Surgical Success!

10 months ago, Maria was in a very bad car accident traveling to ski in Germany. She severed her spine at the 2nd Lumbar vertebrae. Maria was the luckiest 17 year old in the world that day because she did no damage to her spinal chord. She was taken to Munich where she had surgery to repair the broken spine with pins and screws. Her recovery was slow but she was very strong. She wore an ugly brace nonstop right up until the day before Prom. Her wonderful doctor, Robert Gunzburg, took over her case here in Brussels and cared for her throughout her recovery. On Wed, Dec. 16, Dr. Gunzburg was confident that Maria was ready to put her injury behind her and have the hardware removed. She checked into Edith Cavell Hospital and prepared for surgery.

She had a beautiful room with a great view of the city. The staff were so kind. The nurses seemed to sense Maria's needs before we could even call them. Although they only spoke French, we had a cheat sheet (from Maria's boyfriend) with all the important sentences written out for us. They even had a coffee cart that traveled up and down the halls.

Maria was scared before the surgery. We had so much anticipation and time to worry.

Maria asked Dr. Gunzburg if she could keep the hardware after he removed it! What a souvenir! Bob put it all back together just the way it was in her back. It is unbelievable to think that those huge screws, bolts and pins were actually in Maria's back. Now she has holes in her bones where the screws had been, but those will fill in quickly.

We are so glad to put all this behind us. But more importantly, we are thankful Maria is well and ready to move forward!