Show and Tell

Eric teaches Radiological Anatomy at Georgia Tech in the fall and he thought it would be neat to make a 3D image for his class of Anna's spine (pre-surgery). So he made the little movie above where you can watch her spine rotate around. He also made some images such as the one below

Before and After....

I want to publish a before and after picture to show you just how dramatic a change the surgery brought.


Isn't that amazing! Thank you Lord!

Anna is Home

I'm sorry for the lack of updates - it was a very hard juggling act with Anna in the hospital and life continuing at home with everyone else. But Anna came home last night. She is still in quite a bit of pain and doesn't move around well at all. Her muscles have greatly weakened; for example, she cannot hold her head up well at all due to the effects of the traction on her neck muscles. The two things she needs to do - eat and walk - she doesn't want to do, so most everything gets turned into some sort of fight. Some of the nurses, although they provided great care, were very easily manipulated by her into giving her what she wanted, so we are also dealing with quite a bit of attitude. Challenges abound....sigh.

We appreciate continued prayer for her recovery and now that we are all home hopefully I will be able to update more often.

Surgery Update

Anna's surgery went well. The surgeon commented that she is "remarkably straight". He was quite excited that he was able to straighten her more than he expected. This was an answer to prayer. She started with a 95 degree curve. The traction reduced it to 68. I don't know what it is now, but we are thankful that is is straighter than anticipated. I'll have to get the actual number later.

One interesting side effect is that for the first time I have heard her cry. Because her lungs and diaphragm were so affected by the curve, her body compensated in some strange ways. One was that when she cried no sound came out. But in her room tonight she cried and it was a normal healthy cry. Sort of weird to be excited about a cry. I'm sure at some point I'll miss having a child who doesn't make a sound when she cries - it makes it much easier to ignore!! But for now the cry was rather amazing.

She is currently in a lot of pain, and is on a morphine drip. They hope to get her up tomorrow - we will see. We are very thankful that God answered our prayers for a straight back. Thanks for your prayers and will keep everyone updated.

Surgery Moved Up!

Anna was scheduled to spend 4 weeks in traction (originally 6 weeks but reduced) and then undergo surgery. From the x-rays they recently took she has made tremendous progress and her doctor is now planning to do her spinal fusion this Wednesday after only 2 1/2 weeks in traction (2 1/2 rather long weeks I might add). We are praising God for this unexpected turn of events and ask your prayers for a successful surgery Wednesday.

Scott Turns 21

Today Scott hit that milestone of age 21. I could get rather weepy over the fact that I now have a 21 year old son, but he is such a neat, fun young man and we have enjoyed watching him mature over the years. He loves the Lord and he loves others so what more could a parent want. Well actually it would be nice if he didn't get any more traffic tickets, didn't wreck any more cars, didn't break any more computers, cell phones, furniture or other gadgets - I have affectionately dubbed him "the money sink" around here. But we love him and wish him well on this his 21st birthday!

Traction Day 5

After the first couple of days they were able to put Anna in a chair during the day as opposed to laying in bed all day. This greatly helped her attitude as she is able to wheel herself out and about the area outside her room and we are able to wheel her all over the hospital and out into the garden. The amazing thing is that you can already tell a difference in her spine. Her doctor is more than pleased and says she is definitely ahead of schedule.