Cat's out of the bag......

And as I sit here getting ready to write this post, I'm still SHOCKED at how this conversation went.

Jason and I have known since October that Kira would be having surgery on January 8th.  Last fall Kira started having a lot of trouble with her ankle braces hurting her feet,  causing blisters, breaking the skin on her feet down, and pain in her legs.  We ended up taking her for a "footprint study" where they looked at her gait, etc.  From there they recommended two things....1) a different style of braces that would hopefully keep her feet from pronating while wearing her braces and 2) a referral to see an orthopedic surgeon for a full evaluation.  (How ironic that we had NEVER seen any orthopedic doctors and then within a few weeks of each other both Dylan and Kira did!)

After Dr. N (same dr who did Dylan femur surgery) watched her walk he said that he couldn't believe how much she pronated and expected that it would get worse the bigger she got.  He said that he strongly felt a double foot reconstructive surgery would be a good option for Kira......I can't remember all the medical terms but the surgery will involve fusing joints, chipping at some bone a few other things.  The surgery will take 5 1/2- 6 hours.  

Kira will spend 1-2 nights in the hospital and will come home wearing 2 full leg casts.  She won't be able to do any weight-bearing for the 1st 6-7 weeks.  Then she will be in half leg casts for another 6-7 weeks.  This will definitely be a challenge for all of us.  We did decide, with the help of her school team, that instead of trying to get Kira back and forth to school, expose her to germs, etc, she will do homebound school until she is out of the full leg casts.  Her teacher had the fabulous idea of using Skype to include Kira in some of what goes on in the classroom.  I expect that this will start the week of January 14th. (Can you say major Mommy guilt that this all is happening over her birthday?!?!)

 The outcome that we are hoping for is that Kira's pronating feet will be greatly improved.  She may still need braces but it's our hope that she won't need such big ones after this.  We hope that she won't have as much leg pain, etc too.  The "wildcard" for this surgery for Kira is that we don't have a diagnoses for her other "health stuff" and we have no idea how that will play into things....even so the dr was confident that he can greatly improve things.

This is going to be a challenge for all us without a doubt.  I am incredibly thankful that my parents will be here for the 1st 2 weeks to help out (cant wait to see the kids reaction when we pick them up at the airport since they don't know they are coming!!) and then we'll have Jason's parents come up sometime after that too.  I'm fortunate that a good friend is helping get Eva back and forth to preschool a lot of days which will be great.....trust me when I say Eva will NEVER want me to take her or pick her up again after this! :-)

I told Kira about it today while she was enjoying a snack and I fully expected her to have a breakdown (and wouldn't have blamed her if she did)....we talked a lot about it and she is nervous but the tears haven't started yet.  They will, no doubt.  I think it helped that I was able to tell her about what would happen when it was all over too.......she is excited that she should be able to get some "sparkly" shoes.  She asked about maybe being able to take martial arts or ballet too.  I shared with all the kids that we are planning a family vacation after school to out to celebrate being done with all the "foot stuff!"  We're going to head to the the Mall of America...Legoland, American Girl, an aquarium, and a hotel with a pool.  Not to mention possibly seeing friends and family if the timing works out!  We also started writing on her calendar when things would happen, etc.  I think that helped her a lot too.  I also avoided using the word "surgery" ...I simply said that she would go to sleep so that they could get her legs ready for the casts.  We talked about how the casts might be uncomfortable but that it would be okay.

I am trying really hard to look ahead to when this is over and the benefits that it will have but there are moments that is soooo hard.  I HATE the thought of her being in pain, uncomfortable, etc.  I know that she will struggle with being in the hospital and being away from what she knows.  Fortunately, we have a great children's hospital and it's right in town.  I can't imagine having to travel to do this.

Please send Kira some positive thoughts as she begins this "journey."
Have I mentioned how tempting it is to get a puppy right about now??? :-)