Update on Vivian - 6/13/11

Vivian drinking a milkshake

***Copied from an email sent tonight to family and friends***

Vivian is going to have additional surgery on her arm Wednesday morning.

Though Vivian recovered completely in all other areas after her month+ stay in ICU last summer, she has very little range of motion in her left elbow (essentially it is stuck in a 90° angle). This is due to heterotopic ossicifation (excess bone) that grew around the location of the break in her arm and is impeding the elbow joint; essentially Vivian's arm "overhealed."

Vivian's surgery is scheduled for 7:30 Wednesday morning at Medical City Children's Hospital. Her orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Brown, plans to remove some of the hardware in Vivian's arm that is no longer needed in addition to as much of the excess bone as he can. Dr. Brown expects the procedure to take about three hours. Vivian will spend Wednesday night in the hospital, and I hope that we can take our time getting discharged Thursday so that she can be monitored for as long as possible (last summer Vivian's high fever occurred about 36 hours after her surgery).

Vivian will wear a cast (or in her words a "cactus") for two weeks. After her cast is removed, Dr. Brown wants Robert and me to encourage Vivian to reach for things with her left arm as much as possible, but not to force it as that could cause the bone to overheal again. Vivian uses her left arm a lot right now so Dr. Brown is very hopeful that she will be able to regain some range of motion in that elbow.

I took Vivian up to Medical City for her pre-op visit today, and she did great! Vivian seemingly has little memory of her extended stay there, likely due to the amnesiac drugs that she took when her condition was most grave (I wish they had given me some of that medicine too). The nurse asked Vivian what happened to her arm, and Vivian told her, "Percy scratched me." (Percy is Vivian's beloved and devoted cat who has no front claws.) Then Vivian said to the nurse, "You will give me a Band-Aid to make my arm better?" If only it were that simple!

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for Vivian this week. Please pray that her surgery is successful and uneventful, that Vivian tolerates the anesthesia well, that Dr. Brown is able to remove the excess bone growth without complication, that Vivian remains free of infection and that her recovery is swift. Pray also that the nerves and blood vessels in the crook of Vivian's arm are long enough to allow increased motion in her elbow. Pray that no heterotopic bone develops in Vivian's arm after the surgery. Finally, pray that Vivian remains pleasant and easy to manage during her hospital stay (you might also pray that I remain pleasant as well).

I will post updates on my blog and on Facebook Wednesday morning and will send an email as soon as Vivian is out of recovery.

Thank you so much for your prayers for Vivian. Certainly God honored them last summer; He has used our sweet, funny little Vivian to bless people all over the world in ways I could have never imagined.

I cannot adequately express how much Robert and I appreciate your words of concern and encouragement.

Warmly,
Eloise

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1-2


Vivian tonight with the sweet, long-suffering, patient Percy