9.28.17 Pre-Op Appts

What a long, thouroughly confusing day of appts! 

We started with a Pulmonary visit to get surgery approval from a respiratory standpoint. Aimee's pulmonologist did say that  the during-surgery-portion should be fairly similar to the hip surgery, however, respiratory recovery will be more challenging as the surgery includes the muscles used for breathing. He did remind me that we will not see an increase in pulmonary function from this surgery, but rather are hoping to stop progression of her restrictive lung disease. Only concern was the higher bicarbonate level Aimee had with her previous pre-op labs for GI, so we popped over to the lab for an electrolytes draw. 

Next we met with the anesthesiologist. It was really helpful for them to gather information from her surgery last week, so they are very prepared for Aimee's particular needs going into this surgery. They were just as pleased as we were with the ultrasound iv placement being used ahead of gases. 

Then Aimee went into radiology for a set of 4 x-rays. We did have her hips looked at and everything is well in that area. They did another seated x-ray for goodness knows why and a set of spinal traction x-rays. 

Then we met with the orthopedic nurse to discuss surgery details. I asked a lot of questions and she gave me a lot of information. This sounds like a good thing, except our last appointment was with the surgeon himself and he gave us completely different info. Basically the nurse thought we were having a different spine procedure done. I'm honestly not sure I got it all clarified. :/ 

From here we headed back to the lab for 3 more big blood draws to prepare for transfusion, ect if needed. The surgeon said that it is much less likely with the spine surgery to need a transfusion. 

So, the basic plan is that Aimee will go in on October 17th for a 4 hour procedure. There will be 2 bone graft fusions at the top of the spine and 2 at the pelvis. These are where the screws will secure the rods into place. There will be a tunnel made along the spine between the muscle and the perimysium layer which will house the rods. There will only be the 2 incisions top and bottom, the remainder will be fed through this tunnel. He does not plan to brace her afterwards, which would be a 3 month process that most typical kids with early onset scoliosis would go through. 

After the procedure, Aimee will be transfered to the ICU where she will hopefully be extubated to bipap. Once she is stable enough, we will transfer down to the floor and get ready to bring her home. We hope to only be in the hospital for 5 days, though she will need to be on lots of pain medications throughout her 6-8 week post-op period. We hope that by Thanksgiving, she will be in less pain. In the long run, stopping the twisting/curving of her spine should be more comfortable for Aimee and simpler for us to care for her. We are nervous going into this major surgery, really the biggest one she has had. We are also confident that it is what Aimee should have done to maintain her comfort and good health. 

Please be praying for Aimee's health. It is more impairative than ever that she not get any respiratory sickness over this coming 2 and half weeks. Also, please pray for the rest of our family as this is a heavy stress season and we are overwhelmed.