Back Into Routine

Looking at Jessica today, you wouldn't be able to tell that she just had back surgery six days ago today!! This little girl of mine has so much strength and determination.

Jess went back to school today and had a great day.  I was a little worried how she made out because she has had a nap everyday during the afternoon.  She came home very happy, but by dinner time was certainly cranky and ready for bed.  Everyone is soooo amazed on how well her recovery is coming along! She is just on Tylenol every 4-6 hours or when needed.  She gives us some good ques now by rubbing her back when she needs tylenol.

Heading in the Right Direction

 

 

Jess had an amazing night.  The nurse only had to give her one shot of pain medication through the night.  She slept like a champ even with all the night screaming from the ward.  About 3 am I could of used a shot of Nubain to knock me out! 

Early morning Dora

Ortho came in this morning and said that they needed to get an x-ray before we left and then probably could leave after that.  A front and side view were taken and  I got to take a look at them and saw where they added a clip in her back.  If you look at jess straight on now, her shoulders are level and she looks fantastic!   Prior to going into surgery, her left shoulder was starting to drop and she seemed to be loosing her balance when sitting on the floor. 

Approximately 1 inch in length

Today's hospital stay was longer than expected.  Jessica had all her IV tubes removed and a bandage change.  The incision this time is very small compared to her last one! 

Finally, around 4pm we left Montreal Childrens Hospital.  We were hoping to get out a little sooner so that we wouldn't get stuck in traffic...no such luck!

Tonight we are in Ottawa and then back home the next day! 

 

 

Little Bump In The Road

Miss Jess had a ruff night last night. She was vomiting and wasn't keeping any of her food down.

By morning Jessica was very grumpy.  A whole lot of tired mixed in with a bit of down right feeling like crap!!  Even Dora could shake those tears!

Jess saw her container of puffs and smiled, so I gave her some of those with success. I then tried her with a cereal bar, which she ate half of.  Soon after eating something, the pain management team came in to switch her anti nausea drug.   They were even talking about switching her narcotic because  apparently the pharmacy is running short of Nubain. They were going to try her on a synthetic sister of morphine (which I was a little nervous to try because of past constipation issues).  About an hour later they came back to her room and thought it would be best to keep her on the Nubian. Right now she isn't using much of it anyways. The last time Nubain was used was this morning because they had to draw some blood from her...o.k....a lot of blood!  It took about 15 minutes to locate a good vein and three pokes later, we got 5 vials of blood.  They are still testing her antibodies in her blood and sent it off to a lab in Montreal.  Not really sure what's going on there??

First time sitting in her stroller

 

The good thing about today is that she has had a good pee in her diaper along with some bowel movements. Now we just have to get her off the narcotic and then maybe we can GO HOME!!!

SMILE :)

Crossed My Fingers Too Soon

Jess was doing amazing right after surgery in recovery.  She was alert and wanted to sit up so they moved her to the regular ward.



Jess resting after surgery

Everything looked great until about 4:30pm today...right about when I left to take a shower at the hotel.  Dad did amazing on puke patrol!  She started to vomit after we introduced her food and has continued until 8:30pm. She was given an anti nausea to help settle her stomach along with some pain medication. She is now stepping peacefully. We won't try anymore food until the morning.

Not feeling so good

What does this mean now...

 

We can't leave until she gets a full feed into her (Hasn't done), pee and void in diaper (hasn't done) and off pain medication (not there yet). 

 

 

Surgery Day

 

This morning was an early start. We were up at 5:15am giving Jess her bath before surgery. She was very happy and loud in the hotel hallway...oops !

We walked to the hospital and went to Admissions for 6:45am. Jess did very well this time...and mom surprisingly kept it together!

We got to talk to Jessica's doctor prior to her going into surgery. Dr Ouellette was able to look at her X-ray in hopes that it will be a quick adjustment on the one side. Hopefully a short time in the O.R.

Waiting to talk to the doctor prior to surgery.

Surgery went VERY well.  One small incision and a slight adjustment on the left side (1.5 cm).  Dr. Ouelette ended up putting a clip in her back to prevent the rods from moving back down.  He appeared to be very happy with the outcome of the surgery. 

Jess in Recovery...a little dozy ;)








 

Looks like it's going to be a short stay in the hospital and home sooner than later...fingers crossed!

 SEE EVERYONE SOON!

 

Montreal Bound...AGAIN!!

We had a great weekend catching up with friends and family.  Jessica had an amazing weekend catching up on sleep. She had a nap for over an hour everyday except Saturday!  Not very often do you see her rest like that.  Miss noisy Parker doesn't want to miss a thing!

So we are Montreal bound as we speak. Fingers crossed that traffic isn't that bad when we get closer to the city.  I've never seen construction and traffic worst than Montreal!

We have an early morning ahead of us.  Jess is first up for surgery, so we have to be at the hospital for 6:45am.

I'll try my best to keep posting throughout the day with updates.

Busy Day

 

 

Yesterday morning appointments started with some blood work. Three pokes and a whole lot of tears later....we got blood!  So sad to see her go through that, but the exciting thing we saw was her knowledge of the needle.  First time I've heard her scream as she was watching the needle come to her arm.

We headed downstairs for an EKG and several X-rays to get a better picture of what's going on with her back.

Jess having her EKG

  

After lunch the nurse came back and told us that the lab needed more blood!!  During her last operation, she had a blood transfusion which has now devoloped antibodies in her system. The lab now has to make sure that if she requires blood, that they are compatible.

 

Jess watching TV waiting for the Dr. appointment

 

 

Last thing on the list was the doctor's appointment.  We only talked to the interns and signed a bunch of forms.  they talked about the procedure that Jessica was going to have done.  Loved the "KEY" words they were saying like slight adjustment, not as invasive!  We won't get to see Dr. Ouellette until Tuesday morning prior to Jess going into surgery. 

 

Today is RELAX day!!! Hopefully a little nap for miss J so that she can catch up on some well needed sleep.

 

The weekend will be catch up with some friends and family.

Enroute to Montreal

We left home a little later than expected and didn't roll into Ottawa until midnight last night.  Jessica thought it was PARTY time when we got to her cousin's last night.  Thankfully she didnt wake anyone up.

Early start on the road with no traffic...yet.

Interested to see what tests they run a Jess today. Hopefully, it will be a quick day so we can head back to Ottawa and spend some time with family.

DATE SET

We have a surgery date...September 11th.  Something I don't want Jessica to go through again, but necessary. Jess has been up quite a bit through the nights and appears in some pain (rubs her back).  We are told she needs an adjustment and fingers crossed that the surgery won't be as invasive. Hopefully just a small incision and a couple days recovery in hospital.

We just finished our appointment with Shriner's and I wish I had better news to blog about. Looks like Miss "J" will be I visiting Montreal's Children's Hospital O.R once again. The good news is that the surgery will not be as invasive. Basically what is happening is that due to the continual twisting and curving of her spine, the growing rods are unable to slide as designed. The surgeon needs to make a small incision and manually move the rods to allow for growth. This surgery will be happening probably around September and Jessica's recovery should be a couple of days in the hospital.

Upcoming Appointment

We will be heading to Montreal for a follow up appointment regarding Jessicas's back. We sent x-rays of her back about three months ago and will find out how the rods are holding up. It looks like her back has twisted a bit since the surgery from comparing pictures.

Jessica has remained in her back brace since we left the hospital. She doesn't seem to mind it and gets around just fine with it on. I'm hoping the surgeon says she doesn't have to wear it anymore. It basically was supppse to stabilize things in place and allow the screws to set to the bone. It will be one hot summer for her if she has to wear it!