For the Love of Children Society of Alberta, which helps critically ill kids seeking experimental treatments not covered by provincial health insurance, stepped in. While the surgery was not experimental, executive director Ashid Bahl said they felt Shaw had exhausted all her options here and needed to go to the U.S. to get the operation. Shaw, Boehlig and Johnson woke early July 19, saying a prayer in their hotel room before leaving for the hospital. The operation, called decompression surgery, involved cutting away a small piece of the back of Shaw's skull to relieve the pressure the Chiari tonsil was placing on her spine and allow spinal fluid to flow normally. Oro, who performed the operation, also used a cauterizing device to help shrink the tonsil, which had grown to 9 mm.
Surgery is very satisfactory in a high percentage of people.
And that appears to be the case for Shaw. After two days in intensive care, she was back in her room July 21 and had stood up for the first time since the operation. Shaw will see those results, but it took 18 months of increasing pain and a journey to a U.S. hospital to get them. As she recovers from her operation, Shaw says she has also had a chance to get over much of the anger she felt toward the doctors here who dismissed her concerns and couldn't say what was wrong with her.