Abby Lee Miller Got Emergency Spinal Cord Surgery
Since vitamin C (for cynicism) is a nutrient that my body is never low on, I thought that Abby Lee Miller’s dramatic trips to the hospital from her suite at the halfway house were just STUNT QUEEN stunts to woo Lifetime executives into giving her another show. But according to a doctor who treated her, they weren’t stunts. Abby Lee Miller’s spine was struck with an infection that temporarily paralyzed her from the neck down. Being temporarily paralyzed from the neck down is scary and awful, but at least Abby Lee Miller could still use her mouth to curse and scream at candy stripers who brought the wrong flavor of Jell-O.
Abby Lee Miller must’ve given her doctor permission to spill all the details of her medical trauma to the press, because Dr. Hooman M. Melamed, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Cedar Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital, gave the details of her medical trauma to People. Abby went to the ER with severe neck pain, and within 24 hours that neck pain went away, but so did the feeling in most of her body. She was paralyzed. Doctors found out that Abby had an infection that was going to take her out if they didn’t do something fast.
“In the span of 24 hours, which was something that I have not seen, her condition rapidly deteriorated. She was completely paralyzed from the neck down. We did a CT and we saw what appeared to be an infection that had spread from the bottom of her neck all the way to the lower part of her back… which is extremely unusual. If we didn’t do something, she was going to die. Her blood pressure was bottoming out. She was not doing well.”
Dr. Hooman thought of transferring her to a bigger hospital, but shit was so serious that he didn’t want to risk moving her since her blood pressure was getting lower and lower. So they did a 5-hour surgery on her yesterday morning. The surgery involved them removing several vertebrae to ease the pressure on her spinal cord.
Dr. Hooman isn’t sure why the infection fucked with Abby. He says it usually happens with people who have diabetes or heart and lung problems. Abby does have diabetes but it’s under control.
The plan is to release Abby into a rehab facility at the end of the week. Abby can now move her arms, and she can feel her body, so she’s optimistic about her recovery. So is Dr. Hooman.
“She’s made some recovery in 24 hours, which is better than no recovery. Nobody wants to end up thinking they’re going to be paralyzed for the rest of their life. That’s a reality that’s facing all of these patients going into it. All you can do is pray and, as a surgeon, you maximize everything you can for the spinal cord to recover itself. I am hopeful.”
I have a feeling that Abby Lee Miller will make a full recovery, because she has Abby Lee Miller as a coach. Abby will kill it in rehab after looking in the mirror and screaming the same thing she’s screamed at many little girls: “Are you crying? No tears. You save those tears for your pillow, in your room, alone. Do not cry. Suck it up, kid!”
Pic: Wenn.com