Hello everyone.
Another update for everyone...we came back home on the night of May
14 - only 3 nights in hospital! Ella's recovery has been amazing --
she is back to her active 4-year-old self, with limitations of no
playground or "horse" play for another week or so. We have a
follow-up with neurosurgeon on May 24 so should hear more about
resuming regular activity and when her next MRI will be to make sure
spinal fluid is flowing where it should.
We truly appreciate the thoughts and prayers sent our way....they
have really kept our spirits up. We will continue to update. I hope
everyone is having a wonderful spring.
Katherine
Hello Friends,
A quick update on Ella....her surgery went very well yesterday. They
didn't have to do the more invasive part of the procedure (opening up of
dura), so we anticipate that recovery will be easier. Her day and night
was pretty good - getting meds around the clock to comfort her pain - and
we are scheduled to move out of ICU to the neurosurgery floor today. She
is watching movies now and, more than anything, a bit grumpy and mad at us
for putting her through this! But we'll get over that, as will she....
We'll update again soon.
Katherine and Kevin
>Dear friends,
>
>Kevin and I want to share with you that Ella will be having surgery
>tomorrow, May 11. We know that a mass email is not the ideal way to
>share this news, but the opportunity to tell everyone in person (at
>NASP or other events) and need to keep business as usual (and our
>chins up) makes email a more suitable communication device. I will
>try to summarize succinctly.... About three years ago when Ella was
>2, she was diagnosed with sensori neural high-frequency hearing loss
>after having several routine hearing tests (due to tubes in her
>ears). She then underwent a 'full work-up' which included a CT. The
>CT was then followed by an initial MRI and resulted in the diagnosis
>of a Chiari I malformation. This is when the cerebellar "tonsils"
>extend down into the spinal canal. She has not experienced any
>symptoms and did fine on neurological exams. In fact, we joke that
>she hears TOO much as a four-year-old! Thus far, we have only been
>monitoring her condition with yearly MRIs, hearing tests. Our most
>recent MRI (in Oct) was followed up with a full spinal MRI in Nov due
>to the display of excessive fluid in her upper spinal cord. The last
>MRI of her spine found evidence of a thoracic cord syrinx, which are
>fluid pockets throughout her spinal cord. Although she has no
>symptoms right now, due to her age and size of syrinx it is apparent
>that she will have
>symptoms in the future and these may not be fully reversable if
>surgery is done later. The surgery involves expanding the space
>available for the brain stem and spinal cord so that the spinal fluid
>flows where it should.
>
>We are hopeful that Ella will be in the hospital for the typical 5-6
>days and that recovery at home will be uneventful (so to speak). We
>wanted to let our friends know. We'll be at Children's Hospital in
>Cincinnati with Ella; my parents are here to help out and stay with
>Nick. We will keep everyone posted on Ella's surgery and recovery.
>
>Katherine and Kevin
>
>
>***************************************************************
>Katherine F. Wickstrom, Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor, School Psychology Program
>Miami University
>Department of Educational Psychology
>201 McGuffey Hall
>Oxford, OH 45056
>
>office: (513) 529-6624
>fax: (513) 529-3646
>email: [log in to unmask]
***************************************************************
Katherine F. Wickstrom, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, School Psychology Program
Miami University
Department of Educational Psychology
201 McGuffey Hall
Oxford, OH 45056
office: (513) 529-6624
fax: (513) 529-3646
email: [log in to unmask]
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