Wolfsons Children's Hospital
Jacksonville, FL
September 2003 - January 2005 - February 2006 - February 2011
Kellisa
was a little beyond her 4th birthday
when she had her 13th surgery.
Heading into her first surgery on her hips, Kellisa already had seven brain
(including two for an infected shunt), one heart, two eye and two G-Tube
surgeries. The Bilateral VDRO surgery would be by far the worst of all her
surgeries.
The
surgery was on both her hips because they became dislocated from to her
inability to stand and walk, due to her cerebral palsy. Kellisa couldn’t
describe with words the pain she was living with leading up to the surgery and
I can’t even imagine. And all the while she kept her cheerful personality.
Even
though I watched nurses and anesthesiologists wheel Kellisa away for surgery
twelve previous times, it’s never easy. If anything, it gets harder each time
because you realize the risks more and since Kellisa knows what’s going on, her
face expression breaks my heart as I let them take her.
During
this surgery, the doctor cut both of Kellisa’s leg bones to fit back into the
hip joint, inserted hardware to help keep the hips in place and while they had
her open, injected Botox into the hamstrings and abductors to help with
flexibility.
After
shunt surgery, even though they drill a hole through her brain for a drainage
pipe, Kellisa is usually back to herself within a couple of days. After this
surgery, Kellisa would suffer for weeks with sharp pains and spasms that only
increased the already high levels of pain. When we brought Kellisa home, she
was on a significant dose of pain medication and it wasn’t enough. Without
words, Kellisa’s constant moans and cries for help more than expressed her
discomfort.
In
addition, Kellisa was unable to get a good night of sleep. Kellisa would lay on
a foam mattress in front of the television in the living room day and night. We
would leave the television on all night for Kellisa, with Lisa and me taking
turns sleeping and comforting Kellisa through the long nights. This was our
routine for about four weeks before the pain started to reside.
Besides relieving Kellisa’s constant pain, another monumental
blessing would emerge from this taxing surgery. Kellisa needed a rental
wheelchair to elevate her legs. This chair also had wheels that Kellisa could
wheel herself, a first for Kellisa. Until this time, we never pictured Kellisa
wheeling herself, but she took to the wheels almost immediately. The wheelchair
was too big for Kellisa and she could only reach one wheel at a time, but for
the first time she was able to propel herself…and she loved it!
If
you use only one wheel, you will just go in circles. Kellisa quickly learned
this lesson and would lean her body from one extreme side to the other to keep
her going where she wanted to go. Kellisa now had some independence. Shortly
after returning the rental chair, Kellisa would be the proud owner of a new
wheelchair that she could self propel. Our furniture and paint on the walls
have never been the same since.
_________________________________________________________________________________
In
January of 2005, the doctors removed (15th surgery) the hardware from Kellisa's
hips and injected Botox into her hamstrings and abductors. Again, the
recovering process was repeated as above- four weeks of constant pain and
suffering on the living room floor.
Because
Kellisa still couldn’t stand and bear weight, her hips became dislocated again
and the Bilateral VDRO surgery (19th overall) was repeated in January 2006
with a similar recovery period as above.
Kellisa
lived with the hardware until constant pain required their removal in February
2011, her 20th surgery.
The doctor also performed tenotomies on both legs which resulted in Kellisa
needing double leg casts for six weeks.
The heavy casts made the six week
recovery process even harder because it was almost impossible to move Kellisa,
making everyday tasks extremely painful for Kellisa. To make matters worse for
Kellisa, she was stuck in a recliner chair in front of the television for the
entire six weeks because she was too big and the casts made it impossible to
have her on the floor. And Kellisa got kicked while she was down by getting a
significant bed sore just days before the casts were removed. We had to treat
this irritating injury for several additional weeks.
Even
though it’s been a few years, Kellisa still refuses to sit in the
recliner and I moved it out of the living room to remove the constant reminder
for Kellisa of those dreaded six weeks.
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