Baseball, Hot Dogs and Apple Pie...

With the 4th of July just around the corner, it is time for us to say farewell to Memaw Rita for the third summer in row. Jo's mom has been with us for a little over 6 weeks and she has been a tremendous help getting us through Jo's first shoulder surgery. Thank you Memaw for all you have done for us!

Speaking of summer, the 4th of July and Baseball (The Great American Pastime), how about those Yankees? At 3 games under .500, this could be the worst start in Yankee Town in recent memory. Jo actually received a call from the Bronx Bombers this week. They heard that her shoulder was feeling so good, they were hoping she would consider pitching (left handed) in their starting rotation. Ultimately, Jo's decision came down to this...

Roger Clemens - $22M
Jo's Offer - $10M
Being a Mom - Priceless

Believe it or not, I voted that she take the job.

Jo has about 95% of her range of motion back in her left shoulder. She does still have a bit of soreness and her incision is a little tender, but overall, the shoulder recovery continues to be incredibly easy.

We have made an appointment for Jo's right shoulder surgery on September 5th which will be here quicker than we can imagine. She could have done it sooner, but to be honest, we chose to take the summer off!

Child's Play

I know that I have a duty to entertain my reading audience, but this shoulder surgery has given me absolutely no material to write about. I asked Jo to give me the real scoop on the pain and she replied, "It's no worse than a paper cut." If the next shoulder is this easy, I may have to take a sabbatical from the blog.

Jo spent one night in the hospital and she was home by noon the next day. She took pain killers for about 48 hours and then she switched to Tylenol. As long as she doesn't move her arm in a lateral motion, she really doesn't feel much pain at all. The lateral movement must be limited for 4 to 6 weeks.

Just before going in for surgery, Jo did have another CT Scan of her head and the blood clots in her brain are completely gone! On the PNH front, Dr. Alvarez thinks that things look good enough right now that we will put any further discussions of Soliris off until we go back to the NIH in February for Jo's annual checkup.

Remember, life is all about perspective. If you have to have shoulder surgery, go have lunch with somebody who just had a total hip replacement. If you have to have a hip replacement, go have lunch with somebody that just had open heart surgery. If you have to have open heart surgery, go have lunch with somebody that just changed Anna's last poopy diaper!

A Refurbished Left Shoulder

Jo's first shoulder surgery this afternoon went completely as expected. Dr. Kelly drilled a hole into Jo's shoulder, through which she scraped out all of the diseased bone. The space was then filled with a mixture of a special putty and bone marrow that was taken from Jo's hip. I did instruct Dr. Kelly to make sure she got bone marrow and not metal shavings.

No surgery is ever fun, but today's procedure was really a piece of cake compared to the hip replacements. I haven't seen it yet, but supposedly, the incision is only an inch or two long. Compare that to a 12+ inch incision for the hip, the total amputation of the femoral head, AND a fairly good size prosthesis inserted into her leg. Jo will experience some bone pain in her shoulder for a while, but with the hips so fresh in her memory, I can't imagine her having any problem handling it.

Due to the complications Jo experienced last time, only a general anesthetic was used today. There should be no chance of a repeat of the headaches from April.

Since the surgery got just a little bit of a late start, Jo will spend the night in the hospital tonight and most likely come home tomorrow.