Today Shriner's Hospital was hosting an amputee clinic so that families could visit and talk to other families who had a child with a prosthetic. What a great idea!
We decided to take the whole stinkin' family. Except for Taylor. He said he would rather go to school. He's a bit squeamish about hospitals. We wanted all the kids to have an idea of what was coming and what it would be like for Zoey after surgery.
We were able to visit with two families. The first family had four bio kids and a little girl adopted from China. And what a cutie she was. Oh. My. Word. She had us cracking up with her coy smiles and funny faces. She let us see her prosthetic, her bare leg and even invited Zoey to touch the spot where her stitches had been.
Amazing.
I went there expecting to feel better about the upcoming surgery.
I didn't.
The leg was heavier than I thought it would be...longer than I thought it would be (up and over her knee). It still looks obviously fake compared to the other leg. As in...shiny and you can tell it's fake from across a room. But probably the worst feeling was that the two kids we met didn't walk totally normally. I guess after hearing how great the kids do with their prosthetics, I thought they would walk normally.
Zoey was not feeling good about it either.
There was some good news--they will not cut her leg above the ankle area. They are actually going to leave her heel so that she can still walk on it when needed (middle of the night trips to the bathroom, etc.).
We scheduled the surgery for the week after Thanksgiving. My heart is kinda in my throat right now. I have known for soooo long that this was coming but when it comes right down to it, well....it's just a bit hard to think about losing her little foot. Will she miss it? Will she be mad at us? She can get around now with what she has. Although admittedly, it is getting harder and harder for her because her leg length difference has increased to about 4 inches. But to go from getting around decently to having to wear a device to get around...well, that is a bit of a leap and I hope we are all ready for that.
