October 13, 2005

  • Tomorrow morning at 6am, my little sister will be undergoing a complicated surgery to correct her gait in an operation called hip varus osteotomy or derotational osteotomy.
    Basically, her left leg and hip are not aligned the way they should be,
    and it causes her foot to turn inward and makes it harder to walk and
    run. It's a big deal for her! While she's looking forward to fewer
    trips and falls and less wear and tear on her foot and body, it means
    at least 6 weeks in a cast up to her waist or casts on both legs
    connected by a rod to immobilize them.

    Christina has had other operations since she was born with a mild case
    of cerebral palsy, but this is the biggest one yet...and still not a
    very well known operation. Not experimental, but certainly not common.
    From what I could make sense of it, the procedure involves cutting out
    bone in the hip socket to make the femur seat itself correctly. She's
    also getting her foot operated on to grind down some bone there too,
    making this a 7 or 8 hour surgery. It's supposed to be extremely
    painful, and she'll be on a morphine drip. So...please pray for her!
    And our mom!

    If you've ever met Christina, you know she's an incredible joy and a
    bucket of sunshine. I wrote this on my old blog back in March:

    My sister Christina turned 12 today! We shared a great family time
    talking at the table after her birthday dinner about her early moments
    of life. My mom touching her for a moment before she was wisked away to
    the NICU to stay in a plastic incubator until after a couple of weeks
    she could move into a regular hospital room and finally home.

    She
    is an inspiration to live with and an inspiration to so many people
    that meet her. Never ever letting her physical struggles deter her from
    doing what she wants, she has a powerful spirit about her that makes me
    think. I had surgery a couple of times and remember how painful that
    was. She has had many surgeries relating to her premature birth. In
    fact, she's preparing for another one now. Recently, she's received
    Botox to relax her leg muscles then gets the leg casted into a
    stretched position, a procedure that's very painful for her to go
    through. [a separate procedure earlier this year]

    Your courage is motivating and uplifting, and your love
    of God is humbling. Christina, I love you and thank you for all the
    lessons you have taught me.

    Christina reads my site (okay
    everyone in the family does, even Chris on occassion), so whatever you
    post, she'll see - and I can print this out and bring it to the
    hospital since she'll be there for a couple of days.

    I'm gonna go buy her some animal posters she wanted off of AllPosters.com!

    Whoa, I made a number of errors
    in this entry....that my MOM took the liberty of correcting! She signed
    up on Xanga today so she could leave the comments... Woo Woo!

    Can't....stop....making....shirts....and hoodies?

Comments (28)

  • such a cute picture of you two! we'll be praying for Christina.

  • You'll have to tell her this for me: Christina you are soo brave, and I am praying for you, and love you.. and look forward to signing your cast! =)

  • Hope the operation goes pray, I'll include her in my prayers~ Tell her Chris' roommate says hi

  • Christina, I feel inspired and I have never even met you.  Thank you for your courage it gives others courage as well.  God Speed friend.

  • I've never met Christina, but I'd guess she IS "a bucket of sunshine."  Every picture / video I've seen, she's all smiles and happiness.  Surgery is never fun, but this sounds particularly painful.  Hang in there, kiddo!  I'll be praying for your mom (I know how hard it is to see your baby in pain).

  • Hey Christina!
    Remember the best medicine is God and a good attitude. Sounds like you've got those nailed down :)
    If there's anything you want me to do to Nick (give him a hug, lollipop, noogie, whatever, tell Nick to tell me. He's cool like that.
    Mountains of joy are coming! You just have to stick it out through the valley for a bit longer.

  • Christina,
    Hang in there, Sweetie. You're in my thoughts..

  • I remember that blog entry quite well...it brought more than a few tears One of the first things you told us about your family was about Christina, and her condition, and your love and JOY in her shone in your eyes like a beacon. 

    Christina, your brother and family all love you very much, and God smiles on you and through you ~ you glow every time you smile, which is every picture I've ever seen of you!! Blessings and strength to you, sweetpea!

  • Christina, praying your surgery and recovery will go great!  Enjoy all those cool animal posters.  Have your brother show you (or print out for you) photos about a Giraffe Beauty Contest at OumaB Xanga site on Sept 30-Oct 1.  They're so beautiful!

