Thursday, January 17, 2013

1 Year Post-Surgery Anniversary

At the end of December and beginning of January, I kept thinking about how January 11th was Dylan's one year post-surgery anniversary. I was excited for it and had plans of doing this blog post on that day to celebrate it. However, my husband's grandmother passed away and so we drove down to my husband's hometown to attend her funeral and were traveling on January 11th and it totally slipped my mind. Today I looked at the calendar and realized it was the 17th and I had missed the big day. I guess that just goes to show how normal life is...thinking about Dylan's surgery one year ago wasn't even on my mind in the midst of normal life.

I do, however, still want to post about my thoughts regarding this one year mark.

One year ago on January 11th, this is what our day looked like....
  

It was a HARD day (and weeks of recovery to follow). While in the midst of it, you just do it...you plug along, you deal with the emotions or you push them away if they interfere with your tasks, you ask questions, you comfort, you just do whatever it takes to get you through each minute. Looking back, I get emotional thinking about how exhausting the whole process was...emotionally, physically, mentally. We spent a year leading up to the big surgery day and we got through that year much of the same way...you just deal with it. I like to think of Dylan's leg journey as climbing a mountain. We spent the whole year leading up to surgery steadily climbing this mountain, making it a little further up every few months, hitting milestones, getting opinions, making decisions. It was a rocky mountain that left us exhausted and wanting it all to end. Then you see the top of the mountain, but you realize you have the hardest part left, the tip of the mountain with the steepest incline, the part that drains you emotionally and physically past the point that you think you can handle. That was surgery and recovery. But we survived it. Dylan survived it. It was hard, but we did it. After surgery and recovery, it was smooth sailing from there. Sure, there were rocks along the way...figuring out this new life with a prosthetic leg, helping him adjust to certain things, dealing with rashes or other issues, etc. But overall....we sailed, we ran, we rolled, we enjoyed the past year of getting down off that mountain. And now we can look back at that mountain that we overcame and we can appreciate the lessons we learned about ourselves. We are stronger than we ever imagined. We can get through hard times. We are closer as a family. It may have been a hard couple years, but we have witnessed our lives being blessed more in the past two years than we ever have and probably ever would have had we not gone through this trial. We can now look at Dylan and not only see how we imagined and believed he could be, but we are seeing it come to pass. We always had faith that he would be okay and now we are seeing it...he is not only okay, but he is thriving and doing AMAZINGLY well.

If I had to describe Dylan I would use these words:

Adorable, funny, caring, strong, independent, obedient, stubborn, happy, determined, loving.

The fact that he wears a prosthetic leg does not define who he is. It enhances it.

We love having Dylan in our family. We love the happiness and joy that he brings us. We love the challenges that his special life has presented us, but we love the blessing that he is to our lives. Two years ago, we couldn't have ever imagined the past two years would have played out as they did, but we wouldn't change any of it. We are better people because of it. Dylan is a stronger boy because of it. He can do amazing things....he has and will continue to do so.

He runs, he jumps, he plays, he teases, he laughs, he loves...he is leading a totally and completely normal life. We had faith that he would, but it was hard to imagine at times. Here he is though...your totally typical two year old. Take that, amputation surgery, he showed you! :)

A look at the past year...
 
 
 
 
 

My goodness, we love this boy!
Happy one year post-surgery anniversary, son. You amaze us!

8 comments:

  1. Beautifully written Katie. Brought tears to my eyes. You guys are amazing!! He is such a handsome little cutie pie.

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  2. It's been fun following his story; so glad things have gone so well for him! My little guy had surgery last January as well and he had the same hospital clothes as Dylan!

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  3. Sorprendente lo rápido que pasa el tiempo.
    Y es muy agradable ver como Dylan es un niño feliz. Me alegro mucho por él y por vosotros.
    Un beso muy fuerte

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  4. Hi!

    I remember praying for him, that day! (I learned about sweet Dylan from Makeit-Loveit.) So glad he is doing well...praise the Lord! He is faithful!

    Blessings!

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  5. We are just beginning our FH journey with our little girl, its such a blessing to be able to read about how wonderful your little guy is doing! He's absolutely gorgeous, and looks like nothing slows him down. :)

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  6. the blogging world is anxious to hear if the new baby has arrived yet!

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    Replies
    1. I know! I've been meaning to post about it. I'll do it now! :)

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  7. We are just starting our FH trip with our little lady, its such a advantage to be able to study about how amazing your little guy is doing! He's definitely stunning, and looks like nothing decreases him down. :)
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