The Sisters

Valeria and her furry sister 

Casts Slipped Off Valeria's Feet

“Gino, this is urgent; one of Valeria's casts slipped off,” said Natacha on the phone, reaching me at work at about 6 pm. “I’ve talked to the hospital, and they’re calling the doctor; just be prepared for anything,” she added.

I was afraid this would happen. Just 6 days prior, when Valeria was being discharged from the hospital, her surgeon, Dr. Alburger, had prevented us, “Casts sometimes come off, so try to keep Valeria’s feet up.”

Dr. Alburger and Valeria, the day after her surgery 

Another doctor from the hospital—Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia—returned the call since Dr. Alburger was in surgery. He directed Natacha on how to put on a temporary bandage, and recommended we be at the hospital the day after.

Valeria wasn’t in pain, on the contrary; she was smiling like she hadn’t done it in days; she must have felt relieved without the cast.

When I got home from work at about midnight, Loly and Natacha were trying to distract Valeria, and preventing her from moving. I noticed the top of the other cast, which was still on, was by the ankle; that seemed odd; it originally was right below the knee. Valeria was anxious for someone to carry her, and Loly did; Valeria started swinging her legs, and that’s when I heard a big bang on the wooden floor. The other cast had slipped off too.

Seeing her foot was shocking; I couldn’t believe this was really happening; I felt like I was a spectator watching the scene from a movie. The cut from the surgery was from her ankle to her toe, and still healing; it was swollen, and bruised. This was the extremity treated of mirror foot; so basically, it was the foot that had been cut off in two to get rid of the mirrored half.

Valeria wasn’t in pain for this foot either, but Natacha started crying, and couldn’t bear to see the foot. I was breathing heavily. Fortunately, Loly was able to calm us down.

Moments later; once we were able to put ourselves together—Natacha gained her strength back, and was able to see the injury without feeling affected—we put a sock on the foot, taped it, and decided to leave to Philadelphia right away; that way we would stay in a hotel close to the hospital, and be at the door at 7:30 am when the hospital staff arrived.

I went for the rental car, came back for the family, and we all left Brooklyn at about 1 am. Valeria slept all the way to Philadelphia; on the way there, nobody said a single word; nobody put the radio; nobody asked to stop for a bathroom break; nobody wanted to wake up Valeria.

At about 3:30 am, we got to Philly. Valeria kept sleeping in the hotel and for the whole night; something she hadn’t done since before the surgery.

The morning after, arriving at the hospital was a relief, and being finally in front of Dr. Alburger even more. He examined Valeria’s feet, and said, “she’s healing well; there’s no sign of infection; I need to see her in two weeks to remove the stitches.” He didn’t put another cast on the feet, but covered them with bandages. When he called to make his voice report before leaving the office, he said, “Valeria Ginocchio, she had surgery 7 days ago; casts came off; she’s healing well; mom did a good job covering the feet.”

Finally at Shriner Hospital for Children waiting to see the doctor

We left the hospital, feeling much alleviated after a frantic night. We then went to Geno’s to eat their famous Philly Cheese Steaks. Sitting in the sun, Natacha, Loly and I were able to join Valeria in smiling.

Valeria's casts

Valeria the Champ

 

Valeria the Champ after conquering the surgery at Rocky Steps, Philadelphia

Valeria is out of surgery

It went well. She's awake, watching cartoons. Thanks to all for your concerns.

Help from Cuba

In early 2012, I called the United States Interest Section in Havana—AKA the consulate, but because of the embargo, it has a different name—to make an appointment for Loly, Natacha's mother who lives in Cuba, for a visa to the US. The soonest one available was for November 2016.

Loly wanted to be in New York when Valeria was born, but she had to miss it, and she wanted to help during Valeria's surgery, which Natacha and I really needed, but having the surgeries in Cuba proofed rather complicated.

In the meantime, we continued looking for the right doctor in the US, and found Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia; they were amazing, and quick to set up a date for the surgery.

We mentioned to Loly that we were happy with the physicians we had found, and that the surgery was within a few weeks, that would be in May 2013. She mentioned that she had heard visas’ appointments had been sped up; we should try calling again the US Interest Section. And I did without any hope.

