my younger sister, ashley, has suffered from scoliosis for most of her life. they discovered it when she was 10 or 11 years old and she has been in and out of doctor’s offices for the past 12 years trying to figure out what the best procedure for her would be long-term. it’s incredibly painful to sit, sleep or simply function day-to-day.
this is what scoliosis looks like:
when scoliosis is bad enough and is showing signs of getting worse, they have to fuse rods to either side of your spine to help correct it. rods are fused with bone from a cadaver. if left untreated, it can cause severe cases of arthritis and nerve damage along with increasing back pain. the surgery ashley will be having on monday will cause her spine to look something like this:
prayer requests:
- pray for the doctors who will be performing the surgery at 7:30 am on monday morning. the surgery is scheduled to take 8 hours and then 2 additional hours of recovery. pray for patience, wisdom and clarity.
- pray that ashley’s body will not need additional blood during surgery. lots of blood is lost during surgery, but they will be pumping it out of her, cleaning it and pumping it back into her. if she needs additional blood it will have to come from an annonymous donor.
- pray that ashley’s body responds well to the procedure and she doesn’t go into shock.
- pray that the equipment works correctly to keep track of all her vital organs through and after surgery.
- pray that the pain medication does it’s job and doesn’t cause any issues.
- pray for her husband, ben, and my mom and dad to have peace throughout the day and wisdom and patience for how to take care of her post-surgery. (she will be recovering at home for 3 months after surgery.)
matt and i will be visiting the family over easter weekend which is 3 weeks after her surgery to help her with basic needs as well as moral support during her recovery. it’s hard knowing as her older sister that i can’t be there for her during the surgery, but i know she will be in our Father’s hands and He will comfort and protect her in a supernatural way.
thank you for your thoughts and prayers. i will keep you updated as i hear things from portland.
4 Comments
March 13, 2009 at 11:15 am
You can count on our prayers.
March 13, 2009 at 11:34 am
let us know what we can do.
March 16, 2009 at 3:36 pm
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March 17, 2009 at 3:07 pm
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