Walking Spirit

Well, after a long day of waiting and surgery and more waiting Jeremy is resting back at the burn center tonight-he was given a room there after his surgery because there were rooms available and he is a former patient. I guess they kind of liked him there so they were glad to have him return. Surgery was supposed to be at 12:30 but the surgical team didn't actually wheel Jeremy back until around 2:30. Then there was more waiting.

Around 6:45 Dr. Stewart came out to talk with Mom and Dad. She explained that she had decided to do her other surgeries first because she wanted to be available to spend some time talking to Jeremy and answering his questions when he awakened. (Hmm...Jeremy ask questions??? How odd...) :)

She told them that she had "peeled" away an extraordinary amount of bone from Jeremy's leg (around 3 cups worth). She was impressed with the fact that Jeremy had been able to get up on prosthetics at all because of the amount of pain that should have caused. Good for Jeremy for persevering!

Dr. Stewart mentioned that Jeremy would probably think that she had taken more inches off of the length of his leg. That's not the case. The entire femur is still there but it looks much smaller due to the amount of excess bone that was taken away. The beauty of this is that when they went to close up there was extra skin-and they don't want extra skin because they need a good tight and smooth surface to fit the prosthesis. So, they had to remove some. They were able to remove the entire graft area from the burn injury! All his skin is his own healthy skin!! Dr. Stewart mentioned that because they were able to remove the rest of the burned area this type of problem is unlikely to develop again. I should also mention that in addition to bone peeling, (doesn't that sound awful? I keep envisioning a potato peeler.), the doctor removed the screws from Jeremy's femur. The bone has healed nicely.

Overall, surgery was a huge success. Mom and Dad report that he is uncomfortable this evening but glad that surgery is over. He will have radiation treatment tomorrow and the doctor has suggested that he remain in the hospital until Wednesday just to give him more time to rest. We'll see what he thinks about that! Dr. Stewart felt that the incision should be healed within two weeks give or take and then he can get up and running (or rather, walking) again. Dr. Stewart and everyone else who knows Jeremy-and I'm beginning to think that's just about everybody-are very complementary about him. They enjoy working with him and feel that he is an inspiration to all. I wholeheartedly agree.

Jeremy should be back with you on Wednesday-I know you will miss him if he's unable to do it. However, if he's not able to do it I will give a follow up on his post-op progress. Take care.

Sarah