The Surgery

We loaded up the camper and headed out for the surgery two days after school was finished. We decided to take a mini-vacation before we went to Raleigh for the surgery. We stopped outside of Cincinnati the first night and went to the Creation Museum. We only had about two hours to spend there, but it was sufficient time to see the exhibits. The next day we drove several hours to Williamsburg, VA. We spent one whole day at Colonial Williamsburg, the next day at Busch Gardens, and the third day shopping and driving to Raleigh. We did enjoy these few days of sightseeing, but the surgery was definitely on all of our minds...








We had an appointment with Dr. Hey on Wednesday in between his surgeries. He explained all that would be happening during the surgery and what to expect after. This put all of our minds at ease. We were able to go back to the camper that night and watch a movie and we all got more sleep than we expected.

We were up early the next morning and to the hospital by six. We got checked in and they brought us back to prep her for surgery. She was very anxious, but Dr. Hey met with us and prayed with us which helped. But, I will say that watching them wheel her away when she was asking to go home was one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

The surgery lasted less than three hours. Dr. Hey met with us and told us that the surgery had gone perfectly--she is straight! We were able to see the xrays and breathe a sigh of relief. She was very anxious in the recovery room and was asking for me so I went back to be with her. She just wanted to be assured that she was straight and that everything was OK.


Post-op is just tough. There's no way around it. It was tough for her and for us. The morphine pump made her sick, the pain was excruciating without it and with nausea on top of that things were tough. The next day she was able to get out of bed, get the IV's out and begin the rehab process. This was probably the most difficult day and night. It was hard on all of us, but the nurses were great and we did make it through.


By Saturday things were better and by Sunday we were headed home. We had originally planned to drive home. Dr. Hey said that she would be fine driving, but we knew we would have to take it slow as she had to walk every two hours. My sister had the idea that we could fly Southwest to Midway and she would drive us home from there. It was a decision between 18 hours of driving and 6 hours to fly. We chose to fly. Dr. Hey graciously offered to drive us to the airport since my husband and son left early Sunday morning to drive the camper home. It was rough getting through the airport and sitting two hours on the flight, but she made it and was thrilled to get home. We got home around six and the boys were home about 9:30 that night.




My sister (who is a nurse) spent the night and got us through the first several hours at home which was a huge blessing! Our biggest challenge now is finding the perfect balance of pain meds. But she is up and moving even though the pain is still pretty bad when the meds begin to wear off.

All that said, she is doing amazingly well. The biggest change we have seen is that she is incredibly taller than she was! Her back and posture are beautiful! I don't think she's to the point yet of saying she's glad she did it, but things are definitely looking up.

The Lord has been with us--guiding our decisions, blessing us with friends and family who pray and care for us so much, and giving us peace and strength all along the way. He blessed us with a godly doctor who reminded us all that it is God who heals. We feel very blessed.