2ND SURGERY

11-7-07 Chris went into surgery at 0830 and was out by 1045. Not as long as we thought. Dr. Bridwell said the Aorta and Vena Cava were not attached to the spine--thank God but were able to be lifted off easily. He said they were able to open up the disc space in L5-S1 very wide and put in a PEEK cage (a plastic cage) Minimal blood loss. He filled the space with Bone Morphogenic Protein to help aid in the fusion being solid. He does want Chris to be on bedrest for 4 months to make sure the area stays put and begins to fuse. He said we have only one chance to make this right and Lord knows we would like to make sure this fuses solid! We certainly will manage although once he finds this out I am sure he will be disappointed. He is in the Pediatric ICU. TPN, Lipids going via the subclavian line. Receiving IV antibiotics. Art line in also. Vital signs are stable. Hemoglobin just came back at 8.6gms a drop from 10.6. Not surprised. Will be giving the unit of blood that I donated. It is important to keep up the Hemoglobin as high as possible to make sure he does not have a lack of blood flow to the spine--especially since he had paralysis before---which may have been a vascular event.
I prayed last night that God would give me strength and it was certainly evident that he gave it to me. I had such a confident feeling this morning. I continue to pray that he will watch over Chris.