Nicole's Surgery

[gwenk]

Glad you are home

Melissa,

I am glad that Nicole is home and the first week is behind you. Sounds like a nightmare. I dont know too much about the details of the surgery and the recovery but am glad it went well acoording to the doctors. You guys are great parents and I hope you can sleep well soon. Nicole is in my prayers and I hope her pain decreases every day.

Gwen
Mother of Andrew, 15, Kyphosis patient in Spinecor since last November.

[Mom37]

Glad the hardest part is over!

It sure is tough in the hospital! I am glad that you are all resting at home. One great bit of advice we heard at the hospital was not to compare each day but from 2 days before, and it really does change that drastically in the first few days, then weeks, and months. The pain is so tough the 3rd and 4th day. My child has always been emotional and dramatic, so I relate to the comments of the girls. I heard some of the same as well. Also 6 days never leaving was tough. You sound like you were well prepared though. I over packed for my daughter, but did forget some items for myself, but managed as well. Thanks for the great updates. Sorry I didn't read sooner, but wishing you the very best in recovery. We had her 6 week post op last week, and it went well. It is amazing how fast these young patients recover. I am glad you posted the tough times, as it lets everyone see they are not alone. I hope that you keep everyone up to date again. Take care.

[sam_newyork]

good wishes for nicole and family

Hi Melissa-

I am so glad to hear that Nicole's surgery went well, although I know that the post-op recovery phase is a bit rough.

My daughter friends' had set up a visiting schedule with her once we got home. They came over to play board games and take walks with her, and that seemed to cheer her up quite a bit. Perhaps if you invite Nicole's friends over, that might help her.

I will be thinking of her (and you) and sending good wishes and prayers.

Hugs,

Sam

[leigh9p]

Melissa - congratulations on a successful surgery and on making it through what sounds totally awful. I really appreciate your taking the time to tell is so honestly what it was like. This puts it in perspective for me. I, too, have one of those girls. She isn't the one with diabetes and scoliosis. We've often said, if it was her, we'd never survive. I had to smile at some of the things Nicole said - though I know it wasn't funny - it reminded me of women in childbirth telling the husbands to go to hell I'm glad it is getting better and I surely hope her life gets back to "normal" quickly.

leigh

[MATJESNIC]

Thanks, everyone,

Nicole was suffering from constipation and has taken herself off the oxycoden. She is taking tylenol every 4 hours and valium every 6. She is acting more like herself and has not made many negative comments lately. We have been walking outside every day. She wears the brace when we take our walks. Her scar is getting itchy. Any suggestions? We will see Dr. Dormans next week.

[Christine84]

Hi Melissa,

I have been following Nicole's progress for a while now. It sounds like things are gradually getting better for her. Nicole and your family have been through quite a lot. In terms of pain, it will only get better for her. Some advice for the itchy scar- I remember one of the nurses recommended gently having someone rub around the area with their fingers. Does she still have the strips on her scar? When those are taken off, rubbing vitamin E lotion on that area is helpful. It is all up to her tolerance to touch. I am 2 and a half months post-op and still remind my mom "to please be very careful" every time she applies lotion or maderma. Hang in there, you are doing a wonderful job taking care of Nicole. She is one tough cookie!

-Christine

[laurieg6]

Alexander's itchiness got much better after he stopped the oxycodone. Hopefully this will improve for Nicole as well. He still asks me to scratch his back occasionally & I go around the incision, just outside its edges. His surgeon said not to use anything on the incision (maybe because of the surgical glue?) so I haven't put anything on it yet. Also the area is still very tender to the touch so he doesn't want me to rub his back much.

I hope Nicole is starting to feel more like herself now that she is off the narcotics. The constipation is probably improving too. I gave Alexander some acidophilus/bifidus capsules & made sure he ate some fruit & drank lots of water especially during those first few weeks home. That's great that you are walking every day. I know it helped Alexander so much, & still does, with occasional achiness or any back pains.

You are such a wonderful mother, Melissa, & it sounds like you are doing all the right things to help Nicole feel as good as possible.

Take care,

[MATJESNIC]

Thank you all for your responses. Nicole seems like her old self now that she is off the oxy. Also, Matthew came home from college to visit her, and when my son is home, everything is always brighter. My two girls worship their brother and we all had a great time. We watched lots of episodes of King of Queens and sat around talking. Matthew's girlfriend hung out as well and it just felt like normalcy. Nicole's appetite is coming back and when she gets up to walk somewhere, she is moving a lot faster.

