So glad I found you guys!

[Elisa]

April 19th. 2012 marked Elias' first anniversary of his second surgery where he had his rods put in. He is doing amazingly well and you'd never know he'd gone through what he did. He's doing so well in every aspect and we're getting ready to head back down to Portland, OR again on Tuesday for his checkup with the Shriners. It's a bit of a journey but they are so supportive, it's more like a little holiday. I'll let you all know how things go with the checkup with Dr. Krajbich. I'm expecting an excellent report.

[Pooka1]

Time to celebrate...

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/7b2...lla-wine-party

[Elisa]

Chinchillas and wine, two of my favourite topics. I'm pretty sure Pip can play some hockey; he's watched it enough on TV. 3 favourites now.

[titaniumed]

I love that video! They should make a series of similar videos.....they would be a huge hit in piano bars. (Or rock shows)

I saw Rush in concert about 20 years ago during the “Presto” tour and they had these huge rabbits coming out of top hats on each side of the stage. Same type of thing.....Rodent relaxation therapy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presto_(album)

Have a great trip.

Ed

[JenniferG]

April 19th. 2012 marked Elias' first anniversary of his second surgery where he had his rods put in. He is doing amazingly well and you'd never know he'd gone through what he did. He's doing so well in every aspect and we're getting ready to head back down to Portland, OR again on Tuesday for his checkup with the Shriners. It's a bit of a journey but they are so supportive, it's more like a little holiday. I'll let you all know how things go with the checkup with Dr. Krajbich. I'm expecting an excellent report.

It's great to hear Elias is doing so well. Hope your journey back to Shriners goes well. You and Elias will be an inspiration to many, I'm sure.

[mabeckoff]

Have a safe trip . Glad that he is doing so well

[Elisa]

Thanks for the well wishes guys. Had a nice drive down the Island to Nanaimo and a very smooth ferry sailing across to the mainland and we're hanging out in our hotel room in Vancouver and about to head to the restaurant for something to eat. We'll be heading south across the border early tomorrow morning and should be in Portland by about 3:30 pm if all goes well. I love how quickly the Shriners bus gets pushed through at the border while everyone else has to sit and wait. The border guard (is that what they're called?) comes on board, checks passports and takes a quick look in the bathroom to make sure there's no stowaways and away we go. :-)

[LSKOCH5]

One year out- that is so wonderful! Thank you - and Elias - for the inspiration to the rest of us! Keep on updating, please!

[Elisa]

Back in Vancouver. We left a bit later than expected b/c we were waiting for another family to finish up their appointment so we hit a bit of heavy traffic going through Seattle but we're finally back in Van and will catch the 8:30 AM ferry tomorrow and be back home on the Island by about 1:00.

Everything looks great with Elias' x-rays and physical, all metalwork is securely in place and all restrictions have been lifted but of course I am still going to be keeping a close eye on him and I'm glad he's not the sporty type b/c that means less worry for me. Dr. Krajbich would like to see Elias again in one year b/c he is still "young" and has some more growing to do. He is now 6' 1/4" (6' six months ago) and 134 lbs, so still on the thin side but it's certainly not from lack of eating b/c he has a huge appetite. So we're looking forward to our visit this time next year unless of course something comes up and he starts having an issue and in that case we'd be heading back right away is what the plan is.

I have every x-ray on one CD and I had a quick look at some of them but I'm still trying to figure out the program but there's some really neat ones that I've never seen before such as one with the Cobb angle drawing and another one of some sort of 'map' where the screws were to go. There's one when during his first surgery (posterior release) Dr.K put in 8 screws at the apex; looking forward to looking at all of them. Wine time!

[mabeckoff]

Glad that everything is going so well

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Elisa,

Thanks for taking the time to post Elias's great report. I think of you guys often, and it's good to hear how well he is doing.

Do you have any news on Walid?

[Pooka1]

Great news. What a journey!

[mariaf]

Glad to hear how well Elias is doing!

[Elisa]

Gayle, I haven't talked with Debbie too much lately but Walid's surgery was very high risk and he did have some complications that he and his mom are dealing with. They both are amazingly strong people.

I'm looking at the CD that Shriners put together for me and here's 3 images that I think are really neat.

The first one is from our first consultation (ever) with Dr. Krajbich back in January of 2011 where his Cobb angle measured 110*. I really think his curve was probably closer to 115* b/c he actually lost an inch during our two month wait.

Second one was taken after his posterior release, halo/weight traction after only six days and his curve measured 59.3*.

The third image was taken after four weeks in halo/weight traction and his rods were put in. There is no measurement on the image but I was told his curve was about 25*.

I am still amazed by these images and how great of a job Dr. K and the team @ Shriners did for Elias.