Hospital

Some things about hospitals that you may have forgotten -
1) They are cold! I froze for 2 days. It's hard to remember a jacket when it's 102 degrees outside.
2) Everything takes longer than you are told. Luke's surgery should have taken an hour. He went in to the operating room at 2:30, finished at 5:00 pm. I was debating a meltdown when Dr. Camp came out.
3) There is a lot of sitting around. Next time, I am going to bring a jump rope and burn off some anxiety.
4) Sunrise Hospital has free wi-fi. So forget jumping rope, I will just catch up on TV episodes on Hulu instead. Anything to make time pass quicker.
5) If you have someone staying in the hospital, plan on staying with them. The nurses can not watch all their patients. If Greg hadn't stayed the night with Luke, it would have been pretty unpleasant.

Waiting for surgery to begin. The IV in the hand is so gross. Luke wasn't very happy about it.

Coming out of surgery

All wrapped up in bandages

First steps
Coming Home

First Visitors-Clarissa

and her sister, Alexa!

Welcoming the Pain

Today we spent 3 hours with Luke at Dr. Camp's office. Dr. Camp became Luke's orthopedic surgeon in 2003 when Luke had hip surgery as a result of his arthritis. Though the surgery corrected the destruction of his left hip, it also left his leg shorter because the hip screws crossed the leg's growth plate. We have been waiting for the day that Luke would be done growing and Dr. Camp could correct this through a limb lengthening process. Next Wednesday is the anticipated day of surgery. He will wear this device (see picture) until Thanksgiving/Christmas time.

Luke was so happy to finally reach this milestone. He can't wait for the surgery. He stated that he welcomes the pain, knowing that it's "the beginning of the end" of this journey called "life with arthritis".