Shriners Appointment Report

Well, we have an appointment for surgery on September 28.  Shriner's is going to help us give Lucas FIVE toes, which seems to be his dream come true.

Yesterday we went for a walk/run together, and he had to stop a few times to rest and we had a conversation which in so many words said,
"hey lady, you said when you brought me to America, that you were gonna give me 5 toes....where are they?  Come on people, let's get the show on the road already..."  (he didn't quite use those words, but the tone and words he did use gave that impression)yt7u75.

So today he was pretty excited about finally meeting with the doctors that are going to help him get his dream.  His only hesitation today seemed to be when he saw the prosthetics, he saw the toes don't actually move.  hmmmmmm  .... I think he's ok with it now, because I told him, "ya that is true, but hey your shoes won't fall off anymore...that's pretty cool".  He smiled and I think that helped.

So here is the story:
he will have both feet amputated at the ankle area.  And for the prosthetic geeks out there, he will be getting Symes Prosthetics.  After surgery the end of his legs will just be covered with skin where his ankle should be so it will appear like a stump.  The prosthetics will look like this:

So he will still have the lower part of his legs but they will slide into the prosthetic like a sleeve.  And it will appear that his lower leg is all "prosthetic" but his leg will actually be inside.
He will also be having 2 small plates put into his knees because they are bowed and they are going to try to straighten the growth of them.  These will stay in until the desired change has occurred and then removed.  This could be 6 months to a year.  These incisions are only about an inch so they shouldn't be much problem.  The interesting part of today, was this doctor does not recommend any additional changes to the right leg with the bent tibia.  He said as long as it fits into the prosthetic, that is the goal.  It is not bowed enough to be a problem.  They can alter the length of the prosthetic on that leg and compensate for the shorter length that way.

So surgery is set for Sept 28 -- we should be in the hospital 2-3 days.  He will wear casts on his legs for 6-8 weeks--be in a wheel chair (ha ha...we will see how long that lasts).  Then about 2 more weeks of healing to let swelling go down.  Then fitting for the prosthetics back at Shriners and then one day they just show up in the mail....(I happen to think that is hysterical--his legs just show up in the mail one day)

There will be checkups every 6 months or so and possible new legs every year or so depending on his growth rate.

So there ya have it.

By the way, Greenville, SC is a beautiful little city.  I love the downtown area and Falls Park.

*****
10/2011 edit
I've learned that I made an error in the name of the prosthetic.  The type of amputation he was scheduled to have was a Symes Amputation.  The prosthetic is not called that.   (He ended up with a Boyd Amputation instead).  just wanted to correct my error