Re: Experiences with tethered cord surgery

[Guest guest]

Hi Corina and welcome!

I am fairly new to the group as well and had a similar experience. We

adopted a baby from China in May and she was diagnosed with tethered

cord in August when she was 18 months old. She had tethered cord

surgery in October at 20 months. She also had no real obvious signs

although she did seem to favor her right leg a little and she has one

toe on her left foot that turns under a bit (3rd toe). She also had a

very small fat pad at the base of her spine and a tiny dimple (about

1 cm) right above her bottom. She also started walking about 2 months

before her surgery (she had had hip dysplasia as an infant and her

gross motor skills were a little delayed).

Her surgery went beautifully. She only had to lay flat for about 12-

24 hours and even then the neurosurgeon said it was ok to hold her as

long as we held her in a reclining position. However, by the time I

felt comfortable trying to hold her- she was too stiff and sore to

want to move- so I left her flat for about 24 hours. After that she

sat up gradually, stood later in the day and went home that evening.

At her post surgical visit her surgeon said he thought there was less

than a 5 % chance that she would ever re-tether or need further

treatment.

I worried SO MUCH about her wanting to move after the surgery. She

was violent coming out of the anesthesia and had to be held by a

doctor and 2 nurses and have 10 times the morphine they ordered to

calm her. She had ripped her IV out and was trying to stand in her

bed in recovery 5 minutes after arriving there. However once they got

her calmed down she did not actually try to move again much at all

until we forced her to the next day.

She had a headache and did not want to move her head. I spent the

entire first night reading her books and singing to her standing by

her bed because she was wakeful even though she wasn't moving.

She only had pain medicine (Except for tylenol) 1 time after getting

to her regular room.

She was drinking water and formula (she still drinks the 9-24 month

formula) by midnight (diluted) and drinking regular bottles by the

next day. She nibbled a little but did not want to eat much food for

a couple of days.

Feel free to contact me off group if you want more info at

dmnkben@....

Good luck! It all went much smoother than I expected!

Michele

>

> Hi I am new and I have a 14 month daughter diagnosed with tethered

cord and she is scheduled for surgery in the second part of January

2007.