January 30, 2005
Joe's 2nd Surgery: Thumb's up so far!
Hello everyone,
Joe's surgery day went well. Thank you for all the lovely messages to him while he was in-patient. He came home after an overnight stay and within a few days was done with pain medication.
We are happy to report that at his follow-up appointment, Joe's surgeon was pleased (and somewhat suprised) at how well Joe's hand is functioning. He was most amazed at the fluid movement of Joe's thumb. Once again I have to speculate that frequent Game Boy-playing might have contributed to this outcome. For the moment (and the next five weeks) Joe has a substantially-sized black cast that extends above his elbow. In early March, it will come off and we'll get a chance to see how it looks on an x-ray to determine how well the bone graft has healed. At that point we'll find out what happens next, cast-wise. News on how well the fusion worked will not be evident for some months yet.
Just prior to that (March 1), Joe has another set of cancer scans. We are looking forward to the month of February, which (knock on wood) will be our first appointment-free month since October of 2003.
To help us celebrate that, we are all looking forward to this year's Dance Marathon, which will take place February 4 and 5. It is an amazing event. You can check it out at:http://www.uiowa.edu/~dancemar/
During the Marathon, the web page has a live action cam so you can take a peek and see if you can spot Joe and Seth in the huge crowd. They are both lobbying hard to be allowed to stay up all 24 hours this year. We will see.
We will also celebrate Joe's grandfather's (Doyle Britton) 75th Birthday in February with a trip to Minneapolis. February will also find us with friends for a long weekend in the woods of Wisconsin. It looks like a fun month all around.
We send good wishes and thanks to everyone reading this.
Gratefully,
Jenny, Tom, Joe and Seth
January 09, 2005
Joe's Arm Surgery, Round 2
Happy and Healthy New Year to All!
We are now set for Joe's arm, Round 2. His reconstructive forearm surgery
is set for Thursday, January 13, 2005, almost a year to the day of his first arm surgery. We expect he will be in the hospital overnight and then home. We plan to keep him out of school for at least a week.
The above black and white picture does not do justice to his holiday-colorful green and red plaster cast. We look forward to a new cast color after his operation. The picture does do justice to his lovely head of hair. Contrary to some predictions, it did not come back curly and a different color. And we are happy to report that his lovely cowlick seems to have grown since last time we saw it.
If you would like to send Joe an e-mail greeting while he is in-patient for his surgery, you can do so through the hospital's patient e-mail greeting service here. [Remember, he won't be there until 1/13/05.]
We will do another post after his operation. It will likely be weeks, if not months, before we know for sure that the reconstruction was successful.
Our continued thanks to all for your prayers and good wishes. They mean the world to us and to Joe.
Love,
Jenny, Tom, Joe and Seth