Days kind of slip by me lately; I almost missed that today marks 1 month since Titanium Girl’s first surgery. That surgery left her with a 7 inch incision that wraps around from her left abdomen around to her back. It also removed a portion of her 10th rib, detached part of her diaphragm, and deflated her left lung. And that was just the opening act that let Dr. C. access the anterior (front) of her lower spine where he removed disks from T11 to L3, ground up that removed section of her 10th rib, and cemented that between those vertebrae to begin the fusion process before reattaching the diaphragm and re-inflating the lung. It should go without saying that that kind of surgery takes a long time to heal from. And on the 14th, she had a repeat on the other side of her chest at her 6th rib. The words of Dr. B. The Thoracic Surgeon frequently echo in my head: “Thoracotomy is no joke. And she’s got two of them.”
I’m not sure anything can prepare you for what the healing process of a single major surgery will entail, let alone 3 major surgeries inside a week. There have been some seriously dark moments, darker than we’d ever publish here on this blog, because some things just aren’t for public consumption. Of course, there have also been amazing moments of strength and triumph. Titanium Girl has a well of inner strength that she’s learned to tap into at the ripe old age of 12; that can only serve her well throughout her life. Her ability to focus herself and relax is especially impressive; some adults never master that.
Most scoliosis kids bounce back pretty quickly by 3-4 weeks out of surgery. But then most scoliosis kids who require surgery only require a single surgery from the back. Two surgeries (anterior/posterior) is the less common yet not unheard-of alternative. Three is exceedingly rare, but then so is a case of two right angles in someone’s spine. We do not do things halfway in this family; go big or go home. I think we probably need to re-evaluate that maxim for some things 😉
DH and I are both feeling the need to focus on Titanium Girl’s physical strengthening at this point. School is winding down toward winter break, and she’s covered a lot of what she needed to learn in this time off. But her stamina is still low, and that double thoracotomy means her lung functioning is weak, even though her ultimate lung capacity is much greater now than before the surgeries. After some seriously diligent school work today, we pressed her to practice her clarinet. It was only the third time she’d played it since surgery, and it’s still very much a struggle for her. But we believe very strongly that playing the clarinet will be physical therapy for those lungs weakened by excised ribs and deflation during surgery. She’s also going to have to walk even more. She’s made progress there, but the only way to get stronger is to keep doing more. She wasn’t entirely happy to hear this; her bed is far more comfy than laps around the driveway. But there’s no way she’ll be ready to walk the halls of her school in January if we don’t get her moving more now. The only way out of this is through it….
