Surgery tomorrow

Tabitha is having surgery tomorrow to implant a Baclofen pump. Her muscle spasticity has been increasing this past year-- that's why her hip came out of socket and needed surgery last fall. They tried oral Baclofen but it didn't work-- she lost her appetite, stopped responding to her environment, and 1 month after surgery her hip was back out of socket and popping the rivets off her hip brace!

You may remember they tested the spinal injection of this medication in February. Since it wasn’t taken orally it didn’t go into her blood stream and therefore could not affect her brain. And it worked—she got really floppy and she was sooo HAPPY!! We’ve never seen her as happy, relaxed, or comfortable!! Anyways that let the doctors know that the medication does work for her it just needed to be administered differently.

So, long post even longer, ;) this surgery will implant a fist sized pump into her abdomen and a catheter into her spine at the base of her neck (c7). The below diagram shows it entering the lower back-- that is because most CP patients have spasticity only in their lower extremities but Tabi has it all over.

The medication will drip from that catheter directly into her spine and relax her muscles. Obviously this could cause some problems if anything was relying on her spasticity to function but these problems usually only last about a month and then her muscles/organs get stronger and after that there are no side effects!

She’ll be in the hospital for 3-4 days and on bed rest for 6 weeks. Her medication will be slowly increased over 3 months with regular monitoring. The pump can be re-filled by an injection of medication through a small rubber spot on the front of the pump and the dosage is adjusted with a magnetic wand. The pump will last 5-7 years.

Pretty nifty invention huh?!!

So anyways, it’s going to be a nightmarish month but then we’ll have a happy, comfortable, non-crippling baby! (She’ll still need another hip surgery—this fall.)

Please keep us in your prayers!

:)