The day that we have been waiting for and the day that we have been dreading has been scheduled and we will be having the bladder put away by Dr. Gearhart on July 19th at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD.
The reason for our happiness was the fact that Robbie's bladder had grown quite a bit and Dr. Gearhart was very happy to see that development. The reason for the dread is that along with putting the bladder away, Dr. Sponseller has to also make Robbie's pelvis fuse together. This requires breaking the pelvis and screwing it back together to get it to fuse. The recovery for this part of the surgery is a minimum of 6 weeks and usually more around the 8 week mark. During that time Robbie will be weighted to the bed and his pelvis will be in traction so that it can fuse together. This requires a lot of sedation in order for him to not move much and it also requires a lot hard times for all three of us because we won't be able to hold him until he is out of the traction.
We know that we are in the best hands possible, since Dr. Gearhart literally writes the textbook on Bladder Exstrophy and the surgery that Dr. Sponseller is performing is actually called the Sponseller Method. Needless to say we will have plenty of time to keep the blog updated and to get to know Johns Hopkins Medical Center. We will update the blog as the day gets closer and just ask for your thoughts and prayers once again as Robbie will be going into his 5th surgery in just a little over a year.
