Surgery Day Tomorrow 26th Feb

Yikes the time has just flown by here at Starship- 3 weeks of Halo Traction has just passed by so quickly. I thank the Lord everyday for Ashling's can-do positive attitude, which has made this journey so doable so far. I am also so grateful for family and friends (including my yogis!), who have supported us so lovingly.

Last day of halo traction and Ashling has continued to ask for more weight as she was DETERMINED to get to the ideal weight, which was half her body weight, before the surgery (15 kilos). So sure enough, this morning we loaded on the last .5 kilo and she is now on 15 kilos of traction. She is very comfortable on it it now, still getting some pain relief for her head but generally comfortable on it. She' s a bit of a legend.

Tomorrow morning Ashling will have her Bipolar back surgery, and they will take the halo off at the end of her surgery. She is first in the morning so please say a prayer for her around 9am as she should be in theater then. The Surgeon is coming from Melbourne this afternoon and they will be all ready to go in the morning. As you may know, Ashling's type of genetic, non-idiopathic scoliosis is not treatable with conservative measures like casts, bracing, magic rods etc. Because her scoliosis is so stiff, our only options were spinal fusion (fusing the whole spine, and not growing again) or this newer surgery, which is done quite routinely instead of spinal fusion, at The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Invented in France, this surgery involves fusing the top and base of the spine and inserting 2 rods up through the middle to hold the fusions in place. These rods will lengthen/grow with the child. Even though Ash will be the first kid to have it done here, the Surgeon is very experienced in this surgery and will be assisted by our trusty surgeon here. We are confident that this is the right surgery for Ash.

I will post a blog tomorrow evening and let you know how the surgery went.

Thank you all for your continued love and support.
All the very best.
Car, Ger, Ash, Jamie and Patch XXX

The Picture Below is not Ashling - it just shows what it looks like- taken from this journal:

file:///C:/Users/c_o_s/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/3SSB1A4M/Spinal%20fusion%20France%20(002).pdf




This is X-Rays taken of Ashling's spine last week. The Pic on the right is pre-traction and the one on the left is after 2 weeks of traction. The difference is unreal, as you can see, in her neck and in her upper curve: The pics were not photocopied side by side so don't think that she has grown that much - LOL

XXX