Not Quite a Medieval Torture Device, But Close

The food was pretty good. The "food & nutrition" people always announced themselves that way when they entered the room. Isn't that redundant? Like if the housekeepers entered the room and said "housekeeping & cleaning." Whatev.

Believe it or not, this was my first bite of alphabet soup. And we are in Texas! Whoa.

SWEET JESUS MY ARM IS BROKEN

We arrived at the hospital at 6:45 on Friday morning. The lobby was already full of people having surgery that day. We were at the Texas Orthopedic hospital. It is owned by the doctors who work there. I think that is a good thing. We didn't have to wait long before we were shuffled back into the pre-surgery room.

Savy was tagged with her arm bracelets and the "sleep doctor" came to meet us. She was a girl doctor, can't remember her name, but she has a 13 year old at home and she was great about helping Savy stay calm. It was our hope that they would not give her an iv until she was asleep, but as her anxiety rose, so did the need for a pre-surgery "cocktail." The insertion did not hurt her at all an within two minutes she had stopped the tears, and was smiley and giggly.

The first picture shows where Dr Gugenheim autographed her arm and wrote a big "yes" so he didn't accidently operate on the other arm. Jeesh.

So I sat in the waiting room, with no cell phone (I left my charger in Phoenix) completely cut off from civilization. Excpet for all the others in the waiting room. I did meet a really nice family from Austin who had a little boy that was getting surgery with Dr Gugenheim, right after Savy. I love Texas accents.


Two and a half hours later, Savy was in her room. We were lucky to have a private room. I guess old people who are in for hip replacement surgery don't like whiney kids in the same room. Good for us! They had her all set up with a pain pump that only she was allowed to push. It gave her dilauded whenver she wanted it. She could push the button all she wanted, and believe me, she was pushing it every four minutes for the first couple of hours. When the machine dispensed the meds, it sounded like a little old man snoring.


Nurses are an interesting bunch. Some are incredibly nice, kind, understanding and giving. Some apparently hate humankind. Night nurses appear to uniformly fall into the latter group. Aside from coming into your room the minute you've managed to fall asleep to take your blood pressure or temperature, nothing else seems to really warrant a trip to your room. God forbid should you ask any old nurse at the nurses station for help. You must call YOUR nurse, it's not my job.

A very kind nurse did bring Savy two popsicles which she ate right away. They also hustled her in a lunch tray of a chicken sandwich and pecan pie. Gross.

And here is the fixator, in all its glory:

The Journey Begins

We left for Houston on June 3, 2009. We were flown there by an amazing organization called Angel Flight. They provide air transportation for people in need of medical treatment. It's a group of pilots (or angels) that fly their own planes, on their own time. Please, if any of you are looking for an agency to donate your unused money to, this is the one!

It took us three flights to get to Houston. One from Deer Valley airport to El Paso, one from El Paso to San Angelo, and the last leg from San Angelo to Houston. So all in all, it took us nine hours to get to Houston. But! We did not have to go through the whole security process at Sky Harbour. I thought this would be most helpful on our way back.

If you have never flown on a little airplane, you must try it. I believe we were on the same type of plane that JFK Jr. met his maker in. :0) Our trip was uneventful though. I do need to find some new air sickness medication.....

Little planes are loud so we had to wear headphones in order to talk. Here is a picture of Savy:

No, the windows were not down, we were on taxying (is that a word?) on the runway.

Back to the Begining

The story of "lefty" began in June 2000. (Savy was 4 1/2 years old.) Savy was in a car being driven by her father, with her brother and sister in the backseat. There is much "debate" over whether or not she was in a car seat, as the law requires. Anyhoo, her dad ends up crashing into a Suburban while driving 40 mph. Savannah fell to the floor of the car, with her neck hitting the floorboard.

My first thought when I saw her was "Oh thank GOD she is okay." We took her to the closest ER, who then transported her by ambulance to a childrens' hosptial. We learned she had bruised her heart, badly, and now had a heart mumur. As far as her arm went, we were told she may have a broken collar bone. (Jeez! I WISH that was all it was) We spent three days in intensive care, prayin', prayin', prayin'. Her little arm wouldn't move a bit

The best local neurosurgeon told us she had a brachial plexus injury, but that within three months, she would get all movement back. Yeah, right.

So we loaded her up and took her to Dr. Nath in Houston. She had the first of a couple of surgeries there. She also headed north to Montreal Canada for a surgery that involved placing two muscle simulators in her back that had electrodes that ran down her arm, providing stimulus to the muscle every 4 seconds. Unfortunately, she got an infection four months later and they had to be removed.

So, long story short, years and years go by, and now she is 13 years old. She is absolutely beautiful, smart and talented. As far as her arm, well, she can bend the elbow to enable her to sandwich items she is carrying between the arm and body, but that is about it. Lefty is also about 2 1/2 inches shorter than her right arm. That's what brought us to Dr. Gugenheim in Houston Texas.


WE CAN REBUILD HER. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY.

Bone lengthening is not really bone lengthening so much as it is bone growing. Here is how it works:

The bone (in Savy's case, her right humerus) is surgically broken into two segments, and the Ilizarov fiaxator "Lizzy" is put in place. Then the two ends of the bone are gradually moved apart slowly enough so that new bone can form (or grow) in the gap. At the same time, all the soft tissues and stuff surrounding the bone expands too. The result is a longer arm (or leg, or toe, or middle finger)

This is all done using an external fixator to create tension stress. This Russian dude named Gavril Ilizarov came up with this technique, so they named the fixator after him.

This is obviously a leg, not an arm, but the process is the same. We will be turning three knobs three times a day, which is what will pull the bone apart. The fixator will be attached to her arm by three rods attached to the top of the arm and three pins that go straight through the bottom of the bone, right above the elbow. Ouch.


Here is a picture of a different kind of fixator. We didn't choose this one because the ilizarov is much more gentle that this monolateral fixator:






One of the biggest elements of the process will be pin site care. The most common complication of limb lengthening is pin site infections. We will have to clean the sites very carefully everyday in order not to get infections. If she does get an infection, she will have to take antibiotics (and you know how I feel about those, don't you Dena?) If the infection gets bad, and travels to the bone, it will be time to get serious.



Along with all of these worries, we have to go to Houston every two weeks for check ups and x-rays. This will be for the first two and a half months during the "lengthening phase." More on that later. This is enough to make your mind spin or your stomach to vomit, so now I will leave you with a picture of.......

P.J. after a pedicure!

The First Post

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle Savy's arm lengthening surgery and all the good that will follow. I figured this would be a good way to keep friends and family informed of all of the goings on.



So, for the next several months (and I mean several, as in 6 or 7 months) I'll report here on the in's and outs of her arm lengthenig process. I'll even include all of the gory details and pictures! (Not for the faint of heart!)



But for now, here is a picture of Montel Carl (named after his grandpa Tony) aka "Monkey"




Oh! And here is a picture of Savy, doing what she does best!

Savy's Adventure in Bone Lengthening