| September 6th 2003 |
| Hi everyone! I thought it was time to do an update finially.Really until now there wasn't much to update about.Jenna has been doing awesome.She has been in preschool and making huge developemental progress.She can write her own name,count,sing her abc's&tell you her colors just like any other child her age.We are so amazed at how intelligent she is.They told us to expect developemental problems but so far we are very impressed.Her teacher thinks she is right on track.GoJenna! Now for the big news.Jenna had back surgery on September 2nd.i am going to try and go into detail for you other parents who are looking for information on what to expect when your child has kyphosis surgery. Jennas kyphosis was at a 45 degree bend.The problem was that 2 of the vertebrae were going in the wrong direction and if the bend got worse as she grew it endangered her spinal cord.Since her bend was getting worse instead of better, Dr.Diab decided we better not wait.Since Jenna is so young still she is quite flexible in the bone department.Dr.Diab at UCSF is really big on doing posterior spine infusion whenever possible as opposed to the anterior/posterior (going through the front and back).The posterior only surgery is where they go in through the back and place 2 rods and fuse vertebrae.This is kind of like creating an interior brace holding the back side of the spine but still allowing the child to grow in the front.This is supposed to let them still grow in the area but straightening as they grow.There is a risk that it wont work and we would have to go back and do the major front/back surgery anyway.We decided to try this because Dr.Diab really feels it works well for these kids and has great success.It is a much less invasive surgery with much less recovery time.Okay I hope that made sense.If anyone has anymore questions about I'd be glad to try and help. Back to Jenna. Her surgery went really well..They had to use rods that they normally use in the neck area because they are smaller and Jenna is still so small. The surgery took about 5 hours.We were so nervous but my mom& our new pastor and his wife Bonnie,& Angus& Kathy our youth pastors were all with us and we just talked the entire time and it really helped pass the time and keep our minds off of what was happening. When she woke up she was really combatative and moved around and kicked and screamed much more than the Dr wanted her to without her brace on.So they were pretty nervous that she might have misplaced her rods but we got an x-ray and it is perfect. We were discharged yesterday and are at the family house through the weekend.After surgery Jennas heart rate was way up at 165,It stayed that way and her oxygen saturation would not stay up so she spent the night in the PICU.The next day she was in a regular room.She was really sore and it was hard to move her because it hurt her.she had a catheder in and kept trying to pull it out.Once they removed that she was much happier.Thank God for cartoons.As long as she could see the Tv she didnt cry.When she was in the PICU her Tv messed up so she screamed out"Doctor my TV" It was really funny. The hardest part was her saying things like"help me people" when she was in pain or "please don't hurt me."It was sad!The nurse in the PICU was flushing her IV and Jenna screamed "how dare you!"It has been a very hard week but she is getting around very slowly and painfully.This morning she woke up vomitting.The pain meds are not agreeing with her very well so we are going to try switching her to straight tylenol and hope that is enough to control her pain. I thank God for my Mom she has been so much help.as she always is in these kind of situations.Also my friend Desiree for keeping Lindsay and running her back and forth this first week of school.Thank you guys sooooo much! I hope I covered it all! Thanks for caring! Love, The Watsons |
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