surgery

On Wednesday Christabel had an appointment to get her sixth casts removed, the only difference was she did not get new casts...but was able to come home without casts for one night before surgery!! She was a bit confussed when I picked her up and walked out the door without new casts. She was able to take a bath when we got home...her first bath in 6 weeks!!

She actually took two baths...just because she could :]
and she just enjoyed having her legs free...and we all enjoyed a night filled with cast free snuggles!

Oh what a difference 6 weeks of casts can make!!

Thursday was a long day for Christabel [and Cam & I]. We were up and out the door at 630am. Her surgery was scheduled for 845...but it was 945 before they wheeled her out of the pre-op room and into surgery! 

We had been told it would be about 2 hours, but we were called in to talk to the doc at 1115 :]

Surgery went very well. They were able to correct the tendons with a minimally invasive procedure. Once the Achilles tendons were lengthened it caused her big toes to pull under [which usually happens] so those tendons needed to be lengthened as well. The only problem [and I hesitate to call it that] that arose was in regard to her right foot. This foot was the more difficult of her feet, the clubbing was more severe, the tendon was tighter, there is a large callous on the ankle from years of dragging & standing...all that to say we knew it had the potential to be a bit of a challenge. They were able to get the correction they wanted after the tendon was lengthened...but they discovered that the artery in that foot was to short & was "kinked off" when they tried to bring the foot flat. So...they had to back off on that foot a little & it will require a few more casts to help that artery stretch.

We had been told that post surgery she would need 3 - 6 weeks of casts. We still anticipate that to be the case & we pray that she will not need to go back for more surgery. As well as she responded to the pre op casting...I imagine that God will get that artery stretched in no time flat...and we will have this sweet girl learning how to walk before summer arrives!!

Post-op cast #one

She has been learning how to get around with the new casts. Now that her feet are in more of a flat position it makes moving about a bit of a challange again...but Miss Determination hasn't let it slow her down much.

Please continue to pray for healing. She has a follow up appointment in a week and a half...I can't wait to get/share pics of her post op feet!!