Pre Op

Kyle had his pre-op today. I'm not 100% sure how Kyle is feeling about everything but I'm feeling nervous, scared and at the same time wanting to get it over with. We met with the surgeon's assistant (P.A.) today to go over the procedures again. She told us that some of the risks of the surgery Kyle is already experiencing, which are partial paralyses in his right arm & leg as well as his swallowing issue and his eyes shaking. The major risk, of course, is full paralyses but he's heading that way if he doesn't get this done.

Kyle's first surgery on Nov. 8th is still the decompression surgery. They will be removing a portion of his skull and 4 to 6 vertebraes (the back portion of the vertebraes). Then add a graft which is the lining of a cow's heart. He will wake in a halo and traction. The P.A. said he will be awake for most of the week he is in traction but possibly sleepy due to the pain meds. She said he will be able to eat food, watch TV, and use a laptop or Ipad. He will not be able to get out of bed of course or move his head. He will stay in ICU for the week and his dad and I will take turns to stay with him 24/7. His room will have 1 sleeper bed for us.

The reason for Kyle to be in traction for a week before the second surgery is to straighten and lengthen his vertebraes. The neurosurgeons and the spine surgeons will reopen his incision (possibly it will be a little longer) on Nov. 16th to add the rods for fusion. Two rods will be screwed into the base of his skull and into the last intact vertebrae. Then they will add bone from his hip over the rods.

I feel hopeful that this not only fixes the chiari malformation but it also helps fix some of the bone deformities due to the Klippel Feil. I'm trying to stay positive and get Kyle to feel excited about it too because the sooner it gets fixed, the sooner he can start feeling better.