Almost home.......

Looks like we are down to the final few days of our stay in West Palm Beach.  Here is the latest:

Right leg - She had surgery on Monday to remove the pins and 8-plate.  Surgery went very well, and Dr. Paley was pleased with how the ankle looks.  She is already putting weight on the leg!  She will need to wear an ankle brace when she sleeps and requires a 5 cm shoe lift.  We will get the ankle brace made in Baton Rouge but want to get the shoe lift done here in Florida.  Shoe lift is expected to be ready on Monday.

Left leg - Fixator is still on her left leg and will be on until the new bone completely hardens.  This should take another 3 months.  All of the pin turning is complete!

So all we are waiting on now is the shoe lift.  Once we get it, we will take Eloise to therapy for them to check it.  Hopefully, we can get all of this done on Monday.  If so, we will be pulling out of town Monday evening and arriving back in Baton Rouge on Tuesday!!!

Look forward to seeing everyone soon!  Thanks again for all the prayers and support!

More pin turning

Eloise had a check-up today with Dr. Paley.  Her tibia on the left leg has bowed outwards with the additional length (so it appears to be a backwards "c"). We were given a three week turning schedule today that will basically shift the lower half of her tibia around one of the rods in her leg creating more of an "s" shape which will straighten as she grows. 

Our next appointment is May 12th to check the status.  We are hopeful this will complete the pin turning - keep your fingers crossed!!  We will also check the buckle fracture on the right leg which should be healed by then.  If it has, we can schedule removal of the pins from the right ankle.  We are thinking an end of May departure date now.  

As always, she is in good spirits.  We hope you and your families have a Happy Easter.  Love to all!

UGH!!!!

Well, so much for all the good news that I have been posting!  Yesterday, I fell down the stairs carrying Eloise, and she fractured her right tibia!  She was put in a full leg cast and will probably need it for 3-4 weeks.  Luckily, the fracture / fall did not affect her left leg or her right ankle.  Our poor girl has been through so much so far!  But as always, she is back in good spirits.

She will have to get fitted for a shoe lift on her right side so this means we will not be able to leave Florida until the cast comes off.  We are guessing mid-May for a departure date now.  She is still scheduled to get the pins removed from her right leg on April 21st.

All in all, it's not too bad.  It could have been a lot worse!  As always, we appreciate the continued prayers.

Another encouraging appt today

We met with Dr. Paley today, and everything looks great!

Right leg:  Ankle looks great; pins are scheduled to come out on April 21st.  Once the pins come out (outpatient surgery) we will have to get Eloise fitted for a shoe lift and possible ankle brace.  Hoping this only takes a few days so we can get home!!

Left leg:  New bone growth looks excellent.  We are finished lengthening but she needs 1 week of strut tweaking to get everything in line for the bone consolidation phase.  We start tweaking today and have more x-rays next Monday.  Once tweaking is done, we can come home for the consolidation phase.  This usually lasts another 3-4 months.  She will not need an eight plate because the tweaking of the fixator will correct her knock-kneedness.

Looking like we are on track to leave the last week of April or first week of May. We are ready to get back and see everyone!!!  Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Update

Eloise had a checkup on Monday on both the left and right leg.  Her left leg lengthening is on schedule.  She already has achieved 5 cm of new length and only has 1 more week of lengthening!!  Usually there is some sort of tweaking (turning the fixator struts to ensure the new bone is exactly where it needs to be before consolidation) that is needed after lengthening, but we will not know if Eloise will need it for another few weeks.  This is probably the one thing that could keep us here longer than expected.  Some patients need a month or two of tweaking.  We are hopeful that if Eloise does require tweaking, it will be very minimal.  The only new news that we received is that Eloise will need an eight plate in her left knee / femur because her femur is slightly bent.  The eight plate will prevent knock-kneedness.  It is a simple, outpatient procedure and will be done on April 21st.

Her right ankle looks great.  Her hard cast was expected to be on 8-12 weeks but was removed on Monday (6 weeks since surgery) because of her amazing progress!  She now has a removable cast on for the next couple of weeks to protect her ankle.  She is scheduled to get the pins removed from her leg on April 21st.  Because the hard cast prevented her knee from bending, she is having to regain strength in her leg muscles.  Needless to say, therapy is a bit of a challenge right now!!

All in all it was an encouraging day.  Our next big appointment is on April 7th.  Hopefully, we will find out a lot more about the tweaking on her her left leg during this appt.  This will give us a better idea of when we can expect to come home.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Great progress!

A lot has happened since our last update.  Visitors have come and gone, Eloise has finally given up on crying during therapy and Charlie has added a few more Cars to his world record collection. 

All of Eloise's checkups have been perfect.  Her bone is growing as expected, (already over 4cm of new bone growth!) and she has not had any more pin site infections.  We will meet with Dr. Paley again on the 24th to check her bone growth and also to examine her right leg.  We are hoping to get a good report so the cast can come off as soon as possible.  If all goes well, we may be able to come home in the middle of April!  The way time is flying by here, that day will be here before we know it.  We are soooo ready to get back to Baton Rouge.

We really enjoyed BetBet's week long visit a few weeks ago.  I think Charlie enjoyed it the most as his Cars collection tripled by the end of the week!  Aunt Lee Lee and her entire crew also came to see us for a few days.  The cousins were so excited to play with each other.  Charlie and Eloise were definitely missing their play buddies.  We were sad to see them go, but they will be back to playing together before they know it.   

Another adventure since the last update was Uncle Brad and Charlie's trip to Magic Kingdom last Monday.  Let's just say that Charlie did not get any character autographs!  He was a bit frightened by the life-sized Chip and Dale so their stay at the park was short lived.  Then it was off to to the Cars section of the Art of Animation Resort.  Charlie was in his element.  All of the Cars characters received big hugs from their #1 fan.  I guess we know where we are staying when we go back. 

  

Eloise has been doing great the last 2 weeks in therapy.  I think she has fianlly realized that crying is not preventing any of the exercises and stretches.  She is walking with the walker by herself without crying!!  She is even climbing the staris at our condo.  Her determination is remarkable!  They may even cut her therapy sessions to 3 days per week instead of 5 because she is proressing so well.

Here is a video of our trooper in action!  We will continue to update when we get new information.  We are ready for Oma's next visit next week!  Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the welcome change in weather! 

Home and 6 week checkup

Sorry for the delay with this post.  Eloise did go home from the hospital on Monday and continues to do well.  She was sent home on an oral 7 day antibiotic.  We are back on our normal routine of therapy 5 days a week for 1 hour a day.  Therapy sessions continue to be a challenge, not because Eloise is not able to do the exercises, but because she doesn't want to do them!  She is able to get around pretty well with the cast and fixator.  She has mastered the scoot and gets to where she wants to go in no time.

Eloise had her 6 week checkup on Tuesday for her left leg.  Everything looks great!  She has gained over 3cm of length in both the fibula and tibia.  Here are a few pictures of her last X-ray. Amazing!