grtchnk
01-21-2010, 05:00 PM
My daughter Jorie is at the tail end of a series of very trying experiences, for her and the rest of the family. In mid-November she had the first of two osteotomies to surgically repair her congenital hip-dysplasia; the first surgery took about 4 1/2 hours and she was placed in a spica cast. Four weeks later, just before Christmas, she had round two on the other hip - this time 5 1/2 hours under the knife, and out with spica cast number two. After each surgery a respiratory infection followed, treated by antibiotics that of course caused diarrhea and made a mess of that horrible cast.
Although she rebounded fairly well and we got back to our normal routine of spending most of the day off the vent, we had good and bad days and some where she was really junkie and needed a ton of suctioning and extra vent support. Then two weeks ago a 24-hour stomach bug ravaged the house; first my husband then Jorie's older sister, and earlier this week Jorie got the works; throwing up, terrible diarrhea, even a full day where we had to give her supplemental oxygen. The poor thing was miserable and she still has poop stuck in places that won't see the light of day "til this cast comes off. But yesterday she showed much improvement, and strangely, her sats were close to perfect all day.
Today, she had a session with the ST at 9am, and inspiration struck since she seemed happy and raring to go, so I got out the PMV and popped it on. She is STILL wearing it happily now at 6pm. SHe has never gone more than 2 hours with it before..and some days when I put it on she goes all red and looks like her head will pop off and it doesn't last for more than 30 seconds. But all of a sudden its like no big deal. I had to take if off only for a few minutes while I did her trach care and changed her ties. I am just amazed...and I have no explanation. She was so terribly sick not 2 days ago, and now she is like a superstar!
We get the cast off on Tuesday - and everyone here is ready to throw a party to get rid of it. Now I wonder what other things she might amaze me with when she is free of this cursed thing.....
Although she rebounded fairly well and we got back to our normal routine of spending most of the day off the vent, we had good and bad days and some where she was really junkie and needed a ton of suctioning and extra vent support. Then two weeks ago a 24-hour stomach bug ravaged the house; first my husband then Jorie's older sister, and earlier this week Jorie got the works; throwing up, terrible diarrhea, even a full day where we had to give her supplemental oxygen. The poor thing was miserable and she still has poop stuck in places that won't see the light of day "til this cast comes off. But yesterday she showed much improvement, and strangely, her sats were close to perfect all day.
Today, she had a session with the ST at 9am, and inspiration struck since she seemed happy and raring to go, so I got out the PMV and popped it on. She is STILL wearing it happily now at 6pm. SHe has never gone more than 2 hours with it before..and some days when I put it on she goes all red and looks like her head will pop off and it doesn't last for more than 30 seconds. But all of a sudden its like no big deal. I had to take if off only for a few minutes while I did her trach care and changed her ties. I am just amazed...and I have no explanation. She was so terribly sick not 2 days ago, and now she is like a superstar!
We get the cast off on Tuesday - and everyone here is ready to throw a party to get rid of it. Now I wonder what other things she might amaze me with when she is free of this cursed thing.....