10.14.17 Surgery details

3 more days until Aimee's spine surgery. Time to start the preparations. It is almost a relief to be nearly there after these past few uncertain weeks. It is also really scary to be finally preparing for the surgery we have been dreading for years. 

For the next few days we will do hibiclens showers and MRSA prevention cream. We will work on adjusting regular medication schedule to accomodate for a 5:30am med requirement on Tuesday morning. Aimee will get checked in at 6:30am for an 8am procedure, which should be completed by 1pm. From there they will transfer her to the ICU and hopefully extubate her to a bipap machine. 

Biggest concerns with this surgery are with respiratory recovery, particularly as she will have to use muscles to breath that will be cut or impacted by the rods. Of course, pain management will also be a really big deal. Even though they are very careful with neuromonitoring during surgery, it is also a risk to her spinal column and potential for nerve damage. At the least, there is likely to be nerve changes. 

Aimee is still having challenges with her last bolus of food each day. She is gagging or even losing the meal frequently, even though we still haven't pushed her to have as large of meals at the normal rate. At this point, we will just continue to monitor distress and cease the feeding if needed. Otherwise she is very healthy and calm. Once we get through this next surgery, we will have to revisit what is going on with her feedings and decide if there are other changes we can make to help her tolerate them better. At this point, there just isn't enough time for trial and error.