Happy New Year - Sandy Surgery Update. Or, T2 Has Left the Building.

Happy New Year!

Sandy’s surgery went well on the 31st. We drove down to Hopkins at about 5:45am (aargh) to get her there in the window they gave us, 6:00-6:30am. It was a cold, icy morning. There was a lot of sitting around, which did not help to calm Sandy’s apprehension over the procedure. They finally wheeled her in to the OR around 8:30, and actually started cutting around 9:45 or so. The surgery went without incident. Things were removed (T2), a spacer was installed, along with an assembly of instrumentation made of titanium alloy. I have xray images that were taken during the surgery that illustrate the hardware in a spectacular fashion. If I can find some way to digitize them, I will post them for you to see.

One of the OR nurses was very diligent about calling me every couple of hours to let me know how things were going or to report a specific milestone. They started closing around 4:15pm, and finally wheeled her out to the Neuro Critical Care Unit (NCCU) at around 5:00pm. It is a fairly messy procedure that requires considerable clean up, and it took a little more than 90 minutes before Sandy’s dad, Bob, and I were able to see her. She was remarkably lucid for having just regained consciousness. I also think she was relieved that it was over. The anxiety of anticipating this procedure was pretty difficult, but the aftermath has been relatively easy. She even called it, “a piece of cake” compared to the last surgery. Imagine that—having your spine disassembled and reassembled is a “piece of cake.” It’s all relative, I suppose. One thing for sure, this just does not seem like a big deal compared to the transplant and whipple in Feb 07.

Sandy actually got out of bed today and was able to walk a few laps around the floor at Hopkins. She also climbed and descended a couple of flights of stairs and appears very stable on her feet. The Physical Therapist “passed” her and said that she was cleared to go home. Not bad for two days rest! She has been taken off of the IV drugs and is now on oral medication. So long as her pain can be managed orally, she should be able to come home soon. We were hoping to get her home by Saturday, and now it looks like we may even beat that. I’ll keep you posted.