Surgery for Lynda

 This has been a long week for Lynda Ann as well as her family and her mom.  She went into the hospital on Tuesday, October 4th and was in surgery for 7 1/2 hours.  After surgery she was taken to the intensive care unit.  The doctor said that they were able to removed a bone spur that has been the apparent cause of the spinal leak.  The were able to take care of the bone spur, fuse the area of the leak, patch the leak and then because the tissue was so weak they put a metal patch over the whole area.  We are so grateful for medical staff who can do this kind of surgery and hopefully relieve Annie of the horrible headaches she has suffered with for the past 3 years.  

It is now Monday, October 10th and the lumbar drain has been removed and the hole stitched up.  Annie can only whisper at this point and has a hard time swallowing liquids.  She can handle solids pretty good but water and juices are really hard for her to swallow without chocking.  We are hoping that she will be able to come home tomorrow (the 11th) or Wednesday, the 12th. 

You can see the scar on her neck from the surgery and the drain.  She also has a lumbar drain from her back.  Pretty rough!

Pretending like she is feeling great.  They took the drain out of her neck.  Everything removed is one more step in the positive.  That's why the thumbs up.

The Intensive Care room.

All the liquids going in her.  

Trying to be positive.

I think she had four different needles in her arm.  

Her second time up and coming back from a walk down the hall.  She did great!

It has been a rough time for her but we pray that this will be the end of the headaches and then it will all be worth the surgery and recovery time.