Alysia had her 2 week follow up appointment today and the doc is very happy with how she is healing. Now we just focus on strength and endurance. She is actually doing really well and we continue to see her improve.
We plan on starting to work her back into school next Tuesday or Wednesday. She still has trouble staying comfortable in one position too long and is still needing some Vicodin and Advil during the day.
She is back to eating all her regular diet and today she re-started her growth shots.
Thanks again for all the support we have received.
Janet
Monday, February 8, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Home is the best place to recover
Yesterday was a bit rough. The roads home were very bumpy and I had to carry her up the stairs to the apartment (thank goodness the elevator was working so we didn't have to do all the stairs). We finally got the pain back under better control with her 9pm dose of pain medication. She finally was able to relax enough around 1am to get a good 7 hours sleep (the most she has had all week). She looks so much better this morning. She is walking better and still a bit of pain but nothing even compared to yesterday. She has done amazing.
thanks for all the support we have received, we can't begin to explain how much the text messages and emails that she received helped. Each of them brought a smile to her face even if she did answer them (sorry about that...she said she couldn't think of what to say....think the pain meds have slowed her down a bit).
Homebound school is coming Monday at 1pm for about an hour to meet her and go over some work so that she can work on it as she feels up to it. Alysia is hoping to be back at school the following week but we will see how that goes.
Hugs to you all
thanks for all the support we have received, we can't begin to explain how much the text messages and emails that she received helped. Each of them brought a smile to her face even if she did answer them (sorry about that...she said she couldn't think of what to say....think the pain meds have slowed her down a bit).
Homebound school is coming Monday at 1pm for about an hour to meet her and go over some work so that she can work on it as she feels up to it. Alysia is hoping to be back at school the following week but we will see how that goes.
Hugs to you all
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Alysia is home
We made it home. She is hurting but can have more anti-spasm medicine in about 10 minutes. We are exhausted and will just be taking it easy and then go from there.
Thanks for everything
Janet
Thanks for everything
Janet
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Alysia is off the oxygen but running fevers
Over all it was a rough day but has improvements and a few hours where she was feeling a better. This morning was maining about getting her to take deep enough breathes to keep her sats at 90 or above. She was dipping to about 85 because she was scared to take deep breathes and it hurt when she did. Right now she is holding around 92 - 94 (her normal is 98 - 99).
She started running a fever this morning and every time the Advil starts to wear off the fever starts to return. Not sure if that is indicating an infection or if it's indicating the pain level - honestly she has never ran 101 (or even 100) just due to pain and she has dealt with a lot of pain. We'll see what they say tomorrow.
She did get out of bed 4 times and walked 3 of those times. The last time she was out of bed for just under 30 minutes but once she got back in bed she had tingling in her legs, a severe headache, and major back spasms.
All body functions are finally back so it seems having her off the Morphine is just what the body needed.
This afternoon they had her pain under much better control so I'm hoping she will get some good rest tonight.
She is able to get on a computer in the playroom sometimes to check her emails, so you can reach her at fullhousegirl@gmail.com if you would like to.
Thanks again for all the support we are getting
Janet
She started running a fever this morning and every time the Advil starts to wear off the fever starts to return. Not sure if that is indicating an infection or if it's indicating the pain level - honestly she has never ran 101 (or even 100) just due to pain and she has dealt with a lot of pain. We'll see what they say tomorrow.
She did get out of bed 4 times and walked 3 of those times. The last time she was out of bed for just under 30 minutes but once she got back in bed she had tingling in her legs, a severe headache, and major back spasms.
All body functions are finally back so it seems having her off the Morphine is just what the body needed.
This afternoon they had her pain under much better control so I'm hoping she will get some good rest tonight.
She is able to get on a computer in the playroom sometimes to check her emails, so you can reach her at fullhousegirl@gmail.com if you would like to.
Thanks again for all the support we are getting
Janet
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Alysia was allowed to walk to the bathroom
It's the little things that can make the biggest difference.... It's been a rough day. She wasn't allowed out of bed until just about 20min ago and that was for a walk to the bathroom and back (which is something she had been asking to do since yesterday).
Needless to say by this afternoon she was feeling more depressed as she not one to just lay around. She was hurting a lot still and didn't recognize that she was doing a lot even just being in bed. Today she sat up at different degrees for over 8 hours, she changed into her PJs, she had to have her bed blankets changed, and it all took a lot of work.
They are still trying to find the right pain meds to work right. I want her off the Morphine ASAP, it doesn't work for very long - an hour is if we are lucky and it causes her to have bladder issues and constipation issues. They had been giving her Tylenol 3 (the one with Codeine) and Vicodin regularly and using the Morphine as needed in between...but they ran into an issue with her getting too much Tylenol in 24 hours as there is Tylenol in the Vicodin. The Tylenol 3 was another one that helped a short put of time but the Vicodin works much better. So they are now just using the Vicodin and Morphine, which again I don't like. The night nurse is going to call the doc and see about putting her on Valium as part of the problem are the back spasms she is having and the Valium can help with that as well. I think now that she can get out of bed to use the restroom, she will start feeling a lot better anyway (if she doesn't push herself too fast).
The blood pressure was a bit scary this morning and still lower than we would like tonight but much better since she was allowed to sit up some. Not sure what was up with that but we will continue to watch it and see if it continues or maybe now that she can get up a bit it will get back to normal. Never had blood pressure issues with Alysia before so I don't know a whole lot about it.
