Heidi's leg contraption.

As Heidi had requested I left the camera in the car at the hospital. No one likes to have their photo taken when they are miserable. She did let me take a few shots of it this morning. Mostly for her Aunt Jackie to see, because Heidi thinks Jackie has a weird foot fascination thing going on. So here is a shot of her foot just laying on her side.

Here is a shot of the top of her foot.

You can't really see much with the bandages, but they will be coming off next week and we will take a few more shots then.

Here is the bottom of her foot. You can see the rods and wires a little here. The big black horseshoe in the photo is attached to her leg.

This is a close up. The blood is old and no big deal. She does have a few stitches in her heel. They will come out next week. There are also stitches on the top of the foot, under the bandages. When all the bandages come off we will start stretching the ankle joint by moving the screws a little each day. They will be lengthening it a total of 5mm, over 10 days. That's my job. Makes me feel like the torcher chamber person. Then the new cartilage can grow back into the joint. There is a really cool shoe part that hooks onto the bottom of this and in a couple of weeks she will be walking on it.

Pre Surgery Hike Photos

These are a few shots of our little side trip... On the way there we stopped at Multanoma Falls and Hiked up to the bridge. It was nice to get some fresh air and exersice.

Pre surgery smile and fun.

The bridge in the photo is the one we hiked to. It is only .2 mile. So not to bad. The trip to the top is about a mile and a half straight up.

It was very wet, but very pretty.

We loved this set of stairs, they were very midevil castle like.

Home at last

Everything went amazingly wonderful in Portland and Friday afternoon the Dr. said she could go home. YEAH!!!!!! We really didn't want to spend the weekend there anyway. She was discharged late in the afternoon, so we checked into a hotel and slept. And slept and slept and watched a little tv.

Saturday we got up and drove home. I gave Heidi her meds and put her to bed in the back of the van and she slept most of the trip home. It is a long boring trip when you have no one to talk to. LOL

Last night we got her settled in her room and she slept some more. I was finally able to get some really good sleep also. Heidi is doing great, she is on pain meds and they seem to keep it under control. Emma was thrilled to have her mommy home, but only until I told her it clean up her bedroom, then she told me "to leave and go back to Portland, because dad doesn't make her clean her room."

We will be returning to Portland in Dec for a check up. But that will be by airplane and will be a quick one day trip. She will have the fixator on her leg until Feb. It is kind of cool, kind of like a erector set gone wild.

I'll take photos this morning when she wakes up.

Heidi would love visitors, but please remember that she needs her sleep and she doesn't need germs. If you are sick or have not been feeling well a phone call would be a better choice. We are asking everyone to hand sanitize when they do come over.

Done with surgery

We got to the hospital at 6a.m. and Heidi had her surgery at 7. She was out of surgery at around noon. She was so sad and in pain and cried and cried. Then they gave her Drugs.

HOW WE LOVE DRUGS

After a ton of morphine she began to calm down and sleep. She slept most of the day. She is in a shared room with a really cute little 8 yr old girl. The rooms are small and with two girls, two moms and all the equiptment it is really crowded.

The surgery went very well and the Dr. is hopeful that this will be one of the last surgeries she will have. Her foot is in a Halo (not the PS3 game). It is three rods and rings that go all the way around the foot. Right now it is bandaged and swollen. She had an epidral in her back so she is confined to the bed until tomorrow afternoon. If I get a chance I'll take a photo of her foot.

well it is bedtime here and that means no sleep for anyone in this room. Thank goodness for wireless internet.

We made it to Portland

We made it to Portland safely and without any snow. It did rain a bit but not bad. We went to the Falls on the way here and got some great photos and some fresh air. Then we hit the mall and did some shopping. Tomorrow is her CT scan and Dr. Appointment. I'm typing this from the business center at the hotel so I will keep it short today.