Wistful Wednesday

Healing

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to give everyone an update on my daughter. Last Tuesday, she had surgery on her back, a procedure called spinal fusion, which is basically the installation of rods in her back to straighten the spine (she had a severe case of scoliosis.) To give you an idea of what this meant, here are some visuals:

The X-ray from before the surgery:

And the one from after:

As you can see from these images, there was a huge difference and I have to tell you, just looking at her back, you can see it. I am absolutely amazed at the job the doctor did on her. And the crazy thing is, you could see it right after the surgery, even with her just lying flat in bed; the way she laid was different after the surgery than it was before.

Well, after just a week in the hospital, my daughter is now recovering at home. Already, she is easing back into her life and slowly starting to do things for herself again. It's really hard to tell that she just had major surgery - even the nurse who came to visit yesterday was amazed at her progress and how rapidly she is recovering. Needless to say, I am very proud of my girl. She was so brave going into the surgery and she did everything she was asked to do by the hospital staff afterward and all without a complaint. She is such a little trooper!

I would like to end this update post on an even more positive note. Here is a nice message that some of the hospital staff wrote for her when she was in the ICU. They are members of The Hole in the Wall Gang camp (the one founded by Paul Newman) and they work with the Child Life people in the hospital to bring camp to the kids in the hospital. The word they wrote was chosen by my daughter and she picked all of the colors and designs they used (they were just her tools, she was the artist!).

In closing, I just wanted to acknowledge all of the staff at UMASS-Memorial Hospital in Worcester, MA. Thank you so much for taking such great care of my daughter. You were all amazing!