She is struggling with not being able to have her friends visit. She is able to text (IV and all, she can still do it) so please when you have a second now and then send her a text and at least she knows your are thinking of her and it gives her something else to focus on even if it's just for short bit.
She got to see her Uncle Gregg this evening and she looked forward to that all day, which was nice because that gave her something to look forward to. She wasn't very talkative but it meant a lot to her that he came down.
I think that is about it for now. I'm going to get some sleep and head back in the morning.
Thanks for all the support we have been getting
Janet
Needless to say by this afternoon she was feeling more depressed as she not one to just lay around. She was hurting a lot still and didn't recognize that she was doing a lot even just being in bed. Today she sat up at different degrees for over 8 hours, she changed into her PJs, she had to have her bed blankets changed, and it all took a lot of work.
They are still trying to find the right pain meds to work right. I want her off the Morphine ASAP, it doesn't work for very long - an hour is if we are lucky and it causes her to have bladder issues and constipation issues. They had been giving her Tylenol 3 (the one with Codeine) and Vicodin regularly and using the Morphine as needed in between...but they ran into an issue with her getting too much Tylenol in 24 hours as there is Tylenol in the Vicodin. The Tylenol 3 was another one that helped a short put of time but the Vicodin works much better. So they are now just using the Vicodin and Morphine, which again I don't like. The night nurse is going to call the doc and see about putting her on Valium as part of the problem are the back spasms she is having and the Valium can help with that as well. I think now that she can get out of bed to use the restroom, she will start feeling a lot better anyway (if she doesn't push herself too fast).
The blood pressure was a bit scary this morning and still lower than we would like tonight but much better since she was allowed to sit up some. Not sure what was up with that but we will continue to watch it and see if it continues or maybe now that she can get up a bit it will get back to normal. Never had blood pressure issues with Alysia before so I don't know a whole lot about it.
She is struggling with not being able to have her friends visit. She is able to text (IV and all, she can still do it) so please when you have a second now and then send her a text and at least she knows your are thinking of her and it gives her something else to focus on even if it's just for short bit.
She got to see her Uncle Gregg this evening and she looked forward to that all day, which was nice because that gave her something to look forward to. She wasn't very talkative but it meant a lot to her that he came down.
I think that is about it for now. I'm going to get some sleep and head back in the morning.
Thanks for all the support we have been getting
Janet
Monday, January 25, 2010
Alysia is running 100.5
Hi all
I just got home from the hospital, Momma is with Alysia now.
The surgery had to go a bit different this morning as Alysia's spine is constructed like most peoples (Alysia actually rolled her eyes when I told her this) DUH!! Anyway, She had a Hemilaminectumy (not sure I have the spelling perfect) which means they had to remove a small piece of bone to get to the other piece of bone to crack and open so that they could remove the Tethered Cord. Once they got to the Tethered Cord it was all smooth sailing, just took a while to get there. Now, I will look more up about what exactly that is but I'm too tired tonight to deal with it.
Alysia has been needing pain medication about every 1 1/2 - 2 hours, they are alternating Morphine and Tylenol 3 (Codeine). She has to lay with her head no higher than her spine for 24 hours and then should be able to sit up and move around. She was not able to Urinate until about 7:30pm and that has me worried as we know that with her last surgery her bladder stopped working right and she d to have a catheter and ended up with an infection.
Earlier the pain was only in her lower back. This evening the pain is in her lower back and now her stomach (another sign that could be bladder issues). This evening she also spiked 100.5 fever and this is with getting the Tylenol with Codeine about every 4 or so hours....
We will see what the night brings. I'm going to get some sleep and head back early in the morning.
thank you to everyone for the positive emails, texts, prayers... It means a lot to us and it make Alysia feel better especially since she isn't allowed any visitors under 18yrs old...
Janet
I just got home from the hospital, Momma is with Alysia now.
The surgery had to go a bit different this morning as Alysia's spine is constructed like most peoples (Alysia actually rolled her eyes when I told her this) DUH!! Anyway, She had a Hemilaminectumy (not sure I have the spelling perfect) which means they had to remove a small piece of bone to get to the other piece of bone to crack and open so that they could remove the Tethered Cord. Once they got to the Tethered Cord it was all smooth sailing, just took a while to get there. Now, I will look more up about what exactly that is but I'm too tired tonight to deal with it.
Alysia has been needing pain medication about every 1 1/2 - 2 hours, they are alternating Morphine and Tylenol 3 (Codeine). She has to lay with her head no higher than her spine for 24 hours and then should be able to sit up and move around. She was not able to Urinate until about 7:30pm and that has me worried as we know that with her last surgery her bladder stopped working right and she d to have a catheter and ended up with an infection.
Earlier the pain was only in her lower back. This evening the pain is in her lower back and now her stomach (another sign that could be bladder issues). This evening she also spiked 100.5 fever and this is with getting the Tylenol with Codeine about every 4 or so hours....
We will see what the night brings. I'm going to get some sleep and head back early in the morning.
thank you to everyone for the positive emails, texts, prayers... It means a lot to us and it make Alysia feel better especially since she isn't allowed any visitors under 18yrs old...
Janet
Thursday, January 14, 2010
It was just on the news!
OMG!!! I am so excited! Alysia's middle school isn't closing!!! It is so hard to find the right school with the right philosophies and the right people for Alysia. This is the good news that we needed to help get through the next couple weeks. Now, as long as I'm not dreaming and don't have to wake up and find out I have it wrong I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted.
CELEBRATE!!!
Janet
CELEBRATE!!!
Janet
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