RE: Scoliosis Surgery/Jeni

[Guest guest]

Jeni,

I just wanted to let you know that you and h will get through this just

fine. I know that this is a scary time, and your imagination can really

freak you out about what could happen. h will be in pain, you will be

in pain watching her suffer. But the pain will end. And all that will be

left is a memory, maybe even one you can laugh at later on. I'm serious!

:-)

I had my back surgery done when I was around 9. I came from Poland at the

age of 8, and my parents were running around, trying to work 2-3 jobs each

and squeeze in numerous doctor visits with me, and with a friend who was our

interpreter. I was terrified. My parents were going out of their minds

with worry. Natural reactions. I wish I knew English back then, things

could have been less scary if I knew what the hell was going on. I know it

was painful, and I remember that I was made to sit up the next day and I was

sent home in 6 days. I am not sure how accurate my memory is on that

though. Oh, plus while all of this stress was happening, my mom was

pregnant with my baby brother.

My parents were terribly upset to learn that he has SMA-II, just like me.

He had his back surgery when he was turning 13. He spent his birthday at

the hospital. He screamed, he yelled at the nurses, at my parents, at

everyone who touched him. He was in pain. He came home in less than a

week. Stayed in bed for about a week, and slowly, got to moving again, and

the pain slowly went away. Now that I think of it, his surgery was close to

the date of h's scheduled surgery. His birthday is on August 21, so it

was a few days before. He turned 13 in the hospital and the nurses were

laughing that now we are dealing with a Teenager!!! *LOL*

Nothing ever happened to my rods or his. He's fallen of his chair numerous

times. Boys will be boys! :-) My parents and my brother laugh now,

whenever they talk about him after surgery. He was being such a brat, in a

cute and funny way, even though in pain. But that's how my family tries to

deal with things, with a sense of humor. If we didn't, we'd drown in tears.

Try not to over-worry. Don't think too far ahead. It will take patience to

get through this and pain can make people very angry, especially a kid. But

if she is smart, as I suspect she is, she will be using this to get

everything she wants from you. I know my brother had my parents wrapped

around his little finger for months! It took an " Ouch! My back! " to get

dad into his car and drive to a video game store and KFC. :-)

The day I went home, my dad lifted me from the wheelchair into our car like

he always did, by placing his arm under my knees and the other on my back,

and he had to bend my back to lift me, so that hurt for a while after

surgery. And I had lower back pain from the school bus. The bumpy rides

really hurt my lower back and I had to stay at home for 3-week time periods,

and this would reoccur ever couple of months or so. My lower back got

better after a couple of years. My brother experienced back pain on the

school bus too. My parents used a Hoyer lift to get him in and out of bed,

after surgery. They used it at home and at the hospital too. We endured it

all and survived. You will too. :-)

So there you go. It will be scary, it will hurt, it will take patience and

lots of love which you already have. The rods won't pop out (I used to be

afraid they would pop out through my neck or head). *LOL* They put them in

and they are there to stay! There will probably be aches and pains after

surgery for a while, but that's all normal. And there will be plenty of

painkillers! :-)

Please keep us updated on how h is doing and how you are doing.

You guys will be in my prayers.

*hugs*

Blessed Be,

Meg

( <http://www.myspace.com/sexytear> http://www.myspace.com/sexytear)

( <http://blog.myspace.com/sexytear> http://blog.myspace.com/sexytear)

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From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of *~~*

Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 9:33 PM

Subject: Re: Scoliosis Surgery

The whole lifting thing is going to be hard. I got

lucky and didnt have too much post op pain once we

were all said and done. As for the guilt... you just

have to keep reminding yourself that you are doing

everything the best that you can! h probably will

hurt and probably will yell... just know she isnt

yelling AT YOU she is yelling at the pain! As for

popping a rod... I think you'd have to do something

crazy weird to do that. I have been fused for over 10

years now and havent had any problems. I have done

some crazy stuff to include flipping my chair! Those

things are in there nice and good!!! I wish ya all the

best of luck. Surgery is no fun!

--- Jenifer Woody <mom2armybratz@ <mailto:mom2armybratz%40>

> wrote:

> First I want to thank everyone who responded to my

> questions. I have been running CRAZY trying to get

> ready for MDA camp (she leaves Sunday) and get

> things in order for surgery. We were actually hoping

> for a July surgery date (to miss less school), but

> no such luck. h's surgery is scheduled for

> August 14th at 7:15am. We'll have to be there at 6am

> -- ICK! On the 10th she'll have the pre-op

> appointment and then her patch appointment (meeting

> w/ the anesthesiologist, surgical nurses etc) We're

> not looking forward to the bending x-rays and other

> pre-op stuff that will be difficult for us and

> uncomfy for her, but we know it's necessary. The doc

> thinks he'll be able to get full correction; because

> of the constant bracing h's curve has remained

> fairly flexible. We are still dreading the post-op

> weeks of recovery and I'm still wondering how I'm

> going to lift her without causing terrible pain. I

> about kicked myself after her g-tube surgery for

> causing her pain (wondered if I

> had made the right choice), so the guilt from this

> one should be HUGE. Any advice on the guilt issue?

> I really hate to sound like an idiot here, but I'm

> also worried about lifting her even after she's

> healed on the outside! I keep thinking " what if I

> break something in there? " Is it possible to

> accidentally mess up a fusion w/ rods?

> Ok, now I'm babbling.......

> Thanks again to everyone who responded and if

> y'all think of anything else that might be helpfull

> please let us know!

>

>

>

> Love and Hugs

> Jeni

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

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