First Cast Unsuccessful - Olivia's update

April 24, 2012

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately Olivia's first attempt at casting was not a success. She was

placed in a Risser cast on Monday. She was taken from a 90 to a 60. Her

stomach was basically a hard ball and was bulging from the opening. She was in

extreme pain and started vomiting a few hours after the cast was put on. It

continued throughout the night. We had to remove the undershirt due to vomit

and wetness. It took us one hour to get the shirt off. The following day we

returned to Riley and the bottom part of the cast was cut off hoping to give

relief and allow her to keep food down. She continued to vomit through out the

night again. Olivia has a feeding tube. We returned to Riley on Wednesday

where they cut the cast off completely. She vomited immediately after the cast

was removed, on the way home and two more times once we got home. We then took

her to Riley North instead of going downtown again. She was given an IV and

dextrous due to low blood sugar. Her sodium was low as well. She was admitted

and for the next day and a half did not improve. On Thursday evening about

midnight she had a seizure and had to be assisted in getting her to breath

again. I have seen many things in my 47 years but to see hospital personnel

running down a hallway to your child's room is surreal. I had never seen my

daughter unresponsive before that night. I cannot explain it but somewhere

between 5 AM to 7AM something changed. I went to my daughter's bed and she

looked at me for the first time in five days with bright eyes and flashed a

smile. She improved from that point on and we were able to go home on Saturday

afternoon. We are going back down to Riley tomorrow where she will be fitted

with a back brace built like the cast. The plan is to tighten the brace over

the next few months allowing her body to accept it better. She is very low tone

and completely nonverbal. Hopefully in August we will attempt casting again.

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. Good Luck to all of you.

Meredith & Olivia

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