Amputee Clinic

We went to an Amputee Clinic put on by our Children's Hospital on Nov. 22nd. It was really nice and very informative. We spoke to another surgeon (this makes 4 in total), a prosthetist (and we finally know how to pronounce that correctly) :), and a physical therapist...along with like four or five nurses or assistants or something. We had quite the full room. The surgeon "absolutely" thought we were doing the right thing by choosing amputation. He said with Dylan's deficiency, lengthening would be a very long, painful process and most likely wouldn't yield as good of a result as the amputation. Most of the information was a lot of what we have already heard. But it was comforting to hear, once again, that we are doing the right thing. He went over the general process of the surgery and answered any little questions we had. He talked about the difference in a Symes amputation and a Boyd amputation and said that Dylan really would be just fine with either one. They will most likely try for a Boyd, but he said that once they get in there they may not be able to do it depending on if they can get his calcaneous to move where it needs to be. If not, they will do a Symes. He also talked about future surgeries and said it's almost inevitable that he will need some minor surgeries here and there in the future as he grows....in regards to his femur and just other "maintenance" surgeries. But hopefully nothing major. The physical therapist said he most likely won't need any long term physical therapy. We'll be shown some things to do with him when the time comes that will help him, but since he's getting it done young and since his strength and development is already so on track, he should be fine and be able to figure things out. The prosthetist said that he will most likely be in his first leg around 6 weeks after surgery....so somewhere around the end of February. That's exciting!

They had a little boy, maybe age 6 or so, come in and visit with us. He showed us his prosthesis and took his leg off for us so we could see his stump. It was nice to be able to see how "normal" it all was for this boy and not that big of a deal. It was comforting.

Overall, it was a great experience. We'll be going to these clinics for most of our follow up stuff in the future, so it was nice to meet the team. Everyone was SO nice and SO caring and Dylan loved them all. He had so much fun crawling between them and talking to all of them and playing with them. It was really cute! These people are going to be our orthopedic family so it was nice to get to know them. :)

Anyway...Bryson and I were talking about how crazy it is that it's just a little over a month away!!! Eek! So exciting and terrifying all at the same time. :) Good thing we have birthdays and Christmas in between now and then to help us get our minds off of it for a little bit.

We have one more appointment with our original surgeon, Dr. E, on Dec. 7th. And then we'll be meeting with the prosthetist at some point before surgery to try to get a molding of Dylan's foot. And then I think that's it before surgery day.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! It's been a crazy, hard, emotional, trying, but fun and blessed year for us! We have SO much to be thankful for.

OH...and guess what?? Dylan will be ONE on Thursday!!! I can't believe it. He's growing up too fast!

He Walks!! With a little help...

Look who figured out how to walk (with a little assistance from the laundry basket, but still!!!) LOOK AT HIM GO!!!

January 11th...yikes

So, after emailing back and forth with Molly, our nurse that always accompanies Dr. E at all of our appointments (yes...I said OUR nurse...she's all ours, and don't try to tell me otherwise) :)...we decided it would be best to schedule a date for surgery now rather than waiting until our December 7th appointment with Dr. E. Our worry was that if we waited until that appointment, our options for surgery would be at a time that would be less ideal (i.e., further out than we were hoping for). We are noticing more and more how Dylan's leg is kind of slowing him down a little. Not really, I mean, he's making it work and he figures out how to work around it, but we see his desire to move more and more and we were hoping to have surgery done sooner than later to allow him the freedom to walk when he wants to...or at least closer to then. Another thing we were taking into consideration is that unfortunately...or I should say, fortunately my husband has a job...unfortunately, he's a tax accountant and busy season starts towards the end of January and we were hoping to not have surgery in the midst of busy season. SO...with all that in mind we thought, why don't we just make the appointment. (Sure, like why don't I call and make an appointment to get my hair cut, no big deal...same thing, right? haha) We know this is the right thing to do, we know we need to do this, we know he'll be better off after, etc....but oh my goodness...I did not realize how emotional it would be to actually have a date set!! The second I got the email confirmation that January 11, 2012 at 7:30 AM was the day Dylan would have his surgery...I lost it. All of a sudden I was questioning whether this is what we should do. Are we sure we need to do it NOW? Can we wait a little longer? He's making it work...he'll be fine if we wait a little longer, right??? And the answer is yes...he would be fine...but would it be best? And we know it is best to do the surgery sooner than later. There is no point in waiting...other than to put off the inevitable. But yes...scary. The unknown is so scary. There are so many questions in regards to that day and the whole situation....it's SCARY! But I know with Heavenly Father in our hearts and by our sides and carrying us through this...we will be fine. Dylan WILL be fine. I'm so grateful that we have so many family and friends who have been so amazingly supportive and comforting during this time and I know will be there for us when things get harder. I love you all!!

I text Bryson after I got the confirmation email and said "Mark your calendars...January 11th...worst day of our lives". But I digress...worst day of our lives? No. Scariest? For the time being...yes. But a start of a new and better life for Dylan? Absolutely. So it can't be the worst. I won't allow it. I know it'll be hard and scary...and I probably am not at all prepared for how hard and scary it will be....but I can't wait to be on the road to Dylan being able to walk on two even legs and carry on as "normal".

But I do ask...please pray for Dylan and us. :)