When I phoned, they asked me for Loly’s info, and then they said, “we have an opening for April 16th, 2013.”

I thought, “2013? That’s in how many years? Wait! That’s in two weeks!”

“Will you take it or not?” the operator at the Interest Section asked.

I was still in shock, so it took me a few seconds to react, but I said, “Yes, we take it”.

In less than fourteen days, Natacha and I had to gather the documents to proof that we could financially invite her, and Loly had to gather all the documents to proof that she had strong ties to go back Cuba. The main tie was that she’s the only taking care of Nancy, her 87 years-old mom.

On April 16th, only 35 people out of 700 got visas to the US; one of them was Loly.

She didn’t have a phone, but a relative of hers emailed me with the results after the appointment. I called Natacha, who was anxiously waiting for the news, on video chat. She started jumping with joy when she heard the news, and hung me up right away; “Bye”, she said, “I have to tell the family.”

After getting her visa, Loly went back to Bayamo, packed her things up, arranged who was going to take care of Nancy for the three months she was going to be away, and flew to Miami. All within three days.

She spent a short time there visiting her relatives, and finally made it to New York last night; Valeria was resistant to be carried by Loly for a while, but after a few grandmother tricks, Valeria ceded.

Natacha and I finally got the help from Cuba that we needed, and right on time. We’re ready to drive in a few hours to Philadelphia for the surgery of the mirror foot.

To Do List Before Heading to Philly

1- Pick up the car - check
2- Make hotel reservations - check
3- Make sure Valeria sits comfortably in her car seat - check
4- Picking up the mother-in-law at La Guardia Airport - Not check but almost

We're Having Surgery in May

The lobby at Shriners Hospital was quiet, and it was just Natacha, Valeria, and I waiting there in the chill month of March. On the wall, there was a long horizontal painting of joyful kids in crutches and wheel chairs arriving to the finish line helped by men wearing fez, the red mason hat, which looks like a bucket upside down; it might look a bit funny, but the task that the masonry do is extremely serious; it raises money for the Shriner’s Hospital for Children like this one in Philadelphia, which we were visiting for the first time.

Part of the painting in the lobby of Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia

After filling out forms, we went to the doctors waiting area. We sat in front of a teenage girl, who had prosthetic legs. She was missing her left forearm, and her right arm was almost complete, except that she only had two fingers in her hand. All this didn’t stop her from texting on her cel phone super fast.  When she and her mother stood up to leave; the elevator door, which was about twenty feet away, opened, and the girl ran to hold it for her mom, “Come’on mom!” she said. I was so glad to see that she was just a typical hyperactive teenager.

A few minutes later we were called into the doctor’s office. There was a patient’s bed cover with paper, which Valeria prompted to rip apart; I threw away the mess before the doctor came in, rolled over more paper on the bed, but hurricane Valeria was quick to rip everything apart again, and that was when Dr. Alburger, the foot surgeon, came in. In his early sixties, with silver hair, and a gentle voice, Dr. Alburger didn’t mind the mess. “She’s very strong; she kicks hard”, he said, examining her legs. “Do you have the X-Rays?” he asked. I gave him the CD, which his assistant took away to open up. I also gave him the X-Rays plaques we had brought from Cuba, old school, but effective; he put it against the light box, and saw what Valeria had.

He mentioned the mirror foot, how he was going to operate, and then he added, “On the right foot, I’ll do the surgery on the inside part, so the scar is not visible.” That comment was unexpected because I was more concern on the functionality of the foot, rather than the esthetics, but he was concerned about all the angles, which hinted we were in good hands.

“We can go into surgery anytime; talk to my assistant to set up a day.” He said.

“But we thought we had to wait until she’s a year old.” I mentioned.

“We can do it anytime.” He responded.

After he left, his assistant told us May was opened. She also said, “the surgery will take from 3 to 4 hours. She will stay over night with one of the parents, and will have a cast for 3 or 4 weeks.”

We were happy after meeting Dr. Alburger, and astonished to have the surgery soon. Shriners Hospital had been great, and we still had to meet the hand surgeon.

Valeria is unaware of the harm she has caused to the extraordinary people of Shriners Hospital for Children