2nd Anniversary

Today is the 2nd anniversary of Eli’s amputation surgery.  Jered wrote on the actual surgery day here and on the 1st anniversary of his surgery I wrote out his “FH story” here.

I am not sure exactly how I feel today.  I have a wide range of emotions and my thoughts are probably not going to come out as clearly as I would like them to.  It’s hard to put into words how I feel.

I know that I will never forget this.  If I allow myself to go there, I can remember every single detail of that day.  I usually do not think about it, we go about our days, put Eli’s leggie on, see our Prosthetist when needed, and that’s that.  But I think today I am realizing that on this special anniversary it is okay to take a day to be overcome by it all.

It’s one of those experiences in life that I look back on and just can’t believe we went through that – that my 7 month old baby went through that.  So I think part of how I am feeling today is solemn, acknowledging that Eli went through something very significant on this day two years ago.

For the most part I am just overcome with gratitude to God for getting us through these past two years and bringing us to where we are today.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I truly believe that God brought us to Gainesville, FL in 2004 so that we would meet Dr. Woo and have him perform Eli’s surgery.  We now have a Prosthetist here in MI who seems to genuinely care about Eli and has removed need for the lift he previously had in his left shoe and has crafted a leggie that is correcting the valgus in his right knee.

 

While we were in Detroit we saw Eli’s new pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Caird and she was very pleased with Eli’s x-rays, his heal pad and how he walked.  It was such a great feeling to hear that wonderful news from her.  For that I am  thankful.

But it’s this little boy that makes my heart swell with gratitude, burst with pride, and fill with inspiration.  He is just doing so well.  It took him just a few days to walk without a limp after he got his new leggie, but more importantly he just took to it immediately.  Put it on and went about his business.  Just think about that for a second. A brand new leg, new/different kind of foot, new fit, and it didn’t hold him back for a second.  That’s amazing to me.  I shudder to think what my reaction would be if I was in his shoes.

I told him that today was the 2nd anniversary of his surgery.  I wasn’t sure how much he understood, but then right after dinner we took his socks off and he touched the foot that Jay made on his leggie, looked at me and said “surgery.”  He knows…he gets it.

My hope and prayer is that he always has a positive outlook and zest for life.  That he never loses that sparkle and light that defines him now.  In the coming years, I know that there will be questions, maybe tears, maybe anger, and other things that I can’t prepare for.  I pray that God holds both of us close during the hard times and fills me with the perfect words to comfort and explain.  I am sure I’ll mess up, but I feel pretty confident that my angel will always keep smiling.