Posted by Maddie on November 12, 2001 at 09:31:07:
Dear Fellow Brilanders,
I have just returned last night from a weekend in Dallas, where I visited our friend Robert Johnson at the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. First, let me say that it is an incredible orthopedic facility and Robert is getting superior care. They only take children through their 18th year and as Robert turns 19 in January, he just squeaked in.
I met his doctor yesterday morning when I went to say good-bye and he explained what they did to Robert's leg which was both crooked and 2" shorter than his other leg. They removed the crooked section of bone and they are now stretching his leg at the rate of about 1/2" a month through a series of halo casts on his lower leg. It looks sort of Frankenstein-ish, but 'tis the season... He has lost 20 pounds and although he is getting bored with hospital diet food, he does realize that it is for his own good. I took him out for some good meals while I was there, which he REALLY appreciated.
He is being a real trooper and all the doctors and nurses and therapists that I spoke with said he is doing very well.
He has a very busy schedule between school twice a day, physical therapy twice a day and psychological therapy once a day. He loves Dallas and is amazed by all he sees; he had never been out of the Bahamas before this so you can imagine his reaction. He misses home and his family but he has made friends with some of the other kids and is doing fine.
His Mother came up to see him a few weeks ago and she will be back for Christmas.
He is going home with his roommate for Thanksgiving dinner and a friend of mine is going to see him every week and having her nephew take him out to the movies and to do other "guy stuff".
He has been to a football game and has seen the ice skating rink at a local mall; all fascinating. When my friend's handsfree car phone rang while we were transporting Robert back to the hospital on Saturday and she stared talking into thin air, Robert was amazed. It was fun watching him try to absorb it all, talk about sensory overload!
His haircut at Supercuts was $18 and he was aghast as it is only $5 at home...
The doctors have also discovered that because of a condition in his sinuses and/or tonsils that Robert suffers from sleep apnea. A doctor from Dallas Children's Hospital is going to be coming to Robert's hospital on November 14th to perform a surgery to fix this condition. In front of Robert, his doctor told me that Robert was snoring so loudly that the ear, nose and throat doctor heard him across town at the children hospital and that he is coming to do the surgery so that they can all get some sleep. Robert laughed!
I'll keep you posted.
Maddie