Too Much Tone!

I haven't had to use this blog for some time to talk about one of the kids and a medical issue.

Well, I wanted to communicate to our many family and friends who support and love us so here's an update on Vicki. It's not very entertaining, but it'll give you the facts.

For about 3-4 weeks now, Vicki has displayed increasing agitation, increasing difficulty sitting in her chair or being in her stander, and increasing tone. She also has been sweating profusely and not sleeping well.

We never know exactly what's going on because she tends to 'cry wolf' a lot. After dealing with it for a while, we called and got an appointment to have her Baclofen pump looked at. For those that don't know, Vicki has a pump that delivers the medicine Baclofen into her spine. The medicine helps keep her high tone under control.

When they looked at the pump, everything appeared fine so we went home. Fortunately, we were given a prescription to give the medication orally if her symptoms didn't resolve. Her symptoms didn't resolve and we started giving the medicine orally. That made her more comfortable, but didn't resolve the underlying issue.

Last Friday, I brought her to the ER at Regions Hospital with the hopes of getting her admitted to Gillette. Gillette is housed in Regions, but they specialize in special needs kids and adults. After 10 hours in the ER, they basically decided they couldn't help us and sent us on our way (even after I got them to consult with a Gillette Dr.) Arrrgh.

On Saturday, I talked directly with the Gillette doctor and he agreed that we needed to be seen right away Monday morning in the clinic. Unfortunately, the clinic never called, so I called the nurse line and got them to agree to have Vicki seen in the hospital.

Now, it's Tuesday and we've been here 24 hours. Everyone agrees that the likely cause of Vicki's problems is a microfracture in the catheter that runs from her pump to her spine. This is causing her to lose some of her medicine and ultimately puts her into 'baclofen withdrawl.'

We have a very good doctor, that we also know from 'Joni Camp' who is working with Vicki. He is adjusting the schedule of when the medicine is being delivered. He is increasing the rate at which it goes in for shorter periods of time (a bolus). He describes it as like forcing water through a hose at a high rate to overcome a small crack. He's been successful in delaying the surgery for other patients. If that doesn't work, Vicki will have surgery soon. If it does work, she will still have surgery, but it can be postponed and scheduled rather than being "urgent."

That's it for now. Thanks for the prayers.

Scott