Journey Update -> The Surgery

I wanted to give you the latest news about our sweet girl. This is a little late in coming--I wanted to share with my family first and then I haven't had the time to write down what went on. 

Feel free to skim through and pick out bits and pieces, some of you (ladies) will want all the info, some of you just the bare bones :-)...

It just so happened, due to the fact that it is extremely hard to get an appointment with the surgeon, that my husband had to be away during this appointment for a missions survey trip. So, my "adopted Haitian" sister was able to come along to support me. She was a BIG blessing and always is. Thanks, Jordy!

After the preliminary part of the visit (paperwork, time with the nurse and so on) we started off with x-rays. I got suited up and held her. She did a FABULOUS job! She just cooed at everyone! She is such a sweet girl. Then after waiting a while, we finally met again with our orthopedic surgeon. 

We first talked about the hands. He showed me the x-rays and where he would cut. He said it was going to be an easy slice. The fingers have bones but, thankfully, they are not connected.

However, when he pulled out the x-rays of the feet, he showed me a couple problems. 

1. Her bones (on her right foot) are growing toward the left and pulling her foot in. 
2. Her 6th toe is connected to the bone and the bone goes all the way down to the tendon. 

So the surgery for her foot will be much more intensive. They will have to slice the sides of each foot from the toes to the heel, cut bones, then detach the tendon and then re-attach the tendon. Hopefully, the tendon will pull the bones back properly where they need to be. 

As a result, we are looking at a 3-hour surgery for all the work. If everything goes well, we will hopefully take her home that same day. Her feet and hands will be wrapped for about 5 days. There will be no physical therapy but there will be, of course, follow-up visits.  We will check back over the next year and see how she is developing and decide whether any more surgeries are needed. 

The next step was scheduling. It is difficult to get an appointment just to see the doctor, let alone to do surgery. We were told that our surgeon is also the chief director of the hospital, so he is pulled on every side. I guess people all over the world come to this hospital to have him work on them. We were hoping to have the appointment soon so it's before she starts pulling her self up and trying to stand, then walk. Long story, short. The earliest appointment was Dec. 23rd.

That is the update. She is such a sweet gift from God and we have been blessed to have her, exactly as she is!

Thanks again for your prayers and support. - Rejoicing in the Present