Carter's Surgery

After at least a year and half of collecting a variety of diagnoses such as low muscle tone, sleep apnea, swallowing problems, etc., Carter was finally correctly diagnosed with Chiari Malformation.  That means that the space at the base of the skull and the spine is too small.  Because of the growth of the brain, pressure was being put on the brain stem at this point and could explain all of the things they had observed in Carter through her life.

Surgery was scheduled for Monday, March 29th, and while it was very scary especially for Jessica and Elessia, it was also exciting to think that it was possible that many if not all of her symptoms would be relieved and that she may catch up in her development.

Here is Carter, waiting for surgery!

Surgery went well and the doctor was very hopeful.  It will take several months to see if there was any permanent damage to the brain/nerve tissue or not.  The doctor reported that the area was very white, indicating that there was significant pressure, but that things had gone well.

She had to remain in the hospital for five days which is never fun.  She mostly slept the first few days and really didn't even begin to play with toys until Thursday.

Skip the next pictures if you are not a fan of stitches:

The doctor did a great job at not removing a lot of hair.  Since Carter likes her hair, that was a nice bonus.

She liked her Frozen toys from us, but she didn't quite have the energy to play with them yet.  I think this was on Thursday.

Going home day---Yay!!!!

Carter continues to recover well.  She will have a swallow test this week to see if that has improved enough to have her come off of thickened liquids.  She would love to eat fresh fruit again and drink regular water.  Thickening liquids has stopped all of her lung difficulties so it has been worth it, but it is a pain and she is not a fan.

Meanwhile, the other kids and I----next post!!!