Pre Op

 Joy!

MEANT TO POST THIS LAST NIGHT Today we had exactly what we expected which was a lot of information from 5 different specialists.  It was so evident that they had said what they told us many times before today.  We were doing great emotionally up until we met with the anesthesiologist.  I thought we would go into the room with Ruthie until she was out and then in the recovery room waiting for her to wake up.  I do not think anyone told me that, I just thought it was a good idea AND convinced myself that would be the plan.  I WAS WRONG!   Instead, we will hand Ruthie off to the anesthesiologist and she will take her back to prep her for surgery.  She assured me that Ruthie will have 3 minutes with her and the she will be out.  I do not know how we are going to hand her off.  We will see her after recovery. Hard.

The surgery from start to finish will last about 2.5 hours that includes prep, surgery and recovery.  Skip and I will sit in a room and get updates every 30 to 60 minutes.  We have been very impressed with the group here and their patience.  Each specialist today sat down and would have stayed as long as we had questions and usually we were the ones who ended the conversation.

Dr. Westberry's turn to meet with us was very short because everyone before him answered all of our questions.  Oh my is he young.  Skip seems to think we are all around the same age.  Regardless of age, he is the most experienced Dr. when it comes to pediatric amputation.

We did have three big questions:

How high will her cast go up her leg?
Where will the incisions be?
Will her legs be the same length?

The cast will go up to her upper thigh and the knee will be bent to prevent her from standing.  She will also have a bar between her legs.  No body cast!!! YIPEEEEEE They said she would be immobile ~ not sure about that.  Ruthie is one determined little girl.

The incision will be on the top of her leg around the ankle.

They are not completely able to tell us what they will do with Ruthie's right foot.  It is complicated at the ankle and he will have to wait to see what he finds.  He may have to cut the tibia and then attach her heel, which would cause one leg to be shorter than the other.  We are praying this is not the case and Ruthie's legs will be the same length.

Over all it was a hard, but great day.

 Ruthie's Thoughts About Today