If you have a child that has spastic CP or know someone that has a child that has it, I highly recommend looking into Dr. Nuzzo's procedure!
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Update on Alaina
Hi all, sorry for the delay in updating you on Alaina. It's been 2 weeks post-op now and she is doing great! We headed to New Jersey for Alaina's surgery and we drove. Total time for one way was just about 13 hours! Thankfully we have some family that lives exactly half way in between our two destinations...home and the hospital :) On the Monday before her surgery we had a doctors appointment at 9:30 in the morning and then we had the rest of the day to play. So we decided to head towards the Hudson Bay and visit some places we had only seen in pictures! Ellis Island and Liberty Island. Plus, we got to see the NYC sky line! We had so much fun and so did the girls. Here is a fun photo of the girls sitting at the feet of Lady Liberty!
Surgery was scheduled for 7:30am the following day! Yikes, that meant we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am. No fun. The girls did great though and they were thoroughly confused that we woke them up and went outside while it was still dark out, they couldn't quite figure it out! This is Alaina pre-surgery. Getting all checked in and filling out all of those wonderful questionnaires :) She refused the hospital gown, she knows fashion already at 4 years of age!
This is Alaina about 6 hours post-op. She did fairly well, considering. She cried a lot right when she woke up. Once she was able to sit on mom's lap she fell right to sleep. Once moved into the next recovery room she did okay and when we tried to get her dressed she through up all over. So we layed her back down and she slept for another 2 hours. We got bored fast! Addie did so well and of course the nurses kept giving her cookies and juice:) Alaina had to wear the knee immobilizers for 24 hours this is just so she can keep getting a great stretch on her hamstrings and after the 24 hours she needs to wear them during the night time. This is also to retrain her brain and body to not sleep in a fetal position. It's always harder to stretch out in the morning! She also has little casts on her feet. They are a lot like serial casting only closer to her skin. This is to keep her feet in a perfect 90 degree position so she can have great stretching and perfect positioning. These are to be worn for 4 weeks!
Here we are back at home. This is Thursday so 2 days post-op. She now has to take baths in the sink so we don't get her casts wet :) She thinks this is very silly!
Here is a photo I took of her bruises. Can you believe it no sutures, just very tiny pinholes where the "incision" took place.
The results that we have seen so far are just amazing. Alaina is doing things already that she was never able to do before, due to her severe spasticity! For example her sitting has improved 100% she was unable to sit in a straight legged position or get into that sitting position on her own and now she can do both. It is so strange now, when she is in bed she will call for me and I will go into her room and she is sitting up in bed. That has never happened. Another thing Alaina had done was an alcohol block. This was to help her to be able to separate her leg movements. She did a lot of mirror movement. (When one leg moves the other moves with it) She is now able to separate her legs completely and she has started to try and climb stairs another thing that was impossible for her before the surgery!
If you have a child that has spastic CP or know someone that has a child that has it, I highly recommend looking into Dr. Nuzzo's procedure!
If you have a child that has spastic CP or know someone that has a child that has it, I highly recommend looking into Dr. Nuzzo's procedure!
Labels:
accomplishments,
alaina,
dr. nuzzo,
spastic diplegia,
surgery,
thankful
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Back to School!!!
I can't believe in less than a week we will be heading back and forth to Grand Rapids!!! This summer has just flown by! :( Although we are sad that summer is coming to a close we are excited that Alaina is going to be getting back into school and that means some major therapy! Also, everyday is just one day closer to us leaving for NJ and getting her surgery done! She has a doctor's appointment on the 5th of September. This will be a physical to ensure the doctor that she is healthy for surgery. Also, she needs to have an EKG done and blood work. One more step closer!
Pray for Alaina, she recently got the flu and hasn't been able to keep anything down! It's been a rough 36 hours in this household!
Pray for Alaina, she recently got the flu and hasn't been able to keep anything down! It's been a rough 36 hours in this household!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thank you...
Hi All, I have been trying lately to put on this blog a meter to keep everyone up to date on how much money we have raised for Alaina. I'm having a tough time finding one:) To date we have raised $1840, Thank you!
An update on her surgery...everything is going as planned and we have the date, we just booked our hotel and I just made an appointment with her pediatrician for a history and physical, plus she needs some lab work done! Since we have confirmed that we are having the surgery done, the amounts are confirmed...for the actual surgery it is about $8700, for her to be in the hospital it is about $3500 and for the anesthesiologist it is $875. So we estimated a little low. We trust that God will provide for our needs and we are so thankful for every one's support thus far!!!
An update on her surgery...everything is going as planned and we have the date, we just booked our hotel and I just made an appointment with her pediatrician for a history and physical, plus she needs some lab work done! Since we have confirmed that we are having the surgery done, the amounts are confirmed...for the actual surgery it is about $8700, for her to be in the hospital it is about $3500 and for the anesthesiologist it is $875. So we estimated a little low. We trust that God will provide for our needs and we are so thankful for every one's support thus far!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)