staying well before surgery????

[DairriensMom]

Sorry to top post,but I am thinking this is a different subject matter and some may not read my previous post...
Ok ,so when we went to shriners the doctors said Dairrien MUST be well 12 weeks before surgery..No Illnesses of ANY kind !! They told me to keep him out of the general public as much as possible,We home school so thats no problem,They said no going out where a bunch of people are,stores,church,etc..Were you told this aswell? They told us that as long as everything came back clear on testing that he would have surgery in December..So now until then,I must keep him away from everyone to insure that he stays well....any input would be great..Thank you all !!!

[Pooka1]

HI.

The only time I recall anything like that came up with either of my kids was when the one kid mentioned during her pre-op (which was the day before surgery) that her sister was sick for a few weeks with a hacking cough. I meant to bring it up and was glad she brought it up i case I forgot. I said she was diagnosed with mycoplasma bronchitis, was on her third course on antibiotics for same, and that I was trying and failing to keep the two girls apart. The look on the surgeon's face was predictable... I said I will try to keep them apart this last night before surgery. He simply agreed which, in the context of the moment, was a huge understatement.

As it turns out, the surgical case kid never caught the infection, luckily but knowing her exposure, I wonder if she was given extra or different antibiotics during surgery. I can't even begin to imagine having a hacking cough while trying to recover from spinal fusion. I am guessing she would be on a higher doe of narcotics in that case I imagine and might not have been released from the hospital before several more days elapsed.

I don't think mycoplasma is particularly infectious... I had mycoplasma pneumonia with a hacking cough before and during my wedding and nobody around me at the time caught it. I was hospitalized for three days immediately after my wedding so I was pretty sick and still nobody got it.

I think they will cancel surgery if you aren't is very good health but I don't know that. And it might vary with each patient.

Good luck.

[DairriensMom]

Basicly Shriners told me that if he is sick with anything between now and his surgery they will cancel and rescedule,for another 12 weeks out from the time he gets over whatever he had? They said they do not want his immune system to be down ,and they want him in tip top shape for surgery so his body can recover easily..they said if he were sick,he has more of a chance developing infections after surgery...I guess its better safe than sorry ....Its going to be hard ,and I am sure we will get ALOT of cabin fever... But we will survive I suppose

[Pooka1]

Okay I am only working with one surgeon for both my kids and that was never mentioned. I was never asked about the health of my kids 12 weeks out from surgery.

The pre-op was the day before for one kid and two days before for the other. I'm sure the surgeon was assessing their health at that point and making a decision about going forward with surgery. There was no blood testing either... just some radiographs and paperwork signing. The first kid had to have an MRI but not the second kid. They are identical with roughly similar curves (thoracic, apex - T9) and I'm guessing he didn't think there was anything potentially going on with the second kid given the all clear on the first kid but I don't know that.

You can search the archives for this or hopefully some folks will comment now however nothing anyone says will change the requirement. They gave you the reasoning and you can accept that, push a bit more, or get another opinion.

The bottom line is that the surgeons at Shriners clearly know what they are doing and they must have some reason for being so strict about this in your son's case.

It is very important to have complete trust in the surgeon in my opinion. That is the only thing that got me through the first kid's surgery. Trust in the surgeon plus seeing the results from the first kid were the only two things I needed to get through the second kid's surgery.

Good luck.

[pmsmom]

Perhaps, too, b/c of Darrien's other medical issues, they don't want his immune system compromised in any way, so that might be the 12 week issue.

We homeschool as well and I'm not really letting Paula go anywhere post op b/c of all the H1N1 running around. Right now, I've told her she *might* be able to go to a 4H Christmas party in early December when she'd be close to 12 weeks post op, but I'm thinking I just might let her go back to her regular meetings after the first of the year.

Maybe I'm being overly cautious, but it really upsets me when some of these parents bring their sick kids to meetings and parties and such. The parents have no concern for others (this was always an issue I had b/c of Paula's asthma and her being allergic to so many antibiotics).

Perhaps with H1N1 the parents will be more careful now, but I doubt it.

[WNCmom]

My son was fused just under a year ago at Shriners in Philly. We had no such instructions about 12 weeks out. He developed the sniffles 2 weeks before surgery, and we yanked him from school immediately. I called the hospital to tell them about it, but he had no cough, fever, or congestion, so they just asked us to keep them posted. All symptoms were gone three days later, and he was fine for his pre-op. Surgery went on as scheduled. It might have just been allergies.

I'm sure your home schooling situation will help. This time waiting and preparing for surgery is nerve-wracking. You can only do your best--hang in there.

Mary Ellen

[DairriensMom]

I know it sounded a bit crazy too me too ,but I guess they have their reasons..Maybe with all this H1N1 stuff going around? Maybe they want me to be super cautious? She told me she DOES NOT like to operate On ANY kids that have been sick in the last couple of months before surgery because it brings their Immunity down,and they can't fight infection as well...So I am thinking,with that and the H1N1 going around?
But So far so good...we are headed back down to Sacramento in the morning,to see the endocrinologist,for his Empty sella syndrome,and if he clears him for surgery then we are good to go for the beginning of December for surgery,I am praying he clears him tomorrow..so we can get in there and get this over with and get Him on the road to healing !!! I added a picture of Dairriens Xray,he has a 92 degree Kyphosis Curve..

[debbei]

Darrien'sMom--

I don't know if it's different for kids, but I had a terrible headcold a few weeks prior to my surgery, and I did let the Dr.'s office know about it. It was totally cleared up prior to surgery, and everything went well.

Good luck keeping your son healthy.