Day 28 of Recovery - Four Week Anniversary: Coming Home!

After Surgery

Before Surgery

These two images only give a bit of an idea of the dramatic change the surgery has had on Tesfaye's spine and torso. The clothing hides the fact that before surgery Tesfaye had a 90 to a 100 degree bend which had him totally folded over, compressing all of his internal organs, with his neck perpendicular to, rather than in line with, his back. He had no waist to cinch his pants to. He now can see his "belly button" for the first time since he was around 8 years old.

Homecoming Friday July 10,2009: I cannot believe that this day, the day that Tesfaye is released from the hospital, has finally come. It was four weeks ago today that I was driving Tesfaye to the hospital at 5:15 am to undergo his surgery. Although both Tesfaye and I were well briefed on what the operation and post-operation recovery involved, when Tesfaye was wheeled away from me to the Operating Room on that Friday, June 12th, I could not know for sure what lay ahead in terms of surgical outcome and the recovery process.

Looking back today I can say that the 14 hour corrective spinal surgery done under the lead of our world class surgeon, Dr. Marcel Dvorak, together with his expert spinal team was an amazing success, and Tesfaye's recovery process, though affected by a few (mostly predictable) complications, was masterfully handled by the skilled care teams at our first rate Vancouver General Hospital. I cannot say enough about the manner and level of care and attention that Tesfaye received here. Based on what I have personally witnessed on essentially a daily basis over the last four weeks and have been told by experts, Tesfaye was lucky that the anaesthesiologist wisely declined to conduct the surgery in Ghana, where equipment and facilities are just not as sophisticated and able to deal with complications as here.

2:30 pm Friday, July 10, 2009: After a meeting filled morning and a lovely "catch up" lunch with Anne Campbell I hurried to pick up Melaku's daughter Emebet, who kindly offered to serve as interpreter in place of her Dad, and met up with Nanci at the hospital for the discharge information sessions. Over the course of the next hour and a half or so Tesfaye, Nanci and I were briefed by the Occupational Therapist, Physio Therapist and Dietician about any physical restrictions, recommended exercises, and nutritional requirements and limitations, followed by a concluding session with Lise about Tesafaye's ongoing medication and pain management program. After all those sessions and with no more questions on our part, it was time for a somewhat emotional farewell. Of course we will be back for check ups and follow up appointments, including stitches removal next week, a repeat swallow test in four weeks, and a throat/vocal cord check up in a couple of months,but for the last month Tesfaye's life has totally depended on and revolved around the VGH and its staff - and I must say much of my own life over that period has likewise been consumed by Tesfaye and the hospital.

As we left the Spinal Ward on floor 9 I took a side by side shot of a before and after xray of Tesfaye's back, which really highlights the really unbelievable degree of transformation the surgery has achieved for Tesfaye's previously severely curved spine. As we exited the main floor doors of the Centennial Pavilion to finally return to our house, I had to have Emebet capture that moment in a picture. Emebet came back to our house with us for the homecoming moment, a very happy moment for all which Nanci made sure to mark with celebratory balloons. Stephi's smiling face was there to greet Tesfaye at the door. When it was time to take Emebet back to her house Tesfaye came along for the ride. The dramatic difference in Tesfaye's posture and height was immediately noticeable by the fact that he could now sit upright and see out the car window without adding a thick pillow. After dropping off Emebet we enjoyed a lovely Shabbat meal back at our house. Tesfaye was so happy to be back home and was his usual clowning self, and we all savoured the moment and gave thanks. I always look forward to and enjoy our Friday night family dinners, but this was one Friday night family dinner that had extra special meaning.