Surgery Follow-Up Pictures - preview before showing your kids

I am finally able to post a few shots of the new foot. I know that some people may have a hard time looking at them. I was hesitant to put these pictures on here and went back and forth but really thought that more than a few might find it interesting and no one who knows us has even been able to see this pin I'm talking about because it's covered by the cast. It is truly amazing to me that it is just sticking out of her foot. Weird huh? I have had a surprising amount of people offering to take the pin out...actually I've had many people offering someone else to take it out...Jenny Weber offered her brother's services (he's a general practitioner), Lindsey Veale suggested Darin Johnson (a surgical nurse), Tobi Thomas suggested her dad who is a firefighter, Sarah Cox suggested her husband because he's really good at medical things and my dad was at first saying he could probably do it until he saw the pictures. He has now offered to meet me there so he can be the one to go in with her when the doctor does it rather than me. We've decided that would probably be best. Shannon thinks it would be no problem to have someone take it out but I'm a little more nervous. He says he's fine with whatever. So the 23rd it is - my dad will meet us in L.A. early so we can have breakfast in their wonderful cafeteria (truly it's so nice, we love eating there) and then we'll go upstairs. I guess my dad will take her in and hold her while I wait outside. I'm so torn because I am abandoning her but at the same time I really have drawn this mental line and feel totally unable to do it. I'm being lame, I know. Regardless, I'm looking forward to breakfast with my dad and it'll be nice to have him help.

Outside the doctor's office with her new cast.

I thank God all the time for his answer to my (MANY) prayers begging Him to work out the details for us to go to UCLA. We love it and have SUCH confidence in her care there (keeping in mind that God is the ultimate surgeon and the one who decides every detail of every surgery - talk about being in good hands!!!).

Here's that nasty pin. Next poll I'm taking is whether or not I should keep it in her keepsake box...??? Any thoughts?? Hey - most parents keep their kids teeth right? Not that different.

What a long morning! She was out cold in the car. We left home at 5:45 and didn't get back home until 5:30 that night. We had so much going on that day with appointments and things that it was SUCH a long day for both of us.
I love this picture - look at her pretty lips. Her surgeon did a great job on her lip it is so full and beautiful!

This is the bigget scar from this surgery. It goes up pretty high. I was really surprised but glad I didn't know before hand. I am really amazed at the fact that her foot now has an arch to it. Where you can see an arch there she used to have a rounded bottom like a rocking chair (hence the term Rocker Bottom Foot). Her foot looks so much better. She still has a lot of fatty tissue and if that doesn't go down her plastic surgeon said he would want to lipo it out during her next face surgery (around her third birthday). You know you live in Orange County when...your three year old gets liposuction! Ha. That's funny. The extra tissue/fat on the foot will make it possible for her to comfortably wear the same size shoes and also it will help make her foot look more "normal." We are not obsessed by that but want to do what we can for her and it sounds pretty non-invasive, minor in the scheme of things.