Back home ...

Sydney is back home recovering. She was actually discharged yesterday afternoon after doing so well in the hospital. Her surgeon said that everything went as expected -- they were able to go in and lengthen the device. He was also trying to "bend" the bottom piece of the device (where it is screwed into two vertebrae in her low back) ... he initially had to bend it because he had to use the screws versus the typical anchors that the bar usually uses. Instead of bending the bar straighter like he wanted, he replaced the entire bottom piece of the device (*we don't have a copy of the newest x-rays, but will update once we get it).

All in all, the procedure went fairly quickly ... it was blocked for two hours, but a lot of that time is for prep before and after and not necessarily for the actual surgery. Sydney has recovered quite well. She does complain of the pain in her back (which is to be expected), but the good thing we are so thankful for is that she has not had the normal side-effects of coming off of the anesthesia (i.e., vomiting, dizziness, etc.).

We're still taking it pretty easy ... it's deceiving because she "looks" so good and seems to be recovering very well, but we know that Sydney needs to take it easy and use the next couple of days to continue to recover.

Thanks again to ALL for your thoughts and prayers!
-A4