February 14, 2022 - Out of Surgery and Recovery

Hello everyone!  I'm so sorry for the delay in being able to update you, especially last night after surgery.  It has been a very hectic last 18 hours since Hope finished surgery, but here is an update finally . . . 

Hope finished surgery between 5:30-6:00 pm yesterday evening.  We received a phone call from the surgeon on our way back to the hospital.  He said that everything went very well with the anterior surgery from the front where they screwed on a cage and did bone grafting to stabilize the area that did not fuse between L5 and S1.  The posterior surgery on her back also went well, but the fixes for the hardware in her back were more extensive than he had anticipated.  There was a significant amount of metal debris in her back due to all the screws being quite loose.  All the screws were replaced except for one that was so lodged into her pelvis, it bent the screw driver trying to remove it!  The surgeon said he has never seen that before, so we know she has nice healthy strong bones!  He also had to repair BOTH of the rods on either side of her spine.  One was clearly broken and the other had an area of bulging that was going to completely break.  He also added a couple extra screws for further stability of the area where the rod break happened, and did a bunch of cleaning of the area.  They are very hopeful that the L5-S1 junction will fuse and overall, Hope will have much less pain after recovery! 

We were all expecting her usual long wake up time from anesthesia; however, she was awake in less than 30 minutes!  The anesthetist was very happy with how she did during surgery and came out to talk to me about it.  While talking with him, the recover room nurse came out to get me and said that Hope was not doing very well, and I needed to come in and be with her.  That was the start of a long 3 hours in the recovery room as Hope struggled with excruciating pain that they were having trouble getting on top of.  She described it as "horrifying" every time she had to move or was moved.  An x-ray was done to confirm the placement of the central line in her neck so they could start a lidocaine infusion for pain.  The movement to put an x-ray film underneath her was just awful even with 4 people assisting her.  In addition to terrible pain, she had an extremely high heart rate that was quite concerning to them . . . in the 170's.  Another issue was her hemoglobin.  It has dropped during surgery, and she was given a unit of blood and another blood product called albumin.  It came up for a bit, but then dropped again in recovery, so she received another unit of blood while I was there with her.  She is super swollen and puffy, especially in the eyes, face, and neck area.  She never seems to tolerate IV fluids very well, and hope we can get her off of them soon!  She is very thirsty, but needs to start with sips only.

Getting her settled enough to come to the unit took some time, and what a blessing that I could be with her through this very difficult time for her.  She had been quite anxious, crying, and asking for me after waking, and so I was very thankful for the staff's compassionate hearts to allow me in with her.  During the intense pain, I would whisper some of her favorite Bible passages to her and she would calm right down.  God is so good and so faithful, and His Word is truly more precious than gold!!!

However, when I had called ahead to the unit where she was going after recovery, I was told that she was not allowed to have one of us with her overnight.  Upon continuing to explain her unique situation, they agreed to allow me to accompany her for at least a time of assessment to determine if she could manage without me.  She was not transferred to the usual spinal surgery unit, but rather to a trauma unit, and they have strict policies on visitation and only allow 3 hour visits during specified visiting hours, and never overnight.

I was told that she would be going to a 2-person room on the unit.  When the porter and I arrived with Hope, we were told that she would go to a different bed, which just happened to be a private room, with enough room for even her wheelchair to fit and move around!  What an amazing blessing for Hope's unique situation, and definitely an answer to prayer!

Trevor had continued to wait all this time, about 5 hours, in 2 different coffee shops until they closed, and then just sat in the vehicle in the parking lot until 11 pm.  By this time, we were told that even though it was breaking the rules, they would allow me to stay overnight, so I was able to let Trev drive home to get some rest and be with Gabi.  I felt terrible that Trevor didn't even get to see Hope, and Hope was pretty teary and missing her daddio and sister.  I helped her call them and have a chat with them, catching them up on all that had happened and letting her express her love for them in her very croaky voice.  She has had a very dry mouth and slightly sore throat from the breathing tube and the medications that they give to dry up all the saliva and mucous.  Hope was especially teary when she heard Gabi's voice, and reminded me how thankful we have been for the sweet bond between them!

It took until about 1 am before I was able to get Hope settled enough that she was able to at least have a few minutes of rest here and there.  She really didn't sleep through the night much at all, at most 15 minutes at a time.  She didn't want to take pain medication, but was still in a lot of pain.  I continued to work with her on how to manage her pain and around 3:30 am, I saw her be the most relaxed and managed in her pain that she had been yet, and that's when she started to at least dose off for a few minutes here and there.  She really hasn't dropped below 5 out of 10 on the pain scale, but she considers that manageable . . . she's one tough cookie!

Thank you for your continued prayers!  There have been so many answered prayers already . . . most important, we have a precious girlie who is alive and stable, AND I am with her, which is a miraculous answer to prayer with all it's taken to be here!  I have been told that I need to speak with the patient care manager tomorrow about future nights, as it will need to be approved and is still not likely in their mind.  Hope is stressed about it, but we are trusting in the Lord to provide, and whatever He calls her to walk through, He will also equip her with the grace and strength to walk through!  (However, Hope is saying that if I go, she goes!  Ha ha!)  So thankful for the amazing gift of being with her, and knowing how much she relies on us, it just feels extra precious being her mama tonight!