Ear Tubes

Peyton had her ear tube/adenoid surgery Friday morning. She was to have been first up, but they were waiting on her prior anesthesia records from her surgery on the 9th to see if there were any problems to be aware of for anesthesia. Since the child up 2nd was having a very quick procedure to remove his ear tubes, they put him in front of Peyton. Sure enough, the records arrived and 15 minutes later we were on our way back with Peyton. It was 39 minutes from the time I sat in the waiting room til her doctor came in to let me know how it went. She did very well. Her adenoids were blocking about 50% of the back of her nose.

We spent the night at the hospital, even though the procedure is out-patient. Since she has the sleep apnea issues, they wanted to monitor her breathing overnight to make sure that any swelling from the surgery was not interfering with her oxygen levels. Her oxygen saturation stayed mostly between 96-99% the whole time. The doctor came in this morning and said she was good to go. We were home just after 11:00.

Of all Peyton's surgeries (this was #11), this was probably the most minor. Of all the surgeries, this was the one that caused her to be the fussiest! It was a rough night for her last night, but she is doing well.

Neurosurgery Follow Up

Peyton had a good report from the Neurosurgeon yesterday. She is doing very well and the doctor is quite pleased. He removed the last remaining steri strip. The incision area is quite red but he said that is from the sutures which are under the skin and should get better shortly. If not, we'll go back to him. He ordered an x-ray to make sure that her neck is remaining stable when extended or flexed. It is. So, we ended on a good note and will return to see him in a month.

Next up...Friday's ear tube/adenoid surgery. Still a go. I am most anxious to have all of this behind us!

Post Surgery and Upcoming Surgery

Just a quick update to say that Peyton is doing really well since her surgery on August 9th. She has been just as mobile as ever since she came home on the 11th. She scared me at times with how mobile she was! I would have thought her neck would have been very sore and she would choose not to move it so much. Not the case! Actually, her doctor said that it's better for her to be mobile because it will heal faster.

In addition to the oxygen levels remaining at a really good level while she's sleeping, we've noticed a change in Peyton's feet. Since she was born, her feet have always been freezing. Now they're a normal temperature most of the time!

If all goes according to plan, Peyton will have her ear tube/adenoid surgery this Friday, the 24th. Her congestion from being intubated on the 9th has finally eased up and I think she's good to go for Friday. One more surgery coming up in September. This one is to shorten the tube of one of the shunts in her eyes. We found out that would have to be done back on 7/30/07, but the doctor didn't want to do it at that time since she had so much bacteria in her eyes at the time. It's apparently a very quick and simple procedure. It will be so good to get these surgeries out of the way.

Mom will be arriving on the 29th. Moira's looking forward to seeing Granny. I think she thinks Granny just lives at the airport and we just pick her up and drop her off as needed. On the 30th, Ron and I are off to Las Vegas until the 4th for some much needed R&R. It'll be the first time I've been away from Peyton since I was hospitalized in May 2006. I'm not feeling 100% great about leaving the kids, but I know they will be in good hands!

Will keep you posted on how Peyton makes out at her follow up with her Neurosurgeon tomorrow as well as her surgery on Friday.

Home!

Peyton came home today! We were home by about 11:00 or so this morning. She is doing really well after her surgery. She occasionally will get fairly fussy which leads me to believe she's still in some pain. I can't imagine her not having some pain! She is becoming more and more active, which is good. The doctors told us to just let Peyton be herself and not restrict her movement too much. We were told that if she can get moving her neck as she normally does, it will help her out in the long run.

She is still pretty congested, so hopefully we can get that knocked out pretty quickly. It makes me a bit nervous considering her hospitalization for her congestion back in May. However, I am sure they wouldn't let us leave today if she wasn't well.

Peyton's not 100% her happy little self, but she's getting there. She's definitely quite active now and is making us nervous with her head movements, but we realize it's good for her to move. We get to take the dressing off her incision tomorrow. How fun. She just has steri-strips holding the incision together. We will follow up with the Neurosurgeon next week.

Going Home!

Oh Happy Day! I just spoke with Sarah and she shared the wonderful news that Miss Peyton was seen by the neurosurgeon's resident and he has given his approval for her to go home at some point today!!

Peyton had a fairly decent night. She is still quite congested and is getting suction treatments. Two different pediatricians have been keeping tabs on Peyton because of this problem. She was given Benadryl to ease the congestion, which they feel is a normal after affect of the surgery. She is being moved around more today - being held upright in order to ward of pneumonia.

During the night and early this morning, she had some fussy periods because of the pain. I believe she got Tylenol to ease that pain.

Peyton's blood oxygen levels continue to be very good. After surgery, they were between 97 - 100%; Thursday night they were 89% and higher while she was having her breathing problems; yesterday, with her congestion, they were between 92 - 95%. This has totally baffled the neurosurgeon who thought the surgery "might help the apnea a bit". So far, she has not required her oxygen.

Once Peyton is home, she will have to be watched carefully. She has to be very careful regarding neck extensions, etc.

Hopefully the whole family can now get some rest and enjoy being home together again. Way to go Peyton! We continue to cover you in prayer and thank all of your prayer warriors.

Granny

Post-Surgery Update

After a very interrupted night, Peyton seems to be faring a bit better this morning. Yesterday, her breathing sounded very raspy and she was quite hoarse (stridor). When she was breathing, her chest was being sucked in. Last evening, when the neurosurgeon saw her, he was concerned about her breathing. Before long, there was a flurry of activity to determine the cause. Her BP was elevated a little too. After much poking, prodding and a chest x-ray, it was decided that the problem was caused by inflammation of the vocal chords as a result of being intubated during surgery. She is being given steroids by IV every six hours to reduce the swelling. After her first treatment, there was an improvement. This morning, her hoarseness has diminished, but she still has a lot of congestion in her throat.

Peyton is managing to take her bottle today, which is a good sign. When I spoke with Sarah, she was holding Peyton and I could hear that she sounded a little better. Although pretty tired, Sarah is quite pleased that things are a little easier for Peyton today.

Once again, thank you all for your prayerful support.

Granny

C1 Laminectomy

Sarah has asked me to update the site for her. Peyton came through her surgery very well. When I spoke to Ron an hour or so ago, she had been moved into phase two of recovery. Right now, they are waiting for her to be moved into her own room. The doctor was pleased with the surgery. Peyton was in some pain, so she has received medication for that. She is still pretty sleepy and has only stirred a few times. She isn't too interested in taking in any fluids - just a couple of drops. Since the discovery of her sleep apnea, she has been using oxygen while asleep. When Ron and Sarah went into the recovery area, Peyton was asleep without oxygen. She is in quite a deep sleep and her blood oxygen saturation was about 98% ~ so, she is able to breathe on her own at present. I'll leave it to Sarah to add in all of the details, which she will be most anxious to do and will do better than I can.

Thank you all for your love, support, concern and prayers.

Granny

Surgery

What a day. We went to see Peyton's Neurosurgeon for a follow up to the MRI she had last week. Back in November, her MRI of her brain showed something at the base of her skull/top of spinal column that they wanted to keep an eye on. Unfortunately the MRI cut off right at about this point. The problem was a new one so they weren’t expecting to need to see further down her spine. Last week’s MRI went further so they could get a look. The tightening that they noticed at the top of the spine has gotten worse and requires surgery. It’s one of those things that could be done now or could wait a bit, but then if you waited…what if something happened?? The big concern (one of the concerns) is that the sleep apnea she has is very likely caused by this problem and could get worse. The area of the brain above this problem area controls respiration. We didn’t delve into the “what ifs”, but decided that urgent surgery is the order of the day. She is scheduled for Thursday. We have to be at Texas Childrens for 6am on Thursday. He said the procedure is fairly simple.  Ok, I’m not the neurosurgeon, so perhaps that it is not actual “brain surgery” maybe makes it “simple”! It’s about a 30 minute procedure – decompression is what he called it. She’ll be in the hospital 2-3 days. They have to keep a close eye on her because of risk of infection, her apnea and generally because of her other issues.

So now we wait anxiously for Thursday to be over and done with. I will keep everyone posted as soon as I can once she is out of surgery. We appreciate your prayers!

MRI

It's been a fun week. Peyton's sleep schedule is completely turned upside down! She was up til 3am last night...only after Moira had been up since 3:30am yesterday morning!! What a fun day that was!!

Peyton went to Texas Childrens with Ron today for her MRI. She was able to have it done!! She's a trouper. She was quite playful when they got home. She was really in good spirits. A little difficult to get to sleep, but she is asleep now...hopefully for the night.

Peyton's eyes are still very red, but she is opening them more. There's still a lot of "goop" coming out of them, but they are looking better bit by bit. Of course, if anyone were to see her, they still might wonder what happened to her!

Glad to have her eye exam/surgery out of the way and her 12 month MRI finally done at 14 1/2 months! Her neurosurgeon should have the report by Friday. We meet with him on Tuesday next week to discuss the MRI. I'll keep you posted.