Thursday, January 28, 2010

Kaela's surgery and pre surgery test

I think Facebook is to blame for making the blog suffer. I know I've posted this on fb, but I know I really need to keep this updated more. Matt and I are going to do our best to update this blog with Kaela's surgery updates for our friends and family and also for people that come across our blog looking for answers about MD. Many families have found our blog, so we are going to do our best to keep up on this.

Kaela had her MRI and CT scans done 2 weeks ago. She did great and the nurses and anesthesiologist were all very prepared for Kaela. Because she has spinal cord injury, they were a bit worried about doing these test since they have to put her to sleep for them. In the past, they've always put the tube down her throat, but when they do this, they tip the head back. Moving the head back like that (or side to side) when you have spinal cord damage is very dangerous. It could cause more damage, which is obviously what we want to avoid. Because of this, they were going to either do what they could with no breathing tube or use a scope when putting the tube in and keeping her head still. When we walked in they knew exactly who were were and said they'd bee talking about Kaela all day since she was such a special case. This helped ease our nerves tremendously.

They've always allowed one of us to go back with her when they've given her the gas, but this time they didn't let us do that. They said they had to take extra precaution due to the injury, so they gave her some medicine to relax her before they took her. Poor little Kaela was very out of it. She was really funny at first, making silly faces and just being really silly, but then it was really sad because she couldn't even hold herself up. That was hard to watch.

The doctors got the images of her full spinal cord and said that there isn't much room, and we may have to look into doing something for that down the road. Not sure how far down the road, but hopefully no time too soon.

The surgery is scheduled for February 9th at 7:30 am. Kaela is scheduled to be in the hospital for about 5 days assuming all goes well, in the halo for 3 months, and hopefully all taken care of. There's a good chance they will have to re do the fusion surgery in a couple of years due to the fact that she's so small right now and will continue to grow. We are just taking it one day at a time right now.

Thanks for all the well wishes. We really appreciate them. I'm starting to feel more nervous now that it's next week. I'm just going to snuggle Kaela as much as I can this next week. One thing I think I'm going to miss for the time that she's in the halo, is her little face pressing up against mine. That big halo is going to prevent us from squishing our faces together :) We are also going to give her lots of opportunities to sit and wrinkle in the bath this week since she can't take a bath the entire time she's in a halo!

We go in tomorrow for a trial fitting for her custom made halo vest tomorrow. They did the plaster molding of her back about a week ago since her body is so unique with her kyphoscoliosis in the back and her chest sticks out in the front. They usually just take measurements, but they want to be sure she's not getting any bruising or anything with the vest. I will continue to keep you all posted. Here are some pictures from her MRI and CT scan.
She wanted to wear her wings and tutu (she had her want too) to the hospital.
napping while we waited about 2 hours for her MRI and CT

This is when she started getting goofy and sticking her tongue out and then laughing.




on our way home....one long day


6 comments:

Melissa Swartley said...

We are keeping you all in our prayers!!! Kaela is one tough cookie! Sending you hugs!!!!

The Wymers said...

Kaela is such a little trooper with all this. Love the pics of her all dressed up in her carseat and the pics of her doped up are pretty funny too. Here's to a smooth surgery and a super-fast recovery.

Greene Family said...

Kaela is so precious! I love that she wore her wings and tutu - so adorable! We are keeping you guys in our prayers! We hope that everything goes smoothly with her surgery and that she has a speedy recovery! Sending hugs!!

Destini said...

Sarah, big hugs to you all this week! Know that we are all praying for Kaela and your family! Love the wings and tutu, so very cute!

Laura Wolf said...

I'm behind on the blogs but caught a little on FB. Kaela is such a silly girl and I love the tutu and wings! I know that this is such a rough time and I know you are doing a great job. Hang in there. 3 months will go fast and you'll be back to squishing Kaela in no time. Praying for a speedy recovery. Hugs!!

Kim said...

I don't understand how I missed this post! Please know I think of you guys daily. Hugs and love!!!