Whitney's Care

Many have asked me what special care Whitney needs now that she is home. She came home with needing dressing changes on her back for 24 hours, a diaper rash, and stitches behind her right ear, above her right temple, and a few in her abdomen.

The dressing changes are no longer necessary as her back is almost completely healed. It is amazing how fast her skin has healed and how great it looks. This Thursday we will have a check up with her plastic surgeon to make sure it is healing as it should.

We are trying to get on top of her diaper rash. She has very limited control of her bowels and so she always has a dirty diaper. We did find out that her kidneys look good over all. One kidney is a grade 0, perfect and the other is a grade 2 out of 4. They say this could get better or worse with time. This also meant that we were able to leave the hospital without a catheter. We have a appointment with a urologist in April.

The stitches for her shunt should disintegrate over time and we will see that doctor this Friday. The main concerns with the shunt are infection and failure. They have given us many signs to look for but some are as simple as crying. Please pray for protection for Whitney that the shunt with not need to be revised and that there will be no infection.

We also met with a physical theripist before we left the hospital. This was very encouraging for me because now I have some thing tangible I can do to try to help her. We have many stretches to work on with her for her hips, knees, ankles, and toes. All of these joints are very stiff and she can not straighten them. There are also appointments set up for this at the Spina Bifida Clinic and there will also be a theripist who will come to our home to work with Whitney. We are so blessed to live in an area with so many resources.