Update on Jessi Paddack

[Guest guest]

Thanks to all who responded about my question on the spinal tap on my daughter,

Jessi, after her ruptured appendix. 

 

It never became necessary to do the tap after all, never an indication of

infection and all CT scans have been clear.

 

Her road to recovery has been very difficult. She developed an ilius, which

pretty much stopped all movement in her intestinal tract. Because of this she

has been unable to eat even clear liquids and has had to start IV nutrition

through a PICC line.

 

She already knew that she had a neurogenic bladder, but now we've been told that

she has a neurogenic bowel too.

 

When first told of the appendicitis, I told her that this surgery would be a

piece of cake compared to all of the Chiari surgeries. I was most definitely

wrong!

 

Nita

[Guest guest]

Dear Nita,

I am so sorry that Jessi developed an ileus! I developed my first one after

extensive spinal surgery in 2008. My stomach distended so much that I

looked like I was 12 months pregnant, and the pain was worse than the surgery

pain. I developed a second one, though not as severe, when I had my

gallbladder removed last year. In my case, it happened because I have

mitochondrial

dysfunction, which was not diagnosed until after my spine surgery. It

caused intestinal dysmotility, and the affects of anesthesia seriously

compounded the problem of mito and dysmotility. I ended up in ICU for 4 days as

a

result. I am still trying to recover from the ileus. Besides meds and

serious changes in my diet, medical acupuncture has allowed me to get rid of

some of the med for my digestion issues.

I hope Jessi's recovery soon becomes just a memory.

Barbara

In a message dated 3/19/2011 12:28:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

jlpaddack@... writes:

Thanks to all who responded about my question on the spinal tap on my

daughter, Jessi, after her ruptured appendix.

It never became necessary to do the tap after all, never an indication of

infection and all CT scans have been clear.

Her road to recovery has been very difficult. She developed an ilius,

which pretty much stopped all movement in her intestinal tract. Because of this

she has been unable to eat even clear liquids and has had to start IV

nutrition through a PICC line.

She already knew that she had a neurogenic bladder, but now we've been

told that she has a neurogenic bowel too.

When first told of the appendicitis, I told her that this surgery would be

a piece of cake compared to all of the Chiari surgeries. I was most

definitely wrong!

Nita

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]