Monday, December 20, 2010

Things are Looking Up!

Hi All,

It looks like we have turned the corner on Jessies' Redo surgery. Tomorrow will be day 6, and she is turning the corner and beginning to feel pretty good again. She still has a few more days in the hospital, I'm certain, and the swelling is still pretty bad, but we are seeing smiles again.

For those of you who are not aware, 5 days ago, Jessie underwent a redo hemispherectomy surgery to battle returning seizures from her original Hemispherectomy in 2008 for Rasmussen's. Her original surgery was at Johns Hopkins by Dr. Ben Carson, and the Redo was performed at Cook Children's in Fort Worth, Texas by Dr. David Donahue.

Even though her original hemispherectomy was anatomical, there was some tissue and connections that were remaining and seizing. Dr. Donahue retraced a complete Corpus Collosotomy and disconnected some other tissue in the frontal lobe that was remaining.

I can't tell you if this surgery was successful yet, and really shouldn't try for months...and even then, it will be an optimistic guess. All of you know who have Hemi Kids know what I mean.

Jessie had a really rough time over the past few days, but is now starting to "turn the corner", and finally ate today and even held it down. She has been plagued with nausea, headaches, and lethargy since surgery, most likely from Chemical Meningitis. This is fairly common for these type of surgeries.

I continue to update regularly on Facebook.

Thanks for all of your support. I think that Jessie will be home for Christmas...hopefully seizure free for good.

Kind Regards,

Cris and Kristi Hall

To Learn More about Hemispherectomy, see http://www.HemiFoundation.org

No comments: