
Went back for a check up this week. We flew in the day before and our angel Mark picked us up and took us out to a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch. We ate more chickpeas than I thought possible, and we loved it!
We spent the rest of the day walking around the medical plaza and Texas Children's Hospital, again in search of "the little doctor." She is a little person, neonatal doctor from TLC's "Little Couple." We couldn't find her. So we hung out in the ER. Nothing more exciting than sniffles, probably a little swine flu, here and there, so we went back to the ho-tel, mo-tel, Holiday Inn. We went out for dinner at 10 pm, stayed up til midnight, slept until 10. Ahhhhhhhhh.
Our doctor visit the next day was amazing. The waiting room is a smorgasbord of fixators! Lizzy is alive and well in Houston! Most everyone we have seen wears "the rack" on the lower leg. We have seen a couple on the femur, and none on the arm like Savy. Most have at least 4-5 rings, where Savy has just three. She has a baby compared to most we see. Naturally curious about blood, guts and gore, I strike up as many conversations as I can. We met a man today that has had his fixator on for one year, and he has one more year to go! His pin care alone takes his wife an hour a day. He was in a motorcycle accident and he saved his bleeding leg by using his own belt as a tourniquet. The scariest part for him, as he was laying bleeding in the road waiting for paramedics, red fire ants were all over the ground. It really puts things into perspective when you see people who are so much worse off than you. The people we see are in wheelchairs, they all tell a similar story of tremendous pain and misery. I'm not so sure our bright and shiny faces, and Savy's pain free arm, leave them feeling better after having talked with us though?
Sometimes, just to make them feel better, we lie and say hers hurts too. ;) winky face!


Here are some pictures I found of others who enjoy life with Lizzy. Even dogs!

This little boy had to wear a face fixator! So sad!
Life with Lizzy has been pretty uneventful. Once a day she has to suspend activities to tend to her pin sits, but otherwise, she goes on with life, with a smile on her face and no complaints. Even when people offer her sympathy, she just smiles and says "it's not so bad." She has learned how to sleep on her stomach, but it takes awhile to get into a comfortable position. Stomach sleep is what she misses most. Her sister has been keeping count of how many times she has been asked "what did you DO to yourself?" It's in the hundreds and climbing.
We finally got out the lobby to see the doctor. Then she had her x-rays, and (cue trumpet!) Dr. Guggenheim believes it should be able to come off in four more weeks! She will come back on October 15 for an xray or more likely a CT scan, and if all looks good, surgery the next day to remove the fixator!!!!!
This will be removed surgically, but this is an out patient procedure, and we will fly home on the third day.
Dr Guggenheim did mention that studies show that 14% of patients who have bone lengthening eventually break that limb, but kids have a bit lower percentile rate. Once they take the fixator off, the holes they drilled into and through her bone take four weeks to fill in. Then she is ready to put back on her soccer cleats!