María's last doctor visit (see photos in previous blog entry)

We're finished!  María had her last doctor's visit today and, though she is a bit shy of her 8 cm goal (she has gained 7.3 cm, which is excellent), Dr. Paley has judged it better to stop lengthening today, as planned.
Maria now enters into the consolidation stage, when the new bone will solidify. This should take about 16 weeks, after which Maria will return to Dr. Paley to have the fixator removed and a rod placed in her femur, which will be removed in a year's time.
The good news is that when Maria returns for her next lengthening, it might be in only two years, and

she might be able to use an internal lengthening system, called "Precice" which doesn't have an external fixator and requires an easier physical therapy and is much less painful.  Wouldn't that be nice??!!!

As you can imagine, Maria, who has been stoicly doing three tough physical therapy sessions a day, is delighted!!! She has done a great job!