Tuesday, December 7th

We visited with Emily and Jake this morning at Paley's waiting room. The kids sure love playing with each other and we love visiting with other parents going through the same situation/decisions. We ended up staying for a long visit and concluded that our little group was the class of 2012 (lengthening purposes). They are all around the same age so it's cool if we do all go around the same time to do the first lengthening. Jake is going to have Superhip 2 and probably lengthening at the same time but wont know tell the day of the surgery. Shawna, Charles, Jake and Luke are all from upstate New York. We joked about renting a huge house so that we can all do the surgeries at the same time but actually would be beneficial.
(Emily, Jake, Abby and Ethan "Class of 2012")


We also met a super star Olivia who had tendon replacement, yes tendon replacement surgery on her foot yesterday and was released the same day! AMAZING! She was out and about playing like nothing was wrong. Her mom's name is Maria, yeah yet another Maria! LOL We also checked in with Evan and his family. Seems like he is a super star too because he was done in 6 hours! He is doing great and his parents are too.


After we left Paley's office we went over to visit with Nancy a 66 year old friend that has PFFD or CFD. Ethan and Abby played with her old helper legs and her puppy Jazz. Visiting with her was great. She told us how she grew up with her disability (never seen herself to be disabled just a little different). She is a very strong women so doesn't surprise me much! She had her prosthesis cut down in the middle of one of her old legs to allow us to see what it looked like inside. It looked painful to me but she assured us is was very cozy. Her toes are pointing straight down, OUCH. Jennifer is taking it home and some day show it to our kids. She has a place in Boynton Beach right off the beach!!! SuPeR gReAt view!!! We went out to the beach and I can honestly tell you that some day I want a beach front property!!!


Tomorrow we are back home!!!

Monday, December 6th

Prior to the Follow-up visit we made our way to lunch with Abby and her mom. Then to the Loggerhead Sea Turtle rescue hospital where we watched doctors work on a turtle that was brought in that day. It's simply amazing what the rescue hospital does for the turtles that get bitten by sharks, hit by propellers etc. We saw lots of hatchlings which is rare for this season but even turtles have miracle babies! Ethan and Abby had a blast.

We arrived to Paley's office around 2:30 and saw him at 5:30. Ethan like always did great with X-Rays and examination. Prior to seeing Dr. Paley, we visited in the waiting room with Evan and his parents. Evan was adopted from Columbia. He lives in Minnesota and his parents are Jennifer and Scott (really easy to remember). Evan is scheduled to have surgery Tuesday morning. Please keep him in your prayers. We also ran into Eva and her mom Maria. Maria was the one that did the Superhip spica cast/diaper change video. Emma was in for a follow-up appointment from her first lengthening. She is wearing a very small shoe lift. Maybe an inch but sure is nice to see how well she is doing.

(Abby, Evan and Ethan in the waiting room)

Dr. Paley and his 15 surgeons walked in like they were on a mission. As Dr. Paley compared his before and after x-rays we were able to see the ossification of his femur and his hip socket. Dr. Paley explained the superhip surgery to the surgeons and told him that Ethan's hip was a very easy hip to fix given that he did have cartilage and some ossification. Prior to superhip Ethan's discrepancy was 11 cm. His current discrepancy is 8 cm. If you remember Ethan's femur was growing in a 90% angel so Dr. Paley correct that and added ligaments to his knee. Ethan gained around 3 cm.

I didn't ask but will email Dr. Paley at a later time but from the x-ray it looks like his head of his fibula is either missing or not grown out as needed. Abby got a good report so we are all set for the first lengthening in 2012!

Marathon and Paley's Christmas Party

Rising shine at 4:30 A.M. but Ethan didn't complain too much, yet. Ethan and I completed the 5K in 36 minutes. Yeah, not great timing but not bad for mom pushing a screaming kid 95% of the time. We stopped a few times because Ethan didn't want mommy to go fast and he want mommy to hold Ethan. AWWWWW!! About 15 minutes after crossing the finish line he was fine. We met Charles, Jake's dad, Jake is having superhip in May. Jake is a few weeks older than Ethan and they live in upstate New York. Very sweet family and glad we talked about our experience with Dr. Paley and other doctors.

It was another full blown pissy attitude because Ethan wanted to walk back to the car. The car was at least 4 blocks away. Did Ethan understand that? No! He screamed and cried the entire way to the Quantum House!!!! Nice, son just nice! The entire time Abby is telling him to hush. It was priceless!

After a long nap, we got dressed for the Paley Christmas Party!!! It was great meeting new families. Ethan played with Jake and David (had surgery and our roommate at the Quantum House). David and his family are super sweet and what's even better his dad is a Colts fan!!! Liddy and her sisters were great with Ethan they kept him well entertained. Skyler a 20 year old from Wisconsin is on his last lengthening. Skyler started his journey with superhip at the age of five. We talked sports cars and tickets. LOL

The party finished up and we spent the rest if the evening watching FOOTBALL! Of course, missing daddy! Wyatt, Willow, Makayla, Emma, Maria De la Paz, Fernando, David and Skyler are our roommates at the Quantum House. Wyatt and Makayla were in for a follow-up. Maria de la Paz had superhip and fibula lengthening. Fernando is Maria's brother. David is getting his fibula straighten because it was bowing out. Willow is Wyatt's little sister.

Florida!!!

Smooth traveling today! Ethan's prosthetic got check by customs but soon we were off to our gate. We met Abby girl and Jennifer not long after and Ethan was so excited to see her. We made it to the Quantum House "home sweet home"! Its great seeing old and new faces. We had a very nice dinner prepared my our friend MJ! Tomorrow carrot cake! Yummy! Ethan ran around and played with his old friend Liddy. To my surprise he was past out by the time I jumped out if the shower. Well it's time for bed we have the marathon at 6 am! Wish us luck it's going to be 46 degrees in the morning. Great running weather but not too great for Ethan and Abby on a stroller.