The last thing discussed was the length of his femur. He said it won't be a problem for the time being. They can adjust his gait with a prosthesis. Later down the road, around age 8 or 10 or so, there might be the need to either do a lengthening on his femur to make it match his other femur, or there is the option to stunt the growth on his good leg to let his shorter femur catch up in length. But both of those would be down the road quite a few years and wouldn't affect anything that would happen now.
We are so appreciative of Dr. E and his thoroughness in this whole process. He wants to do what is best for Dylan. And we couldn't be happier with him and the way he has gone about this. We trust him and feel comfortable with him and know that he is an answer to prayers.
We left the appointment feeling really good about finally being on the road that will lead us to surgery and some sort of finality. Obviously, we know that surgery is not the end all, in fact it is really the beginning of a life long journey of other questions and things to figure out, but it will at least bring closure to all the major decision making and being in limbo about what is going to happen.
I would once again be lying if I said this was easy. In fact, I've spent most of the time writing this blog, bawling. The reality of what is actually going to happen has hit me hard all of a sudden. I still just can't believe we are talking about what we are talking about. Amputating our son's leg...who would've ever thought we would be discussing this. It's crazy. And emotional. We KNOW we are doing the right thing. We KNOW this is the best option for Dylan. We KNOW he will be fine and will live a great life and won't be hindered by this, but will be made stronger because of it. It's just the thought of what we have to do....it's hard to swallow. And now being on the road to it all actually happening just makes it all so much more real. It's actually going to happen. And it's going to happen soon. ...sigh... I can't imagine what I will be like when it gets even closer. :) I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, who knows what we are all going through and is right there with us the whole way...comforting us and bringing us peace and carrying us through those times that have and will be hard. It makes dealing with all of this so much easier.
Some pictures from our visit today. We brought Kaden today and he was so good and loved playing with all the toys at the Children's Hospital. We have such handsome boys. Molly, the nurse that always comes in with Dr. E, always comments about how much she loves Dylan and he's so cute and she was SO excited to finally meet Kaden and was pretty smitten by him too.
Oh, and check out Dylan standing on both legs!! So awesome!
(Don't mind the blue tape on his back. Kaden did a little decorating with some duct tape.)
I'm so glad the appointment went well. Your boys are absolutely handsome!
ReplyDelete