Hard work, lots of adjustments, smiles, and tears!

The last two days have been hard, sweet, wonderful, emotional, all the things. Alex has worked incredibly hard. Both days appointments ended up lasting much longer than anyone thought due to more adjustments needing to be made to her test leg to get it just right. We are thankful for this staff who continued on and wouldn’t quit until everything was perfect for her. This is not a traditional amputation or even traditional rotationplasty so it was a bit of a puzzle to make sure she had the best leg, with the best fit for her to keep up with her activity level. They stayed late, worked through meals, and who knows how many other sacrifices they made for us to get it done. This afternoon when we left we all felt good about this leg and it is now in their hands to finish so she can pick it up next Friday to take home. We are all pretty excited. We head out tomorrow and will come back for the leg next week.

We had several difficult moments with some minor meltdowns during therapy and leg adjustments. Alex was so tired and when something would feel strange or her toes on her “kneekle” would begin to hurt she would get frustrated and have a bit of a difficult time moving past it to continue what needed to be done. The staff did a great job giving her breaks, allowing us time to chat about what was going on, and being super patient and encouraging with her. We had several chats to help her remember that these are some of the hard things we knew she would have to endure to get to the end result of walking and how much she wants that. This conversation always seems to help her calm down so we can distract or take a little break and then push through. She is such a tough little one.

Yesterday was an especially emotional day. Good emotions! We had our follow up with Dr. Johnson and when she opened the door Alex walked to her special doctor, on two legs, without the use of her crutches, for a big hug, with a great big smile on her face. There was not a dry eye in the room or the hallway behind. The moment we had all been waiting for. This was the moment we dreamed about since surgery day and it felt strange to finally be here. It has been a hard couple of months but there has been so much good in them and they really have gone by very quickly. It almost seems unreal to be at this stage. All of the staff were amazed by how well Alex is doing and how far she has come in such a short time. Some of the phrases we have heard over and over again this week are, “she is a miracle child”, “wow”, “look at her go”, “she is incredible”, and “there are no words”. We agree of course! I am attaching a link so you can see this joyful moment.

https://rumble.com/vip0kr-someone-may-have-made-her-doctor-cry.html

More than a doctor, a friend and the hands God used to get Alex where she is today. I found myself saying to this group of wonderful people that Thank you simply sounds lame at a time like this but I don’t know what else to say.

This little girl adores her daddy. We have missed him being able to be with us for appointments this last year and a half. It was a sweet treat for him to be able to join us for this one and a great help to me because they enjoy playing games together while we wait. He is the best!

While I am bragging on this man I have a little more to tell. The rest of the time Alex and I were at the clinic each day Brent was making sure the other five were having a good time. They swam, played at parks and playgrounds, and explored. Here are a couple photos to show some of the fun that was had eating lunch and window shopping!! I’m not sure where Kyle and Paul were hiding while the