Day 8

Hey Everyone,

We are home!!! We were trying to get home around 6, because Richie's closes at 7:00 and we NEEDED drugs. We are so thankful and tired. We will update tomorrow.

Kim

Day 7 Afternoon

Second Post Today, boy I'm doing good. I have to make up for the weekend! heehee

This afternoon was really good for Shelby. She has her hair brushed and her own PJ's on. She is sitting beside me now on the 'Teen Floor' at the computer. Her doctor said 'maybe' we could go home tomorrow. She is really 'pumped' about that. Shelby wanted to be sure and let each one of you know that she REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, AND REALLY thanks you for being prayer warriors on her behalf. She said she couldn't have gone through this without each of you. Also, the 'teen room' is awesome, and we will try to come again in the morning. The food here stinks, don't try it. Mom brought me Luby's and it tasted like gold. I saved some for tomorrow.

As long as we have our pain pills we can do anything!! I'm bringing up a 'drugy' Gotto go,

Love you all

Kim and Shelby

Day 6 and Day 7

Howdy!!

Boy, time really flew by and I did not have time to update you on my sweet angle's progress. When I joined Mike and Shelby on Saturday around noon, she was excited that the NG tube was gone and her Foley was gone. All she had remaining was her IV and Shelby was receiving her pain meds and her nutrition (TPN and Lipids - which is very hard on the veins because it is very thick) Her diet was barely 'clears' and so she could have only water, broth, or something like that. She was not interested in drinking anything yet, though. Slowly, her day progressed and by that evening she asked for crackers. She had to now get out of bed to use the restroom and we really had to plan receiving her pain meds. Well, needless to say, our nursing staff didn't think it was a problem starting a new procedure in another room when we needed to have meds. (We sometimes have to call the 'higher ups' to make things rock and roll correctly) Shelby was never really comfortable all day because her IV was killing her arm. I stayed with her Saturday night and around 2:00 am, she lost her IV. Instead of starting a new line, I wanted them to stop the burning nutrition, and advance her diet, slowly of course. Naturally, the next problem was that all meds had to now go by mouth. We had to work very hard the rest of the day to get the right things that would give her relief. She was SOOO uncomfortable. Sunday afternoon she finally got Pergoset. Fifteen minutes before Taylor walked into the room she was smiling. Taylor did not see any of the REAL pain. We slowly added more solids as the day went on and her day was really good as long as we kept the muscle spasms and pain under control. She had several visitors on Sunday afternoon. I may have told you that Sunday was Kendall's 9th Birthday and Matt and Amy brought her up, along with her two of her cousins, Elle and Harrison, and MiMi and Pa. Mike picked Taylor up at church on Sunday after she went to the "Girls' Reflecting Glory" conference at First Colony. Shelby and I will 'for sure' be there next year and we are staying with you, Miss Amanda Carter. If it's OK, heehee. Thank you First Colony for putting on such a FABULOUS conference and taking care of our young ladies in Christ. We love you all very much. Sunday night I came home with Taylor and Kendall. We all oversplet Monday morning and Taylor has her first 'tardy' in two years. (Sorry Taylor - I'm sure they will understand at the JR. High. She made it for Coach Grove's Algebra, though) I spoke to Shelby just a few minutes ago and she said she had her first good night but that she threw up several times this morning. (I was secretly wishing for a trip home tomorrow) I'm sure that will not happen now. Mike also just said that her Fellow, Dr. Anderson on the Ortho team, reduced her pain medicine this morning and did not tell him. I asked him to page him and ask him to change it back. Shelby has not been without excruiciating pain for more than 3 hours since this began. I asked him to tell him we would like at least one day without pain so that she would mentally move forward. The pain service at Texas Children's is not all that it is cracked up to be. I think several nurses need new professions! Shelby asked me to bring her mashed potatoes from Luby's with a roll and gravy. Thanks Amanda for the idea. I told her that we would just warm them later when she was ready.

Thank you again for your concern and expressins of love for Shelby. She has been hoping to feel good enough to go upstairs to the 'teen room' and check it out.

I will try to update again as soon as I can,

Love you all,

Kim

Day5

Good Morning,

Shelby had a very fitful night again After the two X-Rays and all the activity from yesterday I thought she would really sleep but she was so uncomfortable with the gas build up in her system and she was unable to move because her small intestines were still asleep. My last converstion with her Ortho team was that the tube would stay inplace until there were some major changes. I was very disappointed for her! When I spoke to her this moring she said they were going to pull her tube. During the night she was creating a postive change shall we say. God sure created a miricle in the human body. There is no question that our creation was not by happenstance. (Do you like that word?) We trully pray she has turned a big corner. She has just been so sick. I will try to update this afternoon before Mike goes home for the evening. Tomorrow is Kendall's 9th Birthday. Shelby is excited about finally getting to see her sisters.

