Guest Blog: Update by Drama Queen

Hey Blogworld,

Just wanted to let you all know about how Momma's surgery recovery is going.  As you know, she went in on Tuesday to have some work done on her spine.  The surgery itself went very well.  The surgeon said it looked really good.  Mom spent Tuesday night at the hospital under observation and struggled a bit to get her breathing back up to normal.  Wednesday she spent home with us, and while she felt pretty sore, seemed to have more energy than expected. 

Pre-Surgery

Thursday was a lot harder on her.  The pain meds they gave her just weren't working as well and she was really hurting and ended up going up to bed at seven.  Around te,n she was spiking a fever just over 101 degrees, so Dad and I made sure she called the nurse.  They told us to have her take some ibuprofen and follow up in the morning with the doc.  Early this morning, she was having some trouble breathing so Dad ran her up to the ER before the sun came up.

Mom hates getting her blood drawn.

The ER team told Mom and Dad that she had a pulmonary embolism:  a blood clot in her lungs.  Because the surgical site is so new, they started her slowly on an IV-delivered blood thinner.  They then transferred her up to a different hospital where they could do spot-imaging to check out where the clot was.  They found that Mom has several clots in both lungs, but thankfully none near her spine.  The doctors say that if a clot finds its way back to where they just did the surgery then she will have to go back under right away or she would likely risk paralysis for anything below that spot.  The other thing they are worried about is if a clot finds its way to her brain which could lead to a stroke.  So it's a careful balancing act of trying to break the clots down with the blood thinners, while also not traumatizing where her spine is trying to heal.  Dad says we should expect that they will keep her at the hospital at least another three days, if not more.

The ambulance that transferred her.

 We have always known that there were risks with this surgery, but our wonderfully brave Mom has been in pain for so long.  She really needs and deserves to be able to live a good life without the constant fatigue and aches.  Please keep our Mom in your prayers.

Popsicles help her throat feel better.  Intubations hurt!