6 months

Yesterday marked 6 months since Eli had his symes amputation. It's so hard to believe that it has been that long...6 months. I looked back at the post that Jered wrote on May 4th and to be honest, I can still barely read it. When I think back to that day, and the days and months that followed, I can't believe we made it through it. Its one of those experiences in life where you just do, because you have to. The prayers of so many and God's grace carried us through with out a doubt.

I try to block out the memories from the surgery day, but they are as clear to me as my hands on the keyboard this very moment. Sometimes they come back like a shooting pain and I close my eyes to try and make them go away. I am so thankful that that time is behind us, and pray that we never have to go back there.

I've learned so much these past 6 months. I had so many expectations about how all of this was going to go. From the surgery, to the recovery, to getting Eli's first leg - everything was kind of different than what I imagined it would be like. But that's just our story, his story and its okay.

I am in a much better place now then I think I thought I would be back when we first found out that something was wrong with Eli's leg. Sure, I still have my moments where I get angry or sad that Eli has FH, but those times are really minimal. I guess there is just so much to be happy and thankful for, that there seems to be no point in focusing on anything else.

I've also come so far with how I deal with other's perceptions, attitudes, etc. regarding the fact that Eli has a prosthetic leg. Don't get me wrong, this is a lifelong learning process for me for sure, but I am pretty happy about where I am at. Most recently, I had someone ask me what was up with Eli's leg brace. First of all, I was thrilled that she thought it was just a leg brace. I went on to explain that it was a prosthetic leg, that Eli was born with FH, what FH was, that he had an amputation at 7 mths, etc., etc. The poor woman's eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger as the words flooded out of my mouth. Yeah, I am definitely still learning how to handle that one. I think right now the key is to be as brief as possible. If someone asks, I need to just say, "yeah it is a prosthetic leg," and leave it at that.

More importantly, Eli is doing great. He got his 2nd leg yesterday and it seems to fit really well. Last week when we had the temporary leg, it fell off twice (which is nothing compared to what our life was like with the old leg) so Paul made the permanent leg a bit tighter. I was afraid it was too tight, but Eli seems just fine with it. He loves to stand. He has pulled up with the leg on now, is cruisin' really well, bends down to pick something up of the floor (while still holding onto something), and has stood for a few seconds without holding onto anything.

I am really proud of him. He has come so far.