While this is very long... It is a copy and paste synopsis of some of Danas posts regarding our lil guy Nathan and the major surgery that took place on December 2nd and current updates ... Nathan will be undergoing spinal fusion surgery to correct his progressive scoliosis. The procedure will be performed at Seattle Childrens Hospital by two of the top pediatric orthopedic surgeons in the country...The procedure will last about five hours and will involve inserting and attaching a pair of stainless steel rods the length of Nathans spine to pull and hold his spine as straight as possible. Having this done is, as one might expect, a shock to the system, especially to the lungs, so Nathan will be in the ICU for a number of days post-op and will wake-up on a ventilator. When it is deemed safe to take him off the ventilator, he will be placed on a bi-pap machine, and over the course of a few days, as his lungs recover, he will be weened off the bi-pap back onto room air. This surgery is, we hope, a once-in-a-lifetime event to stop the worsening of Nathans spinal curve which is slowly decreasing his lung capacity and compressing his internal organs, including compromising his heart. We have known his whole life that this procedure would almost assuredly be necessary some day, and we have known for about a year that it was fairly imminent. The last three months, since we received our actual surgery date, we have spent getting Nathans other specialists to sign off on the procedure, getting his feeding tube in place for nutrition post-op, and attending pre-surgery appointments and testing. He received final clearance from pulmonary and cardiology last week ...I am now sharing with all of you what has been going on in our lives and what will be going on for a while here. As long as there are no significant complications, the estimate is that Nathan will be in the hospital for around two weeks, and he will then recover and rehab at home over the next few months. While there is no doubt that this is a major surgery, we know our son will be in very skilled hands, and we are looking forward to a healthier future for him. At 1:21pm 12/2 Nathan was halfway through his surgery with rock solid vitals AND so far no blood transfusions had been necessary. 6:11pm 12/2 ...Nathan is awake and spelling with his hands to tell them things. His pain meds are working well at this point, his foot reflexes and color in lower extremities is also good indicating no further neurological damage. He is still on his ventilator but they are working on weening down the settings. The surgery did not go as far toward correcting the curvature of his spine as hoped - but it should still be much better. 11am 12/3 Nathan Update: He is off the ventilator and on just his bi-pap set to his regular night time settings at home for sleep apnea. They just pulled both his arterial lines so now he just has a plain IV for meds and fluids. He is talking...a little hoarsely, but with the occasional smile, and his pain management has been amazing... hardly any pain at all. His attending doc just came in and said that he has so far well surpassed everyones expectations on how he is doing from all standpoints but especially his respiratory status. Amazingly, his lungs are perfectly clear and he is even tolerating time periods on plain room air with no breathing help. According to his nurse, even typically developing kids generally need more help than Nathan is needing after undergoing major spinal surgery. Everyone had expected him to still be on a ventilator today.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:00:10 +0000
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