THE OPERATION:

On the morning of January 6^th 1999, we were scheduled for pre-operative procedures at 7:00am and surgery at 9:00am. The pre-op procedures reviewed all the same questions we had filled out and answered several times before. Katie went into surgery with a weight of 35.3kg., blood pressure of 104/50, and resp. 20. The gown was adorn and we were escorted down to the operating waiting room. We waited only minutes until the anathesiest approached us and reviewed what was to happen next along with a few more questions answered many times before. Dr. Hedden and some of his crew arrived, reviewed what was to happen over the remainder of the day and see if we had any requests or questions. We asked for Katie to listen to her favorite music on her walkman "Forever By The Sea by Pachelbel"  and we would like periodic updates on progress which he agreed to, however that was not the norm. We said our good-byes and Katie was on her way into OR listening to her favorite music on her Walkman.  The feeling of helplessness and Katie's life being out of our control was unbearable.   For the next Eight Hours we had to wait for the surgery to proceed

In the surgical waiting room we asked if they had any pagers to allow us the peace of mind to go for lunch and a short walk rather than sitting in the waiting room all day. The updates came twice that day, to tell us that they were half way through putting the rod in and again at 2:00pm when they started to do the bone grafting. The day was the longest day of our life. We were fortunate to have friends (Bob and Mary Drake) drop by near 4:00 to keep us company through to the end of the operation. At 5:15 Dr. Hedden finally arrived and took us into a back room in the waiting area. The operation was a success . Katie was doing well breathing on her own in the recovery room and had already moved her legs on her own. Being told this tears of joy came to our eyes as these were our fears. We learned that her bones were a little soft due mainly to the fact that she does not use them to walk or work with. Katie did bleed a little more that the usual. We had given two units of blood and that was all used as was one unit that was recycled during the operation. Dr. Hedden explained that about once a year a child for some unknown reason ooze’s throughout the operation. Katie was that child and she ended up requiring 5 units of blood. Nevertheless she was doing well in recovery and the curvature in the lower back and its twist was straightened. The curve at the top of the back was difficult to correct, however most of the curvature was corrected. The shoulders and hips were now both in line as evidenced by x-ray. Our daughter was now ready for us to see.

We had to wait another 15 to 20 minutes before post-op was ready to let us in to see her. She looked better than we had envisioned. Still out from the anesthesia, she was breathing strongly and had good colour. We again had to leave her to allow them to transport her into the overnight critical (intensive) care unit. It takes about 30 minutes to make the move from pre-op to critical care.