Surgery

Thanks for checking in!! Everything went fine with Tabitha's surgery... We showed up at 8AM for a 9:30 start time-- and once again the wheelchair lift at the hospital was broken (same one we got stuck in a month ago) so I had to carry her, in her wheelchair, up the stairs(grr!) Surgery didn't start until 11:00 and she had some trouble coming out of the anesthesia (rapid breathing, funky heart beat, body shakes etc.-- similar to last time) so we stayed in the recovery area for almost 2 hours till they felt she was okay. It was 3:00 before we got to her room-- where she and I both fell asleep for about a 1/2 hour. Then she woke up and that's when she really felt it. Thank heaven for Morphine!

Steven & the older kids showed up around 6PM and we visited till 8 then mom & kids went home & Dad stayed with Tabi. They slept as well as can be expected (which means hardly at all). Tabi continued to need Morphine every hour until some time in the middle of the night. They kept her till noon today due to how much pain she's in. The poor girl isn't able to put 2 & 2 together so she doesn't realized that crying just makes it hurt more.

She has a temporary tube that will be in place for 6-8 weeks and then it will be replaced by the regular tube which we will need to change every 3 months. Tabi will have a tube from now on though we will continue to try feeding her by mouth.

FYI, her spinal injection trial has been set for Presidents Day, Monday February 16th-- what a way to spend Dad's day off eh?! Then depending on it's results she will probably have another surgery the end of March to put in a Baclofen pump (which drips medication directly into her spine from a pump attached to the inside of her abdomen). Baclofen is used to keep her body from being so tight, which is what caused her hip to come out of joint in the first place. That surgery will mean a month in bed for Tabi and 1-3 months of medication adjustments and THEN she can finally have her hip surgery (the nasty bone cutting kind). Not a happy 6 months or so for Miss Tabitha is it.

Yawn, time for a nap!

Take care all and thank you again and again for your prayers and for checking in!

:) Diane