Surgery Decision

Life has been extremely busy lately. It seems like I've barely had time to breathe. We've had our second Open House on our old house, Spring is the busy season for Jeff's work, PT appointments for Will, Cub Scouts, blah blah blah blah BLAH. Just everything.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. My brain is going in a million directions lately.

After MUCH deliberation and prayer, we have decided to go ahead with the surgery on Will's Achilles tendons. We've been given a top-notch pediatric orthopedist at a top-notch Children's Hospital. Plus, after 6 weeks of physical therapy and high-top boots we've seen no improvement. As soon as those shoes come off - he's right back on his tip tip tip toes.

I was very reluctant to tell Will he was having the surgery. He's a "dweller" and a worrier. My first instinct was to tell him on our way to the Hospital, but Jeff said no. LOL! And I'm glad he did. :) Will has heard us talking about casts and wheelchairs, so he knew something was going on, but just not exactly what.

Last week I told him that since his legs won't let him walk flat-footed that the doctors are going to help him with that by lengthening his tendons (and showed him what that was). I told him that we'd spend the night in a children's hospital, too. His first question was, "Is it going to HURT?!!!" I told him, "Yes, it would hurt afterward." He wouldn't even let me try to explain myself before he started getting really upset with, "I DON'T WANT TO GO!!!"

I calmed him down and explain that it would hurt the way a bruise does. That a bruise takes several days to heal, but that this would take a few weeks to heal and eventually wouldn't hurt at all. I explained that he'd be in casts for a few weeks and asked, "Remember when Nathan had a cast? His was blue and orange. What color would you like?" This put a "fun" spin on the conversation and at first he said purple, but then he decided he wanted "black like Hiro." We talked a little bit about having the Cub Scouts write their names on his cast, but he really didn't know what to think about that. :) Then I told him that he'd get to ride around in a child-sized wheel chair for awhile and he thought that was pretty cool.

So for now, he's ok with it. He's told everyone at church that he'd be in a wheelchair soon and wanted them to know because they might not recognize him. :) He did a really good job explaining what's going to happen to the people that asked him about it, so I think he has the perfect amount of information without going into detail about the specifics of the surgery. I really thought he would get more into the questions about the incision, blood, and how the doctors were going to do the surgery.

The surgery this Thursday in Birmingham and if all goes well, he'll be released on Friday. Jeff and I will stay in his room with him. Our other two boys will be with my in-laws.

We're trying to get everything ready for two weeks of non-load-bearing casts. I'm doing lots of grocery shopping tomorrow (with extra "treats" thrown in) . Jeff will be building a ramp for the front stairs soon. We're rearranging furniture so the pull-out couch will be near the tv and I've got a 4-disc set of Inspector Gadget coming from Netflix. I've requested the Cub Scouts and Bible classes send Will get well cards so he gets something in the mail, too. :) As for school, I've scheduled 7 days off if we need them, but I think he'll be fine doing school as there won't be much else to do.

Jeff will be traveling back to Georgia for a week shortly after the surgery, but I think that will be good for me so I don't feel obligated to cook a big meal and have the house clean every day before he's home for work. My plan is just to let everything else go except for the necessities. Life will be slow as far as things to do, but busy as far as taking care of and giving attention to the kiddos - especially Will.

By the time he's out of casts, the nice weather will be here to stay (with little rain) and he'll be able to play through the summer and be ready for soccer in the fall. We're also planning to have the Cub Scouts come camp in our back field at the end of May. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to, but we just have to get through the next 5 - 6 weeks.

Please say a prayer for Will, his recovery, and the doctors, too - especially the anesthesiologist, as the biggest complications would come from that; Will has never been put to sleep before. (Side note: The surgery is actually out-patient, but since he's a child they'll keep him for 23 hours. There are no major blood vessels in the surgery area, so there won't be a lot of blood and even if the tendon was cut in half, they say it can be sewn back together. So there are generally few complications from the surgery itself and if there are any they are fixable.)

Thanks for the prayers and I'll try to update once we're back in town.

Now, I must go clean my house, do the mountain of laundry, make lunch, figure out what I need grocery wise for the next two weeks, plan our meals, break up an argument between the boys, make the beds, kiss a boo-boo, get some packages wrapped for the post office and find time for a shower while the boys bang on the door asking if they can dig holes in the yard or make their beds into slides. LOL! A mother's work is never done.

And if you made it to the end of this post, I give you two stars and a happy face sticker. :)