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We were discharged Wednesday afternoon!  Fastest ever :).  We broke our long drive up in two days. We stayed with family Wednesday and made our trip back home Thursday morning. 4hours in the car and still happy. Jess is amazing!

A dressing change was done when we got home and her incision looks great. We have to keep a dressing on it because she is constantly rubbing it! She doesn't seem like she is in pain. It's more like its itchy and bugging her.

Jess will be back to regular routine on Monday. She will be sooooooo excited to see her friends :)

Getting better :)

The night went well  and Jess was able to go pee by herself without catherdization. I think she heard us talking what we had to do and didn't want any part of that!!!  Now that the anestetic is wearing off Jess was able to keep water down this morning. We also gave her some food which helped made things move along.  Her bowls are working great and had MANY "code browns".

Ortho was by this morning and said that if she tolerates her feed, we will be discharged. Right now her IV is getting taken out. Hopefully my next blog is about our trip home ;)

Text Book

We should have seen this coming.!

All was going great. We were slowly giving Jess 10cc's of water every 10 minutes. She tolerated that great so they decided to try to introduce her food. Not good....pukapolooza!  Happens every time!

The game plan now is to stop feeding her.  Give her gravel to help with the nausea.  She is still receiving her fluids through IV. We are going to keep her comfortable and try food in the morning.  We are also concerned because she has not gone pee. They also did a bladder scan and she is boarder line for catherdization.  If she doesn't go on her own, we will have to put a catheter in to release the pressure.

They also gave her pain meds twice since surgery. Hopefully the night goes well :)

Surgery Day

We were wide awake around 2am this morning because the hotel walls are so thin.  We could hear the flags blowing in the wind like we were standing right beside  them!!!

It was an early morning. We registered at 645am and talked to Dr Ouellette prior to the surgery. Jess went into surgery around 8am and we got to see her in recovery around 10 am. Jessica had an intolerance to morphine which caused a longer stay in the hospital last time we used it. They then gave her Nunain which worked amazing on her. Since Nubain is no longer made in canada, they have given her hydromorphine. So far no reaction to this :)

We will be trying to slowly give her water. Fingers crossed she can keep this down. Dr ouellette has also ordered X-rays on her back this afternoon.

Montreal Bound

I feel we have done this drive over and over again and Steve could probably do it with his eyes closed....but we won't be trying that :).

This will be Jessica's fifth surgery on her back.  Things don't seem as nerve racking for us because we know the hospital routine now. We are heading to the  hospital tomorrow morning around 630 am to register for 645am. She probably won't actually go into surgery until 730-8am at which time we get to talk to Dr Ouellette prior to the surgery.

I will try to post as soon as I can :)

Evening Drive to Ottawa

Almost there!!!

Can't wait to hit the pillow because we have an early morning to fight Montreal traffic. 

Thursday brings pre-op appointments in preparation for surgery. Jessica 's date has now changed to Tuesday morning which now lets us spend some time with family ;)

Home Sweet Home

In record time... We are home :)

Jessica did amazing and her recovery is unbelievable!  The car ride home was good. We kept her topped up with Tylenol and Advil just in case she was in pain. You couldn't tell though. She was so content watching her movies. 

Can't wait to get back into routine of things. Jess could probably go back to school tomorrow, but we are going to give her a break until Monday.  

Speedy Recovery And Maybe Discharged...Woohoo

Everyone that has seen Jessica is so surprised that she had surgery yesterday. She certainly brings a smile to many faces and has an impact on the nurses and doctors who have looked after her.  Jessica's anesthetists' from last year recognized her, came over and gave her a big kiss on the forehead just before her surgery!   He just loves her and called her his little precious.  It was funny because Jessica's new anesthetist told him to step away from his paitent...sooooo funny :)  This is the only hosptial where I have felt that my child it is great hands when Doctors love what they do and love their patients as much.

Jessica had some visitors today...and she didn't know what to think of them!  By the end of their visit, she was laughing at them especially when they sang to her :)

So funny watching her look at them 



At around 2pm, we headed down stairs to the X-ray department. It was short and sweet. Two images later, we were back in the room.  

Now we wait for Orthopedic to look over the X-rays and they are the last ones to give us the green light to leave.

For the rest of the afternoon Jessica ate some puffs, cookies, apple and watched her movies.

Ortho came at the end of the day and gave us the go ahead to leave ;)...woohoo! Off to Ottawa for the night, then back to Huntsville tomorrow.

We rolled in late to Ottawa.  Poor girl must have been exausted because she hardly ever sleeps in the car! 

 

On The Up And Up...Maybe???

Hello there!

I wasn't able to post any pics the last couple of days so here's a couple from reovery

Jess just waking up after surgery.

Dad checking her toes...all 10 moving :)

 Well hopefully things are on the UP and UP!!  Last night we stayed in the recovery ward.  Nice because it was WAY  more quiet.  BAD because mom slept in a rocking chair.  We are now in the Regular ward.  Jessica has tolerated a full feed (but watered down).  Physio came down to see if she could sit in her chair and of course Jess was fine with it. 

