i hope that your recovery is steady and smooth...
thanks to Rob for posting for you and keeping concerned forum folks informed...
feel better every day!

jess

[JenniferG]

Wonderful to read this news. You sound great, for this early. Glad to hear they were willing to help you with that severe pain. Looking forward to more updates as days go by. Thank you Rob!

[rohrer01]

Thanks for the update, for sure! I'm a little more than disappointed that they haven't kept your pain under better control. You don't have a morphine, dilaudid, demerol, or fentanyl pump (I listed all I could think of because every doc has their favorite med)? I would think this early after surgery a pain pump would be the thing so that you have some control over your pain med intake and can't accidentally overdose. When I had my recent surgery (not scoli related) the anesthesiologist and assistant asked me what "my" acceptable pain level was and they kept it well below what I requested, which was a 4. I know these harder surgeries aren't as easy to keep pain under control, that's why they usually give you a pump. Aside from that, I'm glad to hear that Evelyn is doing well. Again, thanks for the update. It especially helps those of us not yet to surgery to know what to expect. It is very selfless and giving to share your experiences, and I, for one, appreciated it tremendously!

I hope Evelyn gets some well needed rest and gets that pain under better control!

Take Care,
Rohrer01

[mabeckoff]

Glad to hear that all is going so well so soon

[TwinmomTN]

Hi Evelyn,

Good to hear that you are making progress and doing well. I wonder why they decreased your pain dosage so soon? When did they take x-rays? I didn't realize they were taken so soon post-op? Sounds like you were lucky to get a private room. Keep up the progress and keep up posted.

Pam