Ellie should be at the hospital as I type this. Her surgery is supposed to start in about 45 minutes (9:45am central).
The procedure will last 4 to 5 hours as the doctors go through the process of the SDR surgery. This involves cutting some of the sensory nerve fibers that come from the muscles and enter the spinal cord. They have to test to see which ones are causing the most spasticity by stimulating them with electricity, and those are the ones they will cut.
Or course, the neurosurgeon first has to make an incision along the center of Ellie’s lower back, some above the waist. The spinous processes (part of vertebra that protrudes under the skin of the back) and part of the lamina (plates of bone in each vertebra, or section of her spine) are lifted off. This exposes the spinal cord and spinal nerves.
By using x-rays and ultrasound, the tip of the spinal cord is located. There is a nautral separation of sensory and motor nerves there. The sensory nerves, which are sending signals from the muscles to the spine, are the ones the surgeon will test. These nerve rootlets are ranked from 1 (mild) to 4 (severe) for spasticity. The severely abnormal ones are cut, which should alleviate the spasticity and make it easier for Ellie to walk.
When the testing and cutting part is done, the dura mater (membrane covering the spinal cord) is closed back up and the sensory nerves are bathed in a narcotic analgesic to ease pain caused by the SDR surgical procedure.
Once everything is put back in place, Ellie will be sent to the recovery and then ICU.
Obviously, this SDR surgery is MAJOR surgery. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers! And her Mom and Dad too. As you can imagine, it’s not easy seeing your child go through something like this, even when you know it’s the best thing for them.
I’ll post more updates as I have them!
