Crunch Time

We had our pre-op appointment yesterday(Thursday). Talk about stressful... nothing like sitting with a neurosurgeon and discussing the risks of a surgery at the most intricate portion of the spinal cord and stem of the brain. Needless to say that discussion has left me with some nervous feelings. Although I trust that everything will work out for the best, these are still scary things to have to hear. We are now 4 days away from the initial surgery. We can expect that surgery to last for 2-3 hours and the second surgery will be around 5-7 hours.

They will be taking bone from her hip to use with the fusion in her neck. We can expect minimal pain from the first surgery. However, the second surgery (on the 8th) comes with more pain. Luckily, they will not have to cut through any muscle. But, they will be cutting between them and holding the two muscles in retractors for many hours. This will cause more of a spasm like pain. To deal with this pain, Kalyn will be on IV Valium for relaxation of the muscles. They are hoping to find a dose that will achieve this goal without sedating her too much.

We also toured the PICU at our appointment. This caused more anxiety than the risk discussion. We are not allowed to sleep with her in the PICU but can visit at anytime as long as we aren't sleeping. This is horrible because hospitals always make me sleepy and I can't imagine leaving her alone. There are bunk beds in the lobby sleep rooms but my Uncle lives about a mile away and has offered his spare room. No visitors after 8 pm except for parents and Alexis has to have scheduled visits of about an hour at a time.

I think that we will probably stay in Norfolk on the weekends as a family and switch off of who is at the hospital to allow both children to get their mom and dad time in. Keep us in your prayers and know that we appreciate it. We love all of you.