UPDATE!
Yesterday afternoon Renea and I loaded Stephanie, her friend Whitney, the CVO Boxers and our overnight stuff in the big, honkin' Diesel Dodge and headed to UAB Children's Hospital in Birmingham, AL. We dropped off Annie Bea and Springer at the Whitesburg Animal Hospital, which is where we board the CVO Boxers when we're all out of town. They have a wonderful facility. The CVO Boxers stay in suite boarding. The kennels are themed (they stayed in the Wizard of Oz room this time), they have a TV, a window and a webcam, so we can check on them while we are out of town. After Renea finished giving detailed CVO Boxer care instructions to the vet tech, we were on our way to Birmingham. We overnighted at the Hampton Inn in Mountain Brook, which is about 4 miles from the hospital. We always stay there whenever we make trips to UAB for Stef, because it is so close, and there is a Moe's Southwest Grill in the same area. Stef loves that place, so we take her there for one last good meal before the mandatory pre-surgical NPO. Terry and Suzanne met us there for supper. We had a great meal and spent some time visiting with Terry and Suzanne. Those two are wonderful people, and Renea and I are honored to know them and have them as friends. After supper, we said "so long" to Terry and Suzanne and made our way across the parking lot to the hotel. We all turned in early in anticipation of an early morning. We got to the hospital about 7:30 this morning. Stef was prepped and wheeled back to surgery at 9am. It took Dr. Gilbert about an hour to remove the external fixator from Stef's hip. She came back to the room complaining of knee pain despite the morphine. Her knee has been painful since the night she broke her hip in Feb 2004. Dr. Gilbert calls it "referred pain" from her hip since there isn't anything wrong with her knee. She was fitted with a hip brace, and discharged at 2pm. We began or trip home, had a few bouts of nausea, picked up the CVO Boxers, and arrived home around 4:30pm. Stef is resting nicely and is SO happy to have that contraption off her hip. Dr. Gilbert gave me the carbon fiber orbital rings. I'm trying to think of something to do with them on the scooter. Anyway, Stef has to wear the brace 24/7 for the next three weeks.............which is quite traumatic for her, because it isn't the prettiest equipment in the world.......and she starts her senior year of high school next Thursday. She is motivated by Dr. Gilbert's words of advice to do as he says and in 3 weeks, he'll let her take off the brace during the day. The important point now is to prevent the contracture from returning.............and Stef doesn't want that after all she's just been through.
Thanks to all who have sent wellwishes and prayers. We very much appreciate your kindness.
Henry
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Topic: Stephanie (Read 15663 times)