I have requested copied of Emily's medical records from her hospital stay so that we have record of everything. I also took a gamble and called Radiology and asked if I could get copies of Emily's x-rays and they are going to make a disk copy of them for me to pick up. I thought that it would be kind of neat to have copies of her before and after pictures of her chest.

Emily's recovery is going well. She doesn't complain about pain in the incision area but rather she is dealing with pain and aching on her sides. The surgeon was puzzled when we told him this. We are guessing that because the bar is attached to her rib cage on both sides that there isn't any flexibility with the ribs. Normally your rib cage naturally moves with you but for Emily the bar kind of acts like an internal cast and immobilizes her rib cage. This issue never crossed our minds but makes so much sense. I am hoping that over time this won't be such an issue. 

Back at school

Emily went back to school on Friday for the first time. She did well and had fun too. It is so hard to believe that she had surgery less than three weeks ago and she is already doing so well. I guess it is true that kids bounce back fast. Emily does get frustrated that she can't be active and do everything that she did before surgery. 

Emily's Post Op Visit

Today Emily had her post-op visit. The surgeon took her bandages off and was very pleased with what her chest looked like. She will go back in 3 months for another follow-up visit. Until then she will have physical limitations so that she can continue to heal. The surgeon also said that Emily needed to gain some weight. We will have to work on that.