It all started for us back in November of 2005 – Ashley was a normal 10 year old. We went to our monthly chiropractor appointment and during her appointment the doctor pointed out to me that one shoulder blade was higher than the other and it appeared that Ashley had a bit of scoliosis. At that time the chiropractor suggested that we keep an eye on it.

My mother is a school nurse at Ashley’s school. I had her check Ashley’s back also and she did detect a curve. We decided to make an appointment at our clinic in town to have x-rays and to get yet another opinion.

That appointment was in April of 2006. They did the x-rays and said we would get a call the next day to let us know what our next step would be. The doctor called us the next day to tell us that she indeed had a curve but not bad enough to refer to Children’s Hospital yet and that we should come back in June. We were relieved at that point thinking everything was going to be okay.

Next appointment was in June. We went for x-rays again and they said it looked identical to the ones in April. Again we were relieved that nothing had changed. Then the next day comes and we get a call saying that in April they had measured her first x-rays wrong and that she had a very significant curve and we needed to get into Children’s Hospital as soon as possible.

We went to Gillette Children’s Hospital on July 12. That was the day we were faced with a major decision. We found out her curves were already at the point where surgery was needed (55 Thoracic and 48 Lumbar). Her spine was starting to rotate and therefore pushing into her lungs which was restricting her breathing. Bracing in her situation was not going to help anymore. We could not imagine Ashley having open back surgery and having spinal fusion with rods at such a young age. At that point, we thought so many things were going to change for her and that her life as she knew it was going to be different.

We did lots of research on internet and books and found out that surgery in Ashley’s case was the best decision even though she is only 10 years old and has lots of growth left.

Surgery was scheduled for Monday, August 28th at 8:30 a.m. They would fuse her spine from T2-T12 with spinal instrumention. We had lots of other appointments before surgery to get ready. She had to have a MRI of her total spine, my husband and I had to donate blood and of course we had to have a pre-op appointment. All of that is a blur to us. Time went so fast. However, Ashley never seemed worried or upset. She was staying positive which is more than I can say for myself and my husband. We were just hoping and praying that we made the right decision.

Surgery Day – August 28, 2006
We needed to be at hospital by 7:00. They took us into the pre-surgery room where Ashley changed into her gown and had her vitals taken, etc. After that was all done she was given some medicine to help relax her. It actually ended up putting her to sleep which made it a lot easier when the time came for them to take her into the operating room. I went along with her into operating room, she never woke up when they put mask on to put her to sleep during surgery. I then was told it was time for me to leave her. I remember that as being one of the hardest things, I walked out of the room feeling so helpless and scared of what she had to now go through. My husband and I waited patiently in waiting room with other parents whose children were also having surgery. Every hour the nurse would call us and let us know at what stage they were at and how things were going. We also could watch the computer monitor to see what stage they were at in surgery. Time seemed to go slow. After about 4 ˝ hours the doctor came and told us everything went great and she was being moved to recovery room. A nurse finally came to get us about ˝ hour later. Seeing Ashley in the recovery room was so emotional. She had tubes of all sorts hooked up plus she was in pain because they had to wait until anesthesia wore off before they could start pain medicine. She also somehow had managed to chew on her tongue during surgery so that was all black and blue and twice the normal size. After about another ˝ hour they moved her into her room. The remainder of the day she mostly slept. She did get sick in the middle of the night with fever and vomiting but that is common after a surgery like that.

Tuesday, August 29th
Ashley slept most of the day. When she did wake up she was in some pain and usually pushed her pain pump to help with that. Towards night she started feeling better and the nurses wanted to get her to sit up. That was exciting to see her sit up for the first time. She did pretty good and sat for about 20 minutes but was tired after that

Wednesday, August 30th
Slept most of the morning. Ashley got her catheter removed today, that seemed to bother her. This is also the first day she walked. She was hurting, but she wanted to walk more. During the middle of the night, she also woke up and asked if she could walk. The nurses said they have never had a spine patient ask to do this.

Thursday, August 31st
This was a tougher day. Pain pump was removed so we had to figure out when oral pain medicine was needed for her to keep her comfortable. Once we got it figured out how many hours we could go between medicine, she was more comfortable. Also took a shower with my help for the first time!

Friday, September 1st
At noon we were released from hospital with many instructions. It was a long car ride home being we live 2 hours away. We were all happy to be home.

The rest of the days to follow for recovery went good. Ashley never has complained about pain and actually never missed a day of school. The first day of school was Wednesday, September 6th and she was there. Of course, she only lasted a couple hours the first 2 weeks but after that the hours gradually increased as she started feeling better.

If we had to do it all over again, we do the same thing. We all know that we did the right thing. It was quite the rollercoaster ride from start to finish but definitely taught us all how to be strong and realize that your life can change in an instant!

It has now been a year since her surgery and all is well. She has appointments every 4-6 months for the next 3 years. Curves are stable and she is able to everything she used to before surgery.

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