Jess sat for a good hour and only had to be moved because she left mom a little SURPRISE.

Jess watching Dora and in her happy place. 

 It's lunch time now and we are going to try another feed at full strength and at regular speed to see if she can tolerate it...fingers crossed.  As of right now her bowels are on track, she has not had any narcotics since the morning,  she's tolerated a feed and the nurse just discontected her IV from the pole but left the lines in...just in case.  We are still waiting to see xray. 

A little tired but all GOOD.  Now for a coffee that my wonderful husband just got me :)



Not The Best Night

Yesterday Jess couldn't tolerate any water or her feed. This seems to happen every time she comes out of surgery.  She was vomiting in the afternoon and one more time last night.  We have started clear fluids once again. Hopefully she can keep it down.

The good news is Jessica's pain has been managed with Nubain. The bad news is Nubain is no longer being made. She will be fine for her stay here, however next surgery they are going to have to try a different drug.

Dr Ouellet came in late last night around 11pm to check in on Jess. He said they lengthened the rods 1.5 cm and also removed a wire that no longer was working or needed.  X-rays will be done on her back today to see how things look and then X-rays will be mailed to him in three months.  

Out of Surgery

Jess went into the O.R at 930 am and out at 1130 am. It's 430pm right now as I type and we are still in recovery. We were giving Jess clear fluids (10 cc's) every 15 minutes for the first hour and then up in 5 cc's every 15 minutes.  At 415pm she was given some Tylenol which she ended up puking 5 minutes later :(. G-tube feeding has stopped for now. Hopefully her tummy settles a bit.

Change In Plans

Got to the hospital around 715am to register for Jessica's 900 am surgery. We were in a hospital room getting Jessica ready for her surgery when Dr Ouellette came in to talk to us. He said he had to cancel his other surgeries due to an important meeting, however, didn't cancel Jessica's.  He has decided to let Dr Surran (not sure how to spell his last name) do Jessica's surgery. I felt a little unsettled about it since we are so use to Dr Ouellette taking care of Jessica. I felt reassured once Dr Ouellette said that if there was a surgeon to work on his daughter...it would be Dr Surran.

Pictures....FINALLY!

 

I was finally able to upload some pictures.  Still have to figure out how to put them in order.  HAHA, it's a start :)

ECG with Daddy
 

Super Girl - ready for the car ride to Montreal
 

Ultra Sound

Waiting patiently - So lady like :)



Xray- The chair helps position her to take the images

 

Ottawa Bound

Met a nice family in the waiting room from Nova Scotia.  This was a story of an operation gone bad. Her grandaughter was able to walk prior to surgery and never walked out. They flew out to Montreal Shriner's for a second opinion, however she has past the two year deadline and was told she would never walk again. Her future entails numberous surgeries hoping that the end result would be a fusion of the spin...which means no more surgeries. I think my stomach was in my throat after talking to them. Their life story puts every surgery that Jessica endures in perspective. The risks are high and you never know.  I'm very happy with our decisions which in the end will mean Jessica will hopefully receive a fusion within the next year to year and a half. No more surgeries is what we are striving for.

Right now we are heading back to Ottawa for the weekend. Surprisingly there is no traffic. I guess we have left at a GREAT time. Looking forward to some needed family time with the Salmon's!!! The plan is to head back to Montreal Sunday. The BIG day is on Monday morning now.

Change In Plans

Jessica's surgery has now changed to Monday morning. Had to do some changes in accommodation plans, but I think everything is sorted out.

This morning we did ECG and blood work. It was so hard to get blood from her little veins. The spasticity in her arms makes it difficult for the nurses to draw the blood. We didn't get enough so they might have to poke her again :(

Long Day

So, I'm having some difficulty with posting stuff on Jessica's blog. I will try my best to add pictures.

It was a long day yesterday. We started off with some X-rays and then an ultra sound of Jessica's bladder.

Dr Ouelltte's clinic was the shortest we have ever sat through.  He is very happy with her progress and feels that it will be a short surgery. We are trilled with this news!

Her bladder is still an issue with re-occurring bladder infections, so the decision is not to change anything and continue with the low dose of antibiotics.

Little Miss Smiles :)

We are on the road and I thought I would blog again. Funny how fast things leave your brain when you don't use it!  I totally forget how to download pictures onto the blog and unfortunately my I.T. Guy is driving at a speed where distraction would not be a good thing :) So, pictures will come later when I know what the heck I'm doing. 

Jess is certainly a morning girl ( no idea where she got that !). Great sleep at Dave & Tiff's and only 10 minutes late from our target time to leave.  Now dealing with Montreal traffic...ugh.   Already missing home :(

On The Road Again

Isn't technology great!! It has certainly killed this 4 hour trip to Ottawa. 

We decided to break up our trip since we had to leave after work which puts us late rolling into Ottawa. It's an early morning tomorrow for some clinic appointments at Shriner's hospital and then some pre-op appointment on thursday at Montreal Sick Kids. Fingers crossed all goes well because Jessica unfortunately woke up with a cold.  A little stressed about them canceling her surgery.