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Surgery
posted on 07/13/2007
Surgeons finished yesterday evening at around 8:00 (about 11 hours). We were updated every hour and a half: she was very strong throught the whole surgery and tolerated everything very well. We apparently were misled into thinking Chloe was doing excpetional with her neuro monitoring... however, as soon as they got to the decompression part of the surgery (to take the bone away from the spinal cord) they lost neuro monitor signals from her; her spinal cord in the spot of the defect was 1/5 the normal size and before they could begin manipulating it, they lost the neurological signals. She didn't respond at all with her legs. The good news is that they think this is spinal shock and that her cord, if we didn't do anything, was so fragile that it was on the verge of being damaged. So, we acted just in time; if we waited she would have had to have emergency surgery with little or no chance of regaining function.
Her xrays are so astounding! She's straight, her lungs almost instantly took up the room they needed, she has an expected fever they are treating and is ventilated (maybe 3-4 days, tops) as she had to get 2 units of blood. Above all else, Chloe needed this surgery to be healthy. Her lungs already seem stronger.
The miraculous news is this: last evening, about 10:30, Chloe moved her big toes. The first movements were reflexes to stimulus and then she wriggled them in response to my asking her. Very good sign.
Dr. Emans says she has a significant chance of returning function... just have to keep hoping and praying. We are optimistic and glad yesterday has turned into today.
thank you all... keep praying!
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