Rod day + two weeks

Many have asked how Kadence is doing after her surgery so we want to offer a post-op update.

The flight home was relatively easy with the help of TSA manager (who had to be called to get her through security) and the SW gate/flight staff. They let her board first and helped to get her situated with all her pillows so she was pretty comfortable. The flight is only 1 ½ hours and the ride home another 30 minutes so the medication was still in effect during the whole flight.

She makes a little progress everyday in being able to walk around, sit up and generally maintain a low level of daily activity. The main challenge at this time is the muscle knots in the shoulder where they had to manipulate her spine/ribs the most to get the rods anchored. She is completely off medication except for something at night and a bit of CBD ointment to loosen the muscles in her neck. Walter (Dr. Heflin’s case manager) said that this often happens and to just treat symptoms. They will assess it when we go up for her follow-up and first extension on 9/20.

Both she and Jayden have started online school which is not the best but probably does allow her to have a presence there which she would likely not be able to have if they were meeting face to face. Her teacher and the school have been most accommodating and she is pretty smart so we do not expect her to have difficulty catching up once she is able.

As you can see, recovering from major surgery is pretty uneventful. Once the shoulder/neck issue is resolved we expect her to bounce back quickly. Even that takes time, however, so we continue to be patient and thankful for every little bit of progress.

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