  • opps guess I shouldn't use that picture~~ sorrie

  • Hi Nick,

    thank you for posting a prayer request for Christina. We started a list of all of the people praying for her and it continues to grow. She is quite encouraged by the prayer as this is a very intimidating surgery. Just a few corrections to the technical medical stuff tho: This is actually her first surgery (other than tubes for ear infections). She has had injections, casts, splints, electrical stim, and lots of PT, but this is surgery #1. It's a four part procedure: Femoral derotation osteotomy - they cut the femur below the socket and rotate it and then secure it with plate and screws. Next, they are injecting medication into her hamstring to relax the tightness. Next, they cut the heelcord (achilles tendon) to allow more flexion in the foot and lastly, they are fusing bone in her heel. I can't remember what else needed to be updated, but that's probably more info than most of your readers needed.:) But, I agree with your thoughts that Christina has such an incredibly tender heart, with a smile that melts even the hardest of hearts. We all learn from her tenacity and sweetness. I love ya too, Nick! Who else, but your Mom

  • Christina would like to tell everyone:" Thank you for praying for me. It means a lot to me to know that people care so much about me. I'll keep my smile for you:). Love, Christina"

    Victoria would like to tell everyone: "After being Christina's sister for nine years, and going to therapy and doctor appointments with her, I hear so many things about the upcoming surgery. I just think that this must be a rough time for her. I think to myself, ' she just needs prayer - God will take care of the rest'. You are a great sister to me. Love, Victoria "

  • nick please pass this on to my christina :) she probably won't get it before the surgery since it's pretty late now...

    christina - i love you so much and am so proud of how brave you have been with all of the things you have gone through. Through it all, you continue to love Jesus and trust him with your life. You are an inspiration to so many people including me. Since you were born, we've had the bond of being preemies and sharing the same birthday, so know that I will be praying for you tomorrow and in the coming weeks, and I love you with all my heart. p.s. we still need to make those preemie shirts. :) -Dawn

  • nick definately. although words fail me, shock i know, truly The Lord does and will not.  i like you.  and your family is very blessed to have a man of your character in theri life. we all are.

  • Christina, you are in my thoughts and in my prayers. We only knew each other for a little while, but your strength and genuine joy is an inspiration to me (and I absolutely love your smile :) . Lots of love, sweetheart.

    ~Katie

  • Hey Nick, I will definitely keep Christina in my prayers! ...let her know :)

  • cute shirts - i want one! :)

  • hello everyone.
    Praise the Lord. She is in recovery now. Surgery was a success. It will be a long recovery process, but the Lord guided the surgeon's hands. I will give a testimony later, because I want to be available when she comes out of the recovery room. Thank you, all of you. she was very brave and at the last minute, she became quite afraid - I think she was entitled to those feelings. She made many people smile already - before the surgery, I mean. I know that she will do the same as soon as she feels better.

  • I had an Albee Osteotomy ... that's with the knee.  It's a rough recovery but well worth it!

    I'll pray for her!

  • To the Crawford Family:

    My thoughts and prayers are with you and Christina during this difficult time.  Although I have not met Christina, I am encouraged by her faith and pray for a quick recovery.  She has such a wonderful support network through her family, friends, and God Himself, all of which will giver her the strength that she needs to make it through.

  • Aww- I know I said on Jessica's blog that I wouldn't comment for you anymore Nick- but this is for Christina!... God bless you and all you've done for the world so far in your life! I know that God has great plans for you- and I'm so excited to see someone bearing the name of Christ in their own name to shine His light for the rest of the world to see! By His stripes you are healed- so that you may be a testamony to all who are lost. Praise Jesus for you!

  • Awww...she's cute :)

    I'll pray that her surgery goes well...she's so brave to be going through something like that.  I know it's something I could never do...

  • What a sweet girl. I'm so glad she has so many people who love her.

    About my cousin's comment...if you go back a couple of entries in my blog I put a link to the Benner family's website. their "links" page is a virtual goldmine of interesting things. I would give you the link now, but i'm at work and the computer is acting dumb.

  • *Random chance to BOTH read Xanga AND comment!!!*

    O.K. so I will totally be praying for your little sister. I can't even imagine anything like that. Baby and job are both doing fine. Thank you for your interest! Have a great day/night!

  • You are in my prayers!  May you feel the fingers of Jesus as He speeds the healing in your body.  You are loved perfectly by our heavenly Father.  My love to you, too. . . In His lavish love, Darlene

  • ryc ur mom's comments...EXCELLENT!

  • Thank you all for the prayers. Christina came home tonite. We are all taking care of her. She will do well, I'm sure. Nitey, nite.

  • so, how's Christina doing, a year later? Such a sweet girl. I wish I was around to babysit

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