48 Hours – Post Op

Now that it’s been 48hrs, Cole is allowed to sit up. When Cole was right out of surgery he wanted to sit up (when he wasn’t supposed to) and now he doesn’t… Go figure. His bed is laying at a 15 degree angle and he’s laying on his side, which seems to be the most comfortable. He’s watching youtube, kids falling, it’s keeping a smile on his face. It hurts for him to cough, which is normally how he clears secretions, but we haven’t had to intervene with anything yet.

Last night we had an RT come in the room, due to alarms, turn up the O2, and walk out. She didn’t say a word to us, but called the attending Doctor. When they showed up, Mark explained that he was changing the pulse ox prob and there was no reason to panic or try to make changes. They agreed and walked away. We’re kind of professionals now and we always have Cole’s best interest. We’ve learned that far too often, people look at machines without evaluating the patient. With Cole, you don’t need to look at a machine to see if he’s satting well. Cole will lose his color and turn blue if he’s not exchanging gases well.

Some lifesavers for us have been the tablet, his stuffed animals, blankets, and a remote control car (pre-op). Overall, he’s pretty irritable with everyone that walks in the room besides Mark and I. If someone walks in with a stethoscope, he immediately signs no, all done, and wants them to go away. As you can imagine, this happens every hour or more. We are, officially, out of intensive care and into a transitional care floor where they will be more hands off. Cole has gotten his catheter taken out and two of his three IVs taken out.

We spoke to the spine surgeon this afternoon and he explained that the growing rods he put in will need to be lengthened in 6 months. We will come back in 6 weeks to take xrays so we can truly understand how corrective this surgery was. I ask a million questions until I feel like I’m clear, but this surgeon just didn’t have many of the answers. I guess we will find out how much length he has gained with the straightening of the spine. We will see what degree curvature Cole has post-OP, and we will see what improvements are made in balance, walking, climbing, etc. in due time.

In 6 months we will come back, the surgeon will cut a smaller incision on Cole’s back just where the connectors are on the growing rods to extend their length by approximately 3mm. It’s a 30min procedure and an overnight stay at the hospital. In non-complicated kids, they can go home the same day.

Overall, 48hrs after having your back cut from the top of your neck to the bottom of your back and your entire spine operated on, he’s doing quite well. To be expected, he is needing help turning in bed, sitting up, and any other small movement. As always, he’s handling it (as he does everything) like a true superhero. He’s my little trooper and he continues to amaze me daily.