When Renea and I got married in 1996, Stef came as part of the total package............and I must say that I am blessed to have her. I'm the only Daddy she knows, and as far as I'm concerned, she is my daughter. Alot has happened in the last 11 years. For one thing, Stef is now 17 years old and will be 18 in October. 2002 was a rough year for us. I was stationed in Korea (except for my first tour, which was in Germany, during my 21+ year Army career I always took one year overseas tours to Korea, since it meant I could come back to Ft. Campbell) that year when we found out that Stef had Neurofibromatosis. There are myriad manifestations of the disease, but the one which concerned us was the benign tumor in her brain, which blocked the flow of cerebralspinal fluid, which caused hydrocephalus. Her neurosurgeon told us that it had occured over time, since we hadn't noticed any neurological symptoms, but that she would eventually have to have a shunt. Fast forward to Feb 2004. Stef takes a fall and fractures her left hip. Has surgery that evening to reduce the fracture. APR 2004, her speech becomes slurred. She can't balance during rehab. She is constantly nauseated. She has the shunt surgery, and almost immediately, she improves. Jump ahead to Nov 2004. Stef develops avascular necrosis in her hip. DEC 2004 the hardware, which was used during the initial surgery is removed in preparation for a Free Vascularized Fibular Graft at Duke University, which she underwent in FEB 2005. Basically, the fibula of the left leg was used as a graft to generate new bone growth in her hip. That worked well, except she developed a pretty bad contracture in her left leg, which prevented her from flexing her leg straight down and back, like when one normally walks. She endured endless PT and 2 soft tissue release surgeries, but not much range of motion was gained. JUN 2006, her shunt fails.........right in the middle of our move to Huntsville. That got us a quick flight to Birmingham for surgery to revise her shunt. Again, once the shunt was revised, she was in great shape. On 29 MAR 2007, she has the most radical procedure done to date. Her orthopod released two tendons in her left leg and fixed an external fixator on her left hip. It is the same treatment used for children with Perthes Disease. She had to go back to the operating room on 24 APR for an adjustment, since the distraction was pulling her leg to the left instead of straight down. She'll be in the fixator until July, but the good thing is she is perfectly straight now. Once the fixator is surgically removed, she'll have to wear a brace for 5 months. The goal is to have her walking with a normal gait for her senior prom and when she walks to get her diploma. I've attached a picture of the external fixator shortly after Stef came out of surgery on 29 MAR. It is attached in 3 places in her femur and three places in the dense bone of her pelvis.
Renea, Stef and I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers for her full recovery. Thanks for listening.
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Topic: Stephanie (Read 15615 times)