Love to all,

Kim

Day 4 "And This Too Shall Pass"

Thanks John Burton,

Last night Shelby sat up at 5:30. She was in a chair beside her bed for about 25 minutes. Her pain management team decided to reduce her pump to 'on demand' and today they went to injections at 3 hours. She is still on Vallium for muscle spasms. She asked that she have her power chair brought up here from our home, so a wonderful friend, Irish, brought it in her accessible van. Irish is so smart that she knew to just leave the chair at the information booth and she did not have to wait on me and I could go downstairs at Shelby's convience. Thank you Irish. Well Shelby woke up after a very short night of rest. She wanted to "talk" all night. I finally told her that mom needed to get some rest after her, Shelby's, full body massage. She didn't want me to stop. (What a life, haha) Anyway, she was determined to get into that chair and roll out into the hall. Once in her chair, her stomach was upset again. I was afraid that would mean going back on the NG suction. She was reduced to 'gravity' then to clamped off. She was in her chair for 45 minutes. She was miserable! Once finally back into bed, she got more meds and a few hours of semi-rest. She has been complaining very much about her hands hurting where the IVs were. Her hands were swollen and had abrasions from the IV cathiters. I asked the nurse to move the IV and the day went down from there. After several sticks, it infilitrated. Then we spent hours, literally, trying to get a new line. Shelby was determined that she didn't need it and she could handle the pain (haha) (I was so proud of her) At the same time, we were working to try to have the NG tube removed. She has bowel sounds and the tube was REALLY irritating her throat. She continued to gag and cause herself much grief. We decided to have the abdominal X-Ray redone to determine if the illeus (sleeping bowel) had resolved itself. Once again, she had to lie on her back on the film in her bed to have this done. After much effort and crying, the tech double exposed the film with someone else's film. We get to do it again later tonight. Three nurses and many sticks later we needed a line for pain management and nutrition. Finally, the anesthesiologist that did her surgery and controls pain management walked in the door. I was thinking she had this certain aura around her head at that point!!! She got a line in pretty quick and 2 minutes later we had moraphine. Did I mention that we were WAY in the hole on pain medication. Shelby has cried for hours and I'm thinking she should sleep really well tonight. Of course, tonight is Mike's night and I get to drive home in the pouring rain. Doesn't sound right, does it? Taylor is going to "Girls' Reflecting Glory" at First Colony and Kendall will be at Aunt Amy and Uncle Matt's house this weekend. I just might sleep until noon tomorrow. (Not really)

OK you warriors, pray tonight without ceasing that Shelby will have an active bowel and the tube will come out. The IV will remain active for days and she can come off TPN and Lipids. She is off her heart monitors and pulse ox, (once you stop the moriphine drip.) Eating would be a GREAT thing to hope for, too.

Love you all,

Kim

Day 3 - Thursday

I went home for the first time last night and Mike stayed with Shelby. I didn't get home until around 9:30 and finally got to bed around 11:00. Boy, that night flew by. It was so good to see and love on Taylor and Kendall. Of course, Taylor stayed up way too late wanting to hear everything about Shelby. What an angle. Shelby had a better night because she could not throw up anymore. All the nurses were to do was just turn every 2 hours or so and do vitals only 2 instead of three times. Mike said she had several bouts with muscle spasms and pain, but he was instructed to 'push the button' on her PCA pump. This morning I called at about 7 and she sounded so much better. She had just woken up and she had a little strength in her voice. About 45 minutes later she called me and her voice was very weak and she said, "Mom, guess what I'm doing?" To my surprise she said she was sitting in the chair beside her bed with a pillow behind her back. She made it to about 7 or 8 minutes. Just long enough for the ladies to change her bed and freshen her up. A few hours later she asked her daddy to sit up again, and she did. The surgery crew did rounds and her NG tube was retrieving mostly regular acids this morning and so they decided to clamp it off and try it without suction. Well, on the second time up, she threw up, therefore, back to the pump with suction. She was soooo mad. Her one goal today was to get that tube out of her nose. Since that didn't happen, she decided that she would sit up again at 5:30. We have started pushing her pump button every 6 minutes starting at 4:40. I hope we can make the experience a much nicer one. She really only needs to sit up 2 times today, but she is determined. You just gotta love her. She told me I had to stay tonight because her daddy tells too many jokes and they 'are not funny'. Mimi and Pa have been with her this afternoon and we have really appreciated that. Mike and I went to eat lunch together while she slept. I hope she has a really good night. Maybe she will get her tube out tomorrow night. There were no traces of blood today in her stomach. Praise God!! No scope tomorrow!!!! She will be NPO (no food or drink) until her small intestine wakes up. We will take each and every small step forward!!

