Dr. Dennis Devito-Children's Orthopaedics of Atlanta

Caroline had her post-op appt. yesterday with Dr. Devito. He cleared her for PE and PT and thought she looked good. He doesn't need to see her for another 3-4 months. We are so grateful for him and the excellent care she receives.

High School Musical 3

Thank you Karen and B 98.5 for the tickets! The girls loved the movie!

Report Card

Doug and I are so proud of Caroline. She got her report card today and did extremely well. Great job, Dink!

Cardiology Appointment

Caroline saw Dr. Stevens today and he said her numbers have improved since her surgery. He said that she has mild pulmonary hypertension and is most likely related to her airway and spinal issues. He did not feel she needs to be followed by a Cardiologist but will continue to do ECHO's prn per the Pulmonologist's orders.

Caroline started an oral steroid today. We'll hopefully see a difference in her oxygen saturations as the desats may be related to inflammation. She's bouncing off the walls today! At least she's bouncing! Right?! SP

Back to School

Caroline returned to school today. She said she had a good day and had fun. Only a little oxygen in the am but did great the rest of the day.

Here's a pic from an afternoon with her buddies.

Thank you Sevin family for our dinner tonight. We truly appreciate it!

Go Dawgs!

Star Student

Tate enjoyed being Star Student last week and was so proud to be a bunny with his friend, Jack during their Noah's Ark presentation. Tate loves school and is having a great year.

Caroline had a great day today! She saw the Ortho. today for some drainage but he assured me it's not infected and her x-rays look good. She was able to stay off her oxygen for several hours this afternoon. Yay!! We'll keep her on it at night for now. Caroline can return to school on Monday as long as she feels up to going. She's says she's ready!

Unfailing Support

Caroline has the most incredible support system. Here are some pics of visits from friends during her hospitalization. Thanks for being there~always.

Summer in October

Who needs a heater when you have a concentrator? Sense sarcasm? Yep? Well, Caroline's oxygen concentrator was delivered today and I swear it's now 85 degrees in our house and sounds like Darth Vader in surround sound. They delievered 50 feet of tubing. Yes, 50 whole feet for Tate to lasso her with! On a lighter note, Caroline had another good day. She moved around a lot more and had an appetite. Her oxygen requirement is not much and for that we're truly grateful. Thank God for small favors. Life IS good. SP

Thank you Mrs. Wallace for helping Caroline with her homework. What a blessing you are!

Sunday 10-5

Caroline was discharged at 4:00 pm this afternoon. She came home on oxygen. Hopefully being home and resting in her own bed will help build her strength. I'm just trying to figure out why she's still on oxygen when she hasn't required it post-op this long following any other surgery. Does it have to do with the pneumonia she had 8 weeks ago or has this kyphoscoliosis taken it's toll? I'm happy she's home but still have a lot of questions to be answered. I'll call the Pulmonologist. She seems to feel good and isn't complaining of pain. She slept a lot longer than usual but I think maybe she's trying to do too much too fast??? Tomorrow's a new day.

Saturday

Caroline's off CPAP and they took her cath out today. They want her to stay one more day to make sure she does ok w/ just O2. We're hoping to wean her off that as well but that we just may have to do at home. Her spirits are good today. The only other thing she's hooked up to now is her IV. She's tolerating her G-tube boluses well.

Friday pm

Caroline had a good day today. She sat up on the side of her bed for the majority of the day. They took her off CPAP and put her regular trach back in and she tolerated it for about 30 minutes. Her HR and RR were too high( like running a marathon while lying down) so we put her back on the CPAP. We'll continue this through the night and if she does well off CPAP she'll be discharged tomorrow. WooHoo!

Thank you Mrs. McCoy, Parker, Alexander, Lily and Hope for visiting today. Caroline applied and reapplied her lipgloss! Your visit made her day!

"koko" (keep on keeping on) --hey PAMPA

Caroline's sitting up! She got up late this morning and feels much better. After a good scrubbin' and linen change, fresh jammies, she's already into her Go Fish and Hangman. She's weaning from the vent well and they're going to try CPAP this afternoon. Blood gas is due at 4:00. That'll give us a lot of info. Dr. Devito stopped by again this am and said he thought she looked really good. We'll sit tight today and heal, heal, heal. Thanks for checking in! SP

Sleep all Day-Party all night

Weaning's just not happening so far today. She's sore and sleepy. She was up a lot during the night last night. Her BP and body temperature were low so they backed off pain meds and pushed some saline. That's better today but she's sleeping it off. The Intensivist gave orders to wean and we're trying-slowly but surely. No Ortho rounds yet. SP

Surgery a Success

Good morning everyone! Caroline did great yesterday. Dr. Devito said he was pleased with the reseatment and expansion. He said he was able to expand two notches. The resident will let us know exactly how much a notch is. He thought 1/2 -1 cm per notch. He was able to use to of her previous incisions for this surgery and said they're small. She rested so well yesterday. She's vented on 35% O2 and we'll try and start to wean today. Dr. D told us she may be d/c'd today but that was before the vent requirement. Believe me, we're in no rush to leave this morning. IV pain meds work so quickly! Thanks for checking in! I'll post after I see how she does today! Take Care, SP