She will not let me near her back. She is too afraid. Many of the strips are still on. When I shower her, she sits in a chair with her back away from the water. Can she take a real shower now with her back going towards the water and getting soaking wet?

[emma12]

Glad to hear that things are getting back to normal. Our doctor told us she could take a shower 1 week post op, however, his associate said he's not so lenient, and would wait at least 2 weeks post op. Her doctor felt that it wouldn't hurt, and if it made her feel better, he was all for it. I tended to side with the associate and we waited 2 weeks. For the first shower, I taped a wide band of plastic wrap to her back and told her to not stand with her back to the shower for any length of time. It came out fairly dry. She also would not let me touch her back to pull the steri strips off. They were getting sticky and "yucky". Getting soaked in the shower seemed to make them more sticky, but they also loosened up. Luckily, they started getting stuck on her shirt, and all came off by themselves at about 3 weeks or so. She is still very sensitive to someone else touching her back, she says it doesn't hurt, it just feels really weird. Good luck, seems like things are going well for her.

[leigh9p]

Shake Recipe for Constipation

For what it's worth I have a shake recipe that my kids love which includes metamucil and helps with constipation. Because my daughter is also diabetic this is one thing she really enjoys that is also pretty darn good for you. So here goes:

1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup strawberry milk (but you can use milk or any type of juice) too
2 scoops vanilla protein powder
1 scoop metamucil - this has an orange flavor is really good in the shake, but not alone - also it adds bulk so the shake is thicker)
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 c. strawberries or whatever berries you like
2 to 4 ice cubes

Blend til smooth. Enjoy! This is a great afternoon pick me up snack.

[Christine84]

Melissa,
I am gald to hear that your family was able to spend quality time together. Nicole sounds like she is making huge strides with her recovery. I remember taking a shower 4 days after my sugery in the hospital. I was scared out of my mind when the nurses wanted to get my back wet. It did, however, feel very nice and soothing. After three weeks my steri strips still didn't come off on their own. When I went for a check up the nurse ended up pulling them off. I think it all depends on how each individuals incision is healing, so it is probably wise to check with your surgeon.

Emma12,
Your daughter is right on about the weird feeling with her back. I know that there are some areas I don't have feeling. It is very odd when someone touches a part where there is feeling and then a part where there isn't.

-Christine

[laurieg6]

We were told that Alexander could shower one week after surgery. I was a little afraid about the water hitting the incision & I tried to minimize his time in the shower. But he felt so much better after getting clean & he rarely skips a daily shower now. At his 3 week post-op appt. I found out that there were three layers of stitches underneath the incision & so the doctors were not concerned about water hurting/opening up the incision. His incision was closed with surgical glue, no steristrips or anything else was covering it. It is now looking pretty well healed but is still a darkish color & somewhat wide. I've heard it will become a thin, white line as it continues to heal.

I don't know how to deal with the steri strips but it sounds like other people with them have showered at a similar post-op time as Alexander.

Smoothies are a great idea & that recipe sounds delicious, Leigh.

I'm so glad Nicole is feeling more like her old self again.

Take care everyone,

[Carmell]

A shower is okay once the incision has healed enough to be closed. A week is usually fine. No bathing or swimming or soaking in water tho. Just water running over the incisions.

Steri-strips can stay on forever - LOL. Braydon hates tape/adhesive of any kind. At about 3 weeks post-op, we put a generous layer of bacitracin or neosporin over the steri-strips at bedtime. By morning, most are off (rubbing off while sleeping). The rest usually come off in the shower. If there are sutures (fishline-looking strings) you can clip those off with scissors near the skin level. Don't try to pull them out. They will eventually fall off. Of course, never do anything until you've ask the doc. I just know that taking steri-strips off dry skin can be painful.

Good to hear she's back to herself now. Those narcotics can mess with them so badly. They can't control their emotions or actions, sometimes. Hope she never needs them again.

[MATJESNIC]

Good news. Nicole and I played an entire game of Scrabble and she won. I am definitely getting my daughter back. The hard thing for me right now is that we just got all our info for dance and Nicole's name is still on the teams. All the kids are back at dance and Nicole is obviously not going back this year. Keeping it to myself, but this is so hard.

[rtremb]

So glad to hear Nicole is doing so well with her recovery. My daughter and I also love to play Scrabble together - she usually wins too.