Update on Kennedy - A new adventure

Hello all,

What a long day! We finally got home at 7:00 tonight. School was canceled due to snow... it actually snowed pretty hard here for awhile! So my mom kept Kass and Kam and my friend Nina went with me to Vanderbilt.

Kennedy went back for the MRI at noon and was done around 2:00. They said it all went as planned, which is always a good thing. She was pretty groggy for awhile after she woke up, but she was out longer than she is used to with her spinal taps and bone marrow biopsies, so I guess that is to be expected!

While I was waiting to see the neurosurgeon, the doctor from PA called and talked to me more about what he saw. He was really glad she got the MRI done. I have a copy of it to send to him.

I think we finally saw Dr. Pearson around 4:30. He is great, he was very thorough and explained things well. Basically, with most AAI cases the problem is between the C1 and C2 vertebrae... Kennedy does have a problem there, but the BIGGER problem, where the 13mm gap is, is between her skull and her C1.

The great news is that NO damage has been done to her spine yet. This was caught early (with no thanks to Mr. Orthopedic Surgeon Man). It does however, require surgery in the next couple weeks. Using titanium plates they will be fusing her skull to her C1 and her C1 to her C2.

The surgery will be 4-6 hours long and she will be in the hospital anywhere from 2-4 days. Afterwards she will either be in a neck brace or a halo for 3 months. We're PRAYING it will just be a neck brace, but Dr. Pearson said there's really no way to tell until he sees how the surgery goes.

After the 3 months in the halo or brace, she will have one month of limited restriction... after that she can do as she likes though she will never have full range of motion in her neck again.

Because the surgery is fairly straightforward he doesn't see a real need for Frank to come home from Afghanistan for this. It won't be the first of Kennedy's surgeries that he's missed, but God willing it will be the LAST!!

Both Dr. Pearson and Dr. Betz from PA agree with this diagnosis so we are going to have the surgery done at Vanderbilt. We have the utmost faith in Dr. Pearson and know she will be in good hands.

We will most definitely need to reschedule Kennedy's Make-A-Wish trip, but we will still be able to do Disney World. We're thinking maybe for Christmas. We're kind of bummed, but we're thankful that we still get to go at all!

Anyway, I think that's it... if you have any questions, please ask and I'll answer. I've had a lot of information thrown at me so I may have missed something.

Thank you for praying for Kennedy! I will update with her surgery date as soon as I know it.

Until next time,
Renee

I am thankful for my mom who kept Kass and Kam, and thankful for Nina who went with me and thankful for getting the SAME rockin' parking spot that I got last week! haha