Explaining the MRI is relatively
easy. Kalina has kyphosis (curvature of
the back). Kyphosis is what can make you
appear to have a “hump back”. It is much
more dangerous than scoliosis, as kyphosis can cause your back to curve so
much, your spinal cord can be in danger.
That is why Jadon had his back fused and rods put in his back – to keep
his kyphosis from getting any worse.
Kalina’s kyphosis has never been as bad as Jadon’s. In fact, her degree of curvature has been
decreasing. We are thankful for
that. All her x-rays indicate everything
looks fine but you only really check a spinal cord with an MRI. So, just to make sure, she had an MRI
yesterday. The last one she had was a
few years ago. Her doctors don’t expect
to find anything exciting, but felt it was better to do one just to make sure.
Kalina had a bronchoscopy last
summer. This is where one of her ENT
doctors takes her to the OR and looks at her airway via a small camera inserted
through her nose, mouth or trach. Last
summer, her doctor noticed some granulation tissue above her trach but below
her vocal cords. At that time, he was
unable to remove it (usually via a laser).
The granulation did not seem to bother Kalina so we left it at
that. This past October Kalina woke one
day and had great difficulty talking. We
took her to see one of her ENT doctors and we determined the granulation must
have increased in size such that getting air around it to her vocal cords to
talk was difficult. We scheduled surgery
to remove it for early December. After
about 2 weeks, Kalina’s voice had returned to its usual state. At that
point, we talked to some of her doctors and decided the risk of doing the
surgery was not worth it, especially since the issue resolved on its own. When we learned Kalina would need to have an
MRI, we decided to revisit the issue, since she would already be under
anesthesia. The scope shows that the granulation
is still there. The pictures we got
(yep, we get pictures of her airway) show that it is pretty big. It blocks almost all of her airway when she
is sleeping. When pressure was applied to
her airway, it blocks about 2/3 of it.
That would help explain why Kalina cannot sustain loud volumes for very
long. Kalina’s airway is still small and
the tools available to remove the granulation are limited. Again, her doctor did not feel like it was in
her best interest to proceed with the removal.
There are more complicated, medical reasons that I will not get discuss
now. I’ll just leave it as we were happy
with this decision. We were told we may
be able to revisit it as she gets older and grows allowing for more options for
removal. We were also told her lower
airway looks a little better – it was not as floppy as last time. Good news.
We are thankful that the granulation does not impact her breathing
(since it is above her trach), just her speech.
All in all, everything went
well. Kalina removed her own IV, precariously
placed in her foot, moments after I met her in the PACU. She really wanted to go home. It took her a little while to stabilize her
oxygen levels, partially because she kept getting upset and asking to leave. Luckily, the nurses realized what was
happening and let her go to the recovery room.
Once she was there, she perked up and we were discharged within 20
minutes.
Kalina was a little groggy on the
way home but requested a snack. Later,
she asked for French fries from The Rock for dinner. We were glad she was feeling so well. She had a restful night and has been having a
great day.
Thank you all for your continued
prayers.
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