9:45pm 7/8/2010 Update ...

Chandler has done great today. It was a long, eventful day for her. She had lots of visitors today and was able to visit a fair amount with all of them. She got up and out of bed about 6 times today. PT ended up not making her do the lap up to and back from the nurses desk. She just wasn't quite up for it and today was not a day that they pushed her ... tomorrow, however, will be a different story. She did get up and walk from one side of the room to the other, sat in the chair a couple of different times for an hour or so, and is doing really well doing some shifting in the bed on her own. Tomorrow we are doing the lap to the nurses desk and also doing a few stairs. Again, I say, I am amazed. She is being a very good patient and we are so proud of her.

We had another milestone tonight, that I knew would eventually happen .... tonight when the nurse came in to take her vital signs, Chandler asked if it was OK to get her cell phone out. :-)

12:15pm 7/8/2010 Update ...

Last night lasted a long time. Chandler started waking up around 11:15pm about the time I was settling in to go to sleep. A quick reminder that I need to shift into the mode of "when she sleeps I sleep". I won't need a reminder on that one. Last night consisted of lots of sips of water, scrating itches, shifting in the bed every two hours - from one side (propped on pillows) to the other and also laying flat, beeps which resulted in calls to the nurse to make the beeps go away, and her asking "where's my button" (pain pump). She did well and her pain has been very manageable.

The physical therapist came to visit around 10:00am this morning. We talked about how Chandler would accomplish the big move from bed to chair, then we did it. I'm amazed. She is doing so well. With our help, she sat up in the bed, sat on the edge of the bed, stood up, walked a few steps and sat down in the chair. She stayed in the chair for about 1.5 hours. She is holding her own cup for drinking, pulling herself to the side a little bit here and there while in the bed, moving her legs and feet, now we can add sitting up in the chair. All the while, I'm trying to hold it together because it had sort of made me sick to my stomach to see her this way.

The next big feat will be a lap around the nurses desk later this afternoon. I certainly will report back later to let you know how that goes. THANK YOU for keeping Chandler in your thoughts and prayers.

10:45pm Update ...

I'm sort of happy to say that this day is almost behind us. What a whirlwind of events and emotions. Chandler is a champ at pushing her morphine button. She was pretty restless most of the afternoon and used up as much pain meds as the machine would allow. She was in and out and surprised us with some of the things she answered or commented on when we thought she was asleep. Tricky stuff that morphine. :-) She finally fell asleep about 9:00pm. I think maybe the morphine caught up with her and helped her rest. Her oxygen levels were dipping down pretty low and she wasn't breathing as many breaths per minute as they would like and the crazy (wonderful) machine kept on beeping. The nurse put her on oxygen at about 9:45pm. She has been sleeping like a baby ever since. Chandler will have to shift from one side to another (being propped up on pillows) every two hours through the night - with the help of myself and a nurse. Thankfully, she didn't wake up much on the last shift and went right back to sleep. She needs to get a good night's rest as tomorrow will be a big day. She will need to begin turning some on her own, she will sit up in bed (ouch!), and she will get something more than ice chips and water (yay!).

One thing I don't think I've mentioned is that Chandler will be 1.5 to 2" taller. We did our pre-surgery measurements at home on Tuesday. After we measured, Chandler retrieved a pair of my high heels and stood face to face with Andy and I to see just what her new vantage point might feel like. We were all anxious speculating what the post-surgery measurments might be.

Below is the picture of Chandler's xray taken on 6/28/2010. Top curve 64, bottom curve 46. This is a scanned picture of a print out, so it may not be the greatest, but hopefully can give you some idea what her poor spine looked like.

Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to call us, visit us, email us, post a comment on the blog, post a comment on facebook .... you can't imagine how loved and covered in prayer we feel. For that, we are thankful to you all.

3:45pm Update ...

Chandler is in room 4253. She is in pain and has picked up quickly on pushing the button on her morphine pump. Andy, Austin and I were in the room before she was and as the two nurses were getting her bed wheeled in, they asked "who is Austin?" They said that she kept asking over and over where he was and if they knew if he was there yet. She loves that boy.

Surgery is OVER ...

She came through it very well. The dr was very excited about being able to preserve L4 for more lower back mobility / flexibility. The rods stop at L3. Her top curve will be less than 10 degrees, bottom curve mostly gone. Her rotation presented a bit of an issue. She was very tight. He was able to de-rotate about 75%. She will still have a little bit of a rib hump on the right back side, but it will be much less noticeable. We should get to see her in about 1 to 1.5 hours. I'll post again after we see her. We are thankful and we are blessed.

10:21am Update ...

Another update call from Alice that all is well with Chandler. That's all we get ... that's all we want ... to know that she is fine. THANK YOU each and every one for lifting Chandler, the dr's, nurses and us up in prayer!!

8:51am Update ...

Just got a call from Alice, Chandler's nurse. Surgery got underway at approx 8:15. Chandler is doing well so far.