Days 12 and 13 Post Op - Day Trip to the Aquarium and Post Op Follow Up in Danbury, CT

SUBWAY Sandwich....with dad

5/20 Trip to Aquarium with same day surgery buddy!

 

#248 and #249.....

Milena was the 249th Neurogenic MALS surgery patient...

....and only one of 7 from the "Dallas" area.....

Milena with her surgeon, Dr. Richard Hsu
of The Vasular Experts

May 20th and 21st - Post Op Days 12 and 13

• Trip to the Norwalk Aqarium with surgery buddy
• Post Op appointment in Danbury, CT with Dr. Hsu

Jen's comments (I was back in Texas being jealous of all the fun they were having....) 

Trip to the Norwalk Aqarium with surgery buddy - Lena and Jessica were finally awake and feeling good on the SAME day and they met up at an Aquarium that had so many cool things.  

Post Op appointment in Danbury, CT with Dr. Hsu - A requirement of the surgery in Connecticut...was that Milena had to stay in the area for about 2 weeks.  Post op day finally arrived, and Erick drove Milena the 45 minutes from the Ronald McDonald House.  I had sent a (Short) list of questions...and demanded that Milena get "THE" pictures of the map, her surgery #249 on the map, and with Dr. Hsu.  Dr. Hsu examined her, and said that since her incision glue had already fallen off, that she was "ahead of the game" regarding healing...and said she didnt' have any restrictions.  She could start swimming, core exercises, etc.  Amazing.

One thing we didn't realize, until we basically were AT the pre op appointment - was that the less time the MALS sufferer spends in the malnutrition/dehydration zone...the shorter and easier the recovery.  There are patients who spend years trying to just figure out what they have, then spend more time trying to figure out the treatment, then some even have surgery with another Dr., only to end up finding Dr. Hsu and needing another operation using Dr. Hsu's approach.  Dr. Hsu is pretty much the ONLY surgeon that does the Neurogenic MALs/Celiac Ganglion Dissection.  Many patients have been on feeding tubes for a long time before finally having the surgery.  In fact, we also discovered while Milena was in the hospital..that Dr. Hsu's surgery schedule is now booked until MARCH 2020.  If Lena hadn't been able to get on the schedule when she did, she likely would have been waiting months and months - meaning she too would have needed a feeding tube, etc.

But now that we are past the surgery, it seems that the information regarding the fact that Lena was able to get in within a few months of her decline, has proven true!  At this point, the scar looked amazing, She was feeling good, walking and moving so well, etc, etc.

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