Hi Marie!
Good luck with the surgery. I'm sure she will do just fine. She doesn't weigh very much, so I would imagine they will put a walking-type cast on her leg. Braydon's surgeon put extra fiberglass on the underside of the cast so he could walk and bear weight on his leg, without damaging the structure of the cast. It worked fine for him. They have a cast shoe you can put over the cast to protect it. Braydon's last surgery was March 2004 - just last year. He was almost 9yrs old, and was able to bear weight on his leg. Each surgery is different, so only the surgeon can tell you exactly what they will be doing and how the recovery should go.
Pain management hopefully won't be a big problem. Braydon does well with alternating Tylenol and Motrin (ibuprofen) every three hours. Within a week after surgery, she probably won't need any medications, and maybe even before then.
I wish you the best! Let us know how things are going!
Carmell
mom to Kara 18, idiopathic scoliosis and hypothyroidism, Blake 14, GERD, and Braydon 9, VACTERL, GERD, DGE, Titanium Rib Project patient #137 (implant 8/01), thoracic insufficiency, rib anomalies, congenital scoliosis (fusion surgery 5/96), missing coccyx, fatty filum/TC (released 4/99), anal stenosis, chronic constipation, horseshoe (cross-fused) kidney, dbl ureter in left kidney, ureterocele (excized 6/95), kidney reflux (reimplant surgery 1/97), neurogenic bladder, bilateral hip dysplasia, right leg/foot dyplasia, tibial torsion, clubfoot with 8 toes (reconstructed 2/96, 3/96, 1/97, 3/04), pes cavus, bicuspid AV, single, umblilical artery, etc. http://pages.ivillage.com/carmellb/myfamily
