A New Chapter Begins...Monday Pre-OP

We had a good trip today and made it to St. Louis Children's Hospital for our first appointment at 10am.  We met up with the physical therapist and walked into a room with a wall lined with mirrors and instantly Haley loved it--she is just loves looking at herself clapping, moving around etc--so she was very excited and  it was a great motivation tool.  After changing into shorts and a t-shirt, the therapist, Deanna, had Haley walk across the room with her walker, practice standing up as she sat on a bench, walk up and down stairs, side stepped, crawled and other floor activities while someone video taped it all.  She also took measurements of her legs, feet and hips to check the spasticity.  In 4 months they will do the same thing again and hopefully we'll see significant improvement!  We did find out that her new braces we received last week are not quite to their satisfaction and so she'll have to be re-casted for new braces probably on Sunday here before we leave the hospital.  

Later we were dismissed to meet up with Dr. Park's assistant where she listened to her lungs and did health history.  After lunch we headed downstairs to Radiology at 1pm where Haley laid on her tummy while the doctor came in and marked her back the location in which they'll make the incision (between L1 and L2 where the nerve grouplets branch off).  I guess you can say that the "X" marks the spot!!

So, after 2 Beanie Babies, and 2 books, stickers, suckers and lots of smiles later--she had a very good day!!  And, to top it all off--the Lord answered our prayers as we found out that the Ronald McDonald House had a room for us.  We will be staying here through Saturday night and it's a huge savings for us so we can stay close to the hospital.  Haley was very happy to see a nice play room.

We're getting ready to take Haley shopping, eat at a place of her choice and perhaps see a movie...all at her request. :)

We report for surgery Tuesday the 5th at 10am and surgery will be around 12:30pm.  We will give more updates later.