What a day! and its not over

Kerry's short version.... It's been a busy day with good moments sad moments, stressful moments, and boring moments, the worst(for me) was when we had to leave her to have the halo screwed into her head. Ya she is sporting the new trend of summer, and it's harder to get than feathers! The best was when the doctor told us he liked what he saw in her traction X-rays, so he is not going to do the trans-oral. That is great news. He is hoping to get us into surgery tomorrow sometime after 11:30a.m. They will do decompression and fuse her c-1 and c-2 vertebra to her skull. We should be out in about 5 days. There is still a chance if the syrinx in her spine doesn't go away that we would have to do the trans-oral in the future but we are hopeful that we don't. This is wonderful news. We are so happy that the darn odontoid moved. We know are Heavenly Father is watching over our little Emma Kate, and will continue to do so through out her surgery tomorrow. Thanks again to all our family and friends who fasted and prayed for her. Thank You. We can't thank you enough.

Nates detailed version...

Ok so as many know Emma went in to the hospital today for traction. With traction the surgeon secures a halo onto the head with 4 screws into the skull, then put weights to pull the skull up and away to try and change her condition. They put Emma out for this at 1045am, and were done 30 minutes later. It was very difficult for Nate and I to see the fear in Emma's eyes. Emma woke up and was disoriented and scared. This was very hard as parents. Emma got happier a little later and we could talk to her and distract her from the pain.

This is when a series of miracles happened. The CT people had a slot and fit Emma in. Originally we were going to have to wait for tomorrow. With Emma in so much pain this was not a pleasant ordeal. So we were excited. So we moved Emma and after a long trek got to the CT. Emma's surgeon wanted to see the CT of Emma to determine which surgery to perform. If no reduction from traction, then she would need a major operation removing part of the top of Emma's spine, through her mouth (called a trans-oral odontoidectomy)- A very complicated surgery with a 2 week hospital stay in store. We did not have much hope because traction has a low success rate.

I suppose the biggest miracle is the results of the CT. The surgeon was excited to see that the traction had indeed worked better than he had hoped. This was VERY good news for us! Basically, now Emma will have surgery tomorrow, and be out of the hospital by Monday. :)

Although the surgery tomorrow has a faster recovery, it is still a big surgery. The doctor will put Emma back in traction and then fuse her C1 and C2 vertebrae in the correct position. Also the doctor will perform decompression for her chiari malformation.

Kerry and I feel blessed that we have such wonderful friends and family to pray for us and support us. Thank you all very much.

End of Epistle