We have a surgery date!

[billyjoe]

Cheryl M,
I noticed that you mentioned St. Louis. Did you go to St. Louis for one of your opinions? If so, who did you see there?
We are still trying to make a decision about where to have our daughters surgery.
Thank You,
Patricia

[Cheryl M]

billie Joe,

We saw Dr. Robert Gaines. He is in Columbia Missouri. We flew into St. Louis and drove about 2 hours. He does a relatively new type of surgery. See the post about short segment bone on bone. My daughter was not an ideal candidate for this surgery. From what I understand, he is a very well respected orthopedic surgeon specializing in scoliosis and very personable as well.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Cheryl

[AnnLF]

Hi Cheryl and Connie,

We were out of town this weekend -- college shopping. It's a nice to come up with things to do-- we'll take all the diversions we can get because it keeps your mind from focusing on surgery, surgery, surgery.

Can you believe we passed the one-month mark? The countdown is on. On Friday evening, I looked at my watch about 7 p.m. and thought that one month from now, it'll be over with.

I've told numerous folks about the three Elizabeths having surgery 11/28.
One person actually got chills up her spine!

Elsa -- you're a couple of weeks ahead of us, and your daughter is in our prayers for a safe and successful surgery.

Briann (aka) Elizabeth -- I told my Lizzie about Spinekids. She's fascinated by the fact you and "Oklahoma Elizabeth" share the date and name, but doesn't seem inclined to sign on to the website. Still not opening up much.

"Illinois Elizabeth" is called Liz or Lizzie at school. Among our family, she's called "Biff" because her older brother who was 3 when she was born pronounced it "Elizabif." It soon became "Biff" and it has stuck. All these names and I was the one who said she would always be called Elizabeth and nothing else because I loved the name so much. Oh well...

Hope you all had a great weekend.
Keeping the November girls in my prayers, Ann

[dancermom]

Hi Ann. Glad you had a good time on the college shopping. I agree that it helps to have things to do to keep our minds off of totally focusing on the surgery. I know that my Elizabeth is starting to bring it up more and is telling people that she is getting more nervous. I told her about the other girls named Elizabeth having surgery on the same date and that really fascinated her. She has told several people about it and thought it was really cool.

My daughter doesn't really log on to Spinekids much as she doesn't feel real comfortable. I have found that talking on this forum is helping my fears a lot and I think if she were to get involved more on Spinekids it would help her too, but I am not going to push her to do something she isn't comfortable with.

We did call the hospital where Elizabeth is having her surgery to schedule a time to see the Pediatric ICU and meet the staff and see where she will be. The person should call us back sometime early this week. It would be strange if it ended up being on Nov. 16th like you guys. We go and see the doctor again on Nov. 7th for the bending x-rays and should find out how far he is planning on fusing during the surgery.

Good to hear from you and I have a strange feeling that this month is going to speed by before I am ready to have to deal with this.

Connie

[Cheryl M]

Ann, Connie, and Elsa,

Just want all of you to know that Briann (North Carolina's Elizabeth) and all of us are praying for the November girls.

Briann has a cold right now and I don't really know what to do to keep her healthy over the coming weeks. Everyone around us is sick.

My nerves are getting a little more jittery as we move into November but I am looking forward to getting this behind us since we really have no choice.

Have a great day!

Cheryl

[dancermom]

Good morning Cheryl. I understand about your nerves getting more jittery. Something about being in the same month that the surgery is actually going to happen is a little unnerving. We were at the same hospital yesterday for an outpatient surgery with our 17 yr. old son. Thankfully it was a fairly simple ear surgery and we were home by noon. The waiting was the longest part and it made me realize how long we will be waiting while Elizabeth's surgery is going to be happening. How will we pass that much time without going crazy? I am thinking that the doctor said it is about a 6 hr. surgery or something like that. How long did your doctor say?

I hope Briann gets well soon and can fight off all the winter viruses and colds. I pray the same for all of us. I have even thought about getting the flu shots for Elizabeth and myself just so we will not have to worry about that as the surgery date gets closer. I just don't know these days.

Take care everyone. We go in for the bending x-rays on Monday and should find out how far the doctor plans on fusing during the surgery. Have the other Elizabeth's done these x-rays yet or will they?

Connie

[majo]

Congratulations on your date!! It will change her life. I will pray for your daughter.

[Cheryl M]

Thanks Majo for your prayers!

Connie, I'm with you. How on earth do we get through waiting 6 to 8 hours during the surgery. Hopefully we'll have lots of friends and family to help pass the time. When my husband had surgery 11 years ago I had a room full of people.

I took both my kids for a flu shot on Tuesday. Briann's Dr. didn't seem to think it mattered but said it would be fine. I don't think he does bending x-rays. He said she'll be fused from t4 to l3, most likely. Her cold is getting better. I just pray that all the November girls stay healthy between now and their surgery date and I pray that they will heal so fast that we will all be amazed.

Have a great day!

Cheryl

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Cheryl, my daughter was fused from about t3 to l3 or somewhere similar, also. Take care, Kris

[dancermom]

Hi Cheryl, Ann, and Elsa. We go in Monday afternoon for the bending x-rays and should find out how far Elizabeth's fusion will be. I will write and let you guys know. We are also dealing with a strange problem that we really don't need right now. At Elizabeth's physical this summer they found protein in her urine. We had to take a morning sample and it also had protein. So the pediatrician wanted her to see a kidney doctor. We went in this morning and there was still protein in her urine. He had her do a blood test and then we have to do 2 more samples (an early morning sample and a late afternoon one) so they can compare the results. The doctor said that this shouldn't interfere with the surgery date, but it is a problem that we really don't want to have to be dealing with on top of thinking about the surgery. I just pray that everything is ok and it is just a simple problem with nothing else showing up.

Connie

[sweetalkerx3]

Your daughter is having surgery on my birthday! Im sure everything will go well and you'll be in my prayers. Good luck.

[Cheryl M]

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Sweettalker! Did you realize that there are three Elizabeth's having surgery on November 28th. We all appreciate your prayers.

Connie, I too hope and pray that your daughter's problem will be simple and easy to solve.

Cheryl

[Cheryl M]

Elsa, best wishes and prayers for you and your daughter as her surgery date gets nearer. I pray for a successful surgery and a quick recovery.

Cheryl

[dancermom]

Elsa, I am also thinking about you and praying that your daughter's surgery goes well and is completely successful. How are you holding up with it getting so close? I know that we are starting to realize how close my daughter's surgery is and it is scary.

We went to the doctor on Monday and he did the bending x-rays and regular x-rays. Right now he thinks he will be fusing about T2 to L1 or something like that. He wanted to have more time to review the x-rays and make his decision. He said he doesn't like to fuse too far down into the lumbar area because of the loss of flexibility. That will be good as my daughter loves to dance and is very worried about losing her flexibility and ability to dance.

We still haven't heard anything back on the protein in her urine. So, everything is still on for surgery and we have been told that it shouldn't interfere at all with the date. It is just hard waiting and trying to figure out what is going on.

Take care everyone. How are your "Elizabeths" holding up as the surgery date is getting closer??

-Connie

[Cheryl M]

Connie,
I was hoping that I would hear from you. I can't believe you still haven't heard from the protein in the urine. Hopefully, no news is good news. Briann appears to be doing great. Truthfully, I can't wait to get this behind us. I know it is something that has to be done and I am looking forward to talking about all of this in the past tense. Prayers to the November girls.

Cheryl