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!