Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Count down is almost at Zero

It is 10:10 PM and less than 6 hours I will be waking up (if I sleep at all) in order for Mark and I to take Vanessa to St. Joseph's hospital for her spinal fusion surgery. We are all going through a lot of different emotions right now, especially Vanessa. I am impressed that she has is handling as well as she is.

Vanessa got to see her two biological half sisters tonight and that was a huge blessing. Their adoptive father has offered to assist us in dealing with Vanessa's pain management once she is home (that is what he does) and come to find out, he is at the naturopathetic college just down the street from us every Tuesday so that we won't have to drive too far. It was nice of them to drive from Gilbert just to see Vanessa for about 30 minutes with a three year old and a four year old. TJ found some new playmates! Vanessa was relieved to hear that her mom had made contact with their adoptive mom about five months ago and that was she still clean and had just started working.

Vanessa's surgery is scheduled to start at 7 AM on Thursday, October 1, 2009 and should take about 5 hours. They are fusing her spine between the L2 and the T3 (or L3 and T2, I can't recall which it is). She will lose some range of motion, but not too much. Her hospital stay will be 5 to 7 days, with 1-2 days in the ICU. One of us will be with her at all times (Mark and I have worked out a schedule so that I am able to spend the majority of the evenings/night time at home with TJ and the other kids as we are trying to find that balance, plus Mark can sleep anywhere, I am not so lucky).

We appreciate all of the prayers of our wonderful family and friends. And very thankful for everyone who is providing meals and child care for our children so that we can focus on taking care of Vanessa. We have meals lined up for Friday through Monday, college age girls are assisting with the required over age 18 supervision for Thursday morning and the weekend with lots of back-ups in place and lots of prayers. We are so blessed!

1 comment:

  1. Thinking thinking thinking about you guys. Prayers will be with all of you this morning. Sorry I couldn't be more help! :) I am sure Vanessa will do great! She is young and healthy and will bounce back quickly! Keep us updated. Hopefully St. Joe's has better internet access than Good Sam!

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