Have a wonderful evening. Shelby's good friend Evin Van Dover had surgery today and they were in TCH Neo together when they were babies. Two girlfriends back together, too bad neither one knew. haha

Love to you all,

Kim

Day 2

This day is worse than yesterday. Shelby has been throwing up since Tuesday morning at 12:30. Each time it has been a very large volume and very dark brown in color. (Boy, she is going to kill me) Anyway, she has been so miserable about throwing up that it has been almost impossible to turn her because each time she is turned, she has to be sat up and completely changed (bed linens too) I told her I couldn't believe she had not passed completely out from the pain. Finally, this morning, the Orthopedic service (who did the surgery) decided to insert an NG tube. (Nasal Gastric) for all you beginners, haha and do a Gastric Interologist consult. They agreed as well, also to put her on gastric acid suppressors and watch for 24 hours. Also, no food or drink until the observation period is over. (She acutally would rather never eat or drink again as of today) If they do not get a difinitive answer tomorrow, they will do a Endoscopic probe in Friday, under general anesthesia (on her back- she would rather die I'm sure) Also, they had to do a set of X-Rays from her bed on her back- I was crying through trying to find encouraging words)Oh yeah, they discontinued her Tordal (anti-inflammatory) and her Moriphine continuous drip. She only gets her pain medication on demand (if she remembers to push the button ) They had to do that to decide if they were causing the problems. Please pray all you prayer warriors that this will turn out to be nothing and her abdomin will wake up. This will not result in further invasive procedures, the tube will be pulled quickly and she can rest. There is not much of that going on for her at all. Shelby does not want to have visitors because this is a really bad time for her. We are getting pretty tired.

Much love to everyone and we know the Lord will answer those who ask in His name.

Kim

Day 1 Part Two...

Day 1 Part Two,

Today is actually considered Day One (after surgery) As Taylor posted last night, we went into the hospital at 6:15. When we got there the nurse said that all our directed donors were no good to Shelby because they were the wrong type. Shelby was O+, not A+ like we had thought her entire life. Well, we felt that was too big of a risk and asked them to re-type her. That we did not have a problem with blood bank blood but we needed to know her type. Well, that put them a little behind and our surgeons were dancing in the aisles hoping we would let them have her. To our disbelief, Shelby is O+ and we are hopeful that Taylor (her identical twin) is the same, hahaha. We also will be requesting her medical records from birth from the same hospital to confirm the information we were given 15 years ago.

Anyway, Shelby had a pretty fitful night. Today has been terrible. She is in so much pain from muscle spasms, pain from surgery, and nausea (That we are all following and trying to keep up with) that she is miserable. She was sat up on the side of the bed (called a "dangle") for several minutes. At the same time the nurses decided to freshen up her bed and gown. Well, I'm surprised she did not just pass out. It seems the minute she finally gets comfortable, it is time to do the 2 hour turn. She is being rolled from side-to-side. She does not have to sleep on her back but she could if it wasn't so painful. I just got a call from Mike, Shelby was asking for me so I gotta go. I can not post from here (I couldn't make it work) so I am emailing Taylor and she will post this for me.

Please pray for her comfort and that her pain will be eased. The nurses say today is the worst. I do not see how it could be any worse than this.

Much love to you all and thanks for the praises of yesterday's successul surgery.

Kim

Day 1...

Shelby went into sugery this morning at 7:40, but the sugerns didn't start the sugery untill 9:00. The entire procedure lasted untill 1:00 this afternoon. My parents finally got to see Shelby around 2:30. They're in a room now and are trying to keep her pain level in control. The Lord has answered some of our prayers. The sugery wasn't as long as originally planed. Please keep praying for quick healing, minnimal pain, and for no complications.

Love, Taylor

T Minus 10 Hours and Counting

It's a little after 10 pm. and Shelby has a stuffy nose. We won't know for sure if it's a go until we get to the hospital and they decide if she can do this without adding any complications. If we were to reschedule this surgery it would be something like March before they could fit her in. I spoke with a nurse in the ER today and she said the hospital was overflowing with really sick kids. Please do not think about bringing any children up there. I would not want to expose them to all the really bad stuff up there. Pray for peace and good rest tonight and we are thankful for our loving God who will be in control tomorrow.

Much love to all,

Kim

The Countdown is On

Well, it's Friday night, almost midnight, and I have been going over and over all the things I need to do before 7:30 Monday morning. We have had a really good week (although tiring). All the doctors have done their things and everyone says we are 'good to go'. We have had some good news also. We were told yesterday that the surgery will probably last 4-5 hours instead of 8-10. Also, the two surgeons have decided not to go all the way to her pelvis, but to stop two vertebrae above her pelvis. This will help with her recovery, and it will allow for more mobility in her spine. We are all for more mobility! Oh, another thing is that the anterior (front) portion of the release will be done orthoscopically through her side and she will not have to be moved during the surgery. Praise the Lord. All the prayers you all have offered up are being answered already!! Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you.!! We love you all and thank you for your support!

Kim

Intro to our blog!!!

Hey everyone,

We wanted to create a place where we could update everyone on Shelbys surgery. Keep checking back for more info. about her. We're praying for a safe outcome. Specifically, we are praying for clear thinking for the surgeons, and steady hands. Also we are praying for comfort for Shelby, and a speedy recovery.

Love, Taylor