RE: Daughter in hospital post-surgery

[Guest guest]

Dear Amy,

The younger people like your daughter seem to heal the fastest. I had a fusion

from T2 - L4 at her age. I adapted quickly to the change in my body and even

went to school in a body cast. Back in those days patients wore body casts for

6 months...at least my doctor's patients did. I think I was in the hospital for

about 10 days....but that was over 30 years ago. With today's medical

insurance, I probably would have been kicked out after 3 or 4 days! Your

daughter should do fine.....kids adapt and heal quickly. This group has lots of

good information. Where did your daughter have her surgery? Who is her doctor?

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Melody

Daughter in hospital post-surgery

Hello. My daughter just had posterial spinal fusion of her T2 - T12, to

correct scoliosis. She had surgery yesterday morning. I would like to

get input on what to expect in the coming days, etc. My daughter is 13.

Any information is greatly appreciated!

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your kind words. She is at Texas Children's Hospital. Her Surgeon

is Dr. Darryl Hanson, with Baylor College of Medicine. He is wonderful

[Guest guest]

Please keep us updated on how she is doing.  Our daughter is 13 and will need

surgery shortly.  We have an appt at Shriners in Febuary.  However, we would

like to consult with a few different orthopedics before making any final

decisions..

Sending hugs and hoping she feels better soon

Diane and Abby

From: amyeiss <amyeiss@...>

Subject: RE: Daughter in hospital post-surgery

Scoliosis Treatment

Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008, 9:54 AM

Thank you for your kind words. She is at Texas Children's Hospital.

Her Surgeon is Dr. Darryl Hanson, with Baylor College of Medicine. He is

wonderful

[Guest guest]

I've posted the following a few times on Answers for other

people with questions. I hope I'll answer the things that have you

concerned.

Let me talk about the hospital stay.

You'll have meds to help with the pain. You'll start out with

stronger meds and then wean yourself from them over time. So, yes, it

does hurt, but you shouldn't be left hurting.

The size of your scar depends on how many vertebrae need fusing and

the technique used to do the fusion. A four-level fusion will have a

smaller scar than a 12-level fusion. Some surgeries (probably not

yours) need both anterior and posterior (A/P, or front and back).

Lastly, some people may be candidates for " minimally invasive "

techniques. So, this is a hard question to answer without knowing

more about your situation.

Your hospital stay will probably be between four and seven days.

Teens typically heal quicker than adults and so their hospital stay

is less.

As for what they do, each case is different. Here's one possible

scenerio. Its incomplete as I'm describing things pretty quickly. The

amount of time spent doing things will probably differ. Maybe even

the order that things are done will differ. But it will give you kind

of an idea of what happens. Just take it with a grain of salt.

You'll arrive at the hospital early to check in. You'll change into

your gown and get an IV hooked up. You will talk to your nurse(s) and

perhaps a couple of other staff members. You'll then get put to sleep

(injected through the IV that you had put in earlier). The operation

then happens. You'll wake up, probably in the ICU, but possibly in

your hospital room. Probably on the first or second day after

surgery, you'll be shown how to sit and then stand. You'll be able to

take walks up and down the hallway but you'll tire quickly. Your IV

will be removed in a couple of days as will the catheter you've had

in you since the surgery. You'll be allowed to go home once your

stomach starts rumbling, you're eating, and going to the bathroom.

When you are in the hospital, your scar will be checked by a doctor

each day.

You will feel like a truck ran you over for the first couple of days.

Once your body starts to recover, you'll feel better.

When you wake up from surgery, your bed will have a machine that

gives measured doses of pain meds (morphine or something as

effective). You're self-medicating, so if you're hurting, just hit a

button. The machine won't let you overdose yourself, though.

You'll be weaned off of the meds from the machine and given oxycontin

(or the like). This is what you'll be taking for the first few weeks

you're at home.

Bottom line is that you'll be hurting, but you'll be given pain meds

to take care of the pain. They'll do the job for you.

It still takes two months to be doing basic things. You'll be cleared

to do more things at six months. At one year, you'll be able to do

about anything you could do before the surgery. Take it easy. This is

major surgery. It takes a while for the spine to fuse.

There's a couple of things, off-topic, that will make life easier for

you.

o Make sure you has a robe in case you gets up in the middle of the

night when the house is colder. The surgery may mess up your body's

temperature control.

o Get a toilet seat extender so that you don't have to squat as far.

These also have handles and certainly made my life a lot easier.

Since your chest muscles are fine, you'll be able to use them to

raise and lower yourself.

o It might be nice to get a " grabber " which will help you pick things

up from the floor.

o You may or may not have a walker when you get home from the

hospital (probably not, but...). I did and discovered that I had to

meneuver through the bathroom door sideways because the walker was

too wide. This works, but it may be a bit more difficult.

o You will be sleeping an awful lot. This is a combination of your

body needing rest and the pain meds knocking you out. Expect it.

o When I was in my bed, my wife made kind of a " nest " with pillows so

I wouldn't roll out. I don't normally roll but I think it made both

of us feel better. You might want to do the same.

o It will be helpful to sit in a chair with arms when you're having

his meals and is sitting at the dining room table. Since your chest

muscles are fine, you'll be able to use them to raise and lower

yourself.

Please email me if you have questions.

[Guest guest]

She will be very, very tired.  If she is in pain, her pain meds need to be

increased and don't take no for an answer.  Hopefully, there is a patient bill

of rights that states that the hospital believes in keeping a patient as

pain-free as possible, so the hospital staff won't give you a hard time.  But,

insist anyway. She will have trouble moving around in the bed, so when she gets

uncomfortable, ask a NURSES' AIDE to help her, as they know exactly WHERE to put

the pillows.  I learned this during my hospital stay.  She probably has walked

already.  Make sure that she doesn't have to twist to get the toilet paper!  No

twisting at all!  This will save the other vertebrae.  Don't let her leave the

hospital too soon, and, insist on in-patient rehab.

lj

From: Amy <amyeiss@...>

Subject: Daughter in hospital post-surgery

Scoliosis Treatment

Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 10:20 PM

Hello. My daughter just had posterial spinal fusion of her T2 - T12, to

correct scoliosis. She had surgery yesterday morning. I would like to

get input on what to expect in the coming days, etc. My daughter is 13.

Any information is greatly appreciated!

[Guest guest]

Diane:

 

Hi there. I am sorry to hear about your daughter also having to go through this

surgery. My daughter had surgery December 12th, so she is on her 3rd day,

post-surgery, and doing very well.

 

We also applied with Shriner's Hospital, but our daughter's condition was

deteriorating so rapidly that every doctor, specialist, etc. she saw all told us

the same thing - she could not wait until the spring when Shriner's could take

her for surgery. Her rib cage was twisting into her lungs, making it very

painful to breathe, especially when lying down, and I worried every night that

she might stop breathing.

 

Our daughter is very tall and thin so every change that occured was very

dramatic. She was in a car accident on July 29th of this year, and about two

weeks afterwards, she developed a small bump on her right shoulder, which seemed

to protrude dramatically from day to day. We were very scared for her. She saw

an orthopedic specialist at the beginning of August and we were immediately

referred to a surgeon.

 

Dr. Hanson is amazing, and actually, had she been able to wait through the long

application process with Shriner's, there would have been a significant chance

he would have been her surgeon. He, along with just a few other specialists, do

the spinal surgeries for Shriner's Hospital.

 

So you know a bit more about him, Darrell S. Hanson, MD, is an assistant

professor of Orthopedic Surgery, is an orthopedic spine surgeon specializing in

scoliosis and other spinal disorders. He is certified by the American Board of

Orthopaedic Surgery. Following undergraduate studies at Rice University in

Houston, Dr. Hanson earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine,

where he also completed his internship and residency in orthopedic surgery. He

completed fellowship training in spinal surgery at Washington University School

of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.

 

http://www.bcm.edu/ortho/hanson.htm

http://www.baylorclinic.com/services/orthopedic/

 

Something which really helped my daughter is that I found other girls her age

who had been through this type of surgery and put them in touch with one another

- In this way, my daughter was able to ask questions of someone her own age,

questions which are important to her.  The questions may not have been important

for her from a medical standpoint, but they were important to her as a teenager

going through a very tramatic process. Speaking to other girls in the months and

weeks prior to her surgery really helped prepare her, both mentally and

physically.

 

Should you wish to have your daughter speak with mine regarding the surgery,

pain, what to expect, etc., I know my daughter would love to talk to her, once

she is healed and home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: amyeiss <amyeiss (DOT) com>

Subject: RE: Daughter in hospital post-surgery

Scoliosis Treatment

Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008, 9:54 AM

Thank you for your kind words. She is at Texas Children's Hospital. Her Surgeon

is Dr. Darryl Hanson, with Baylor College of Medicine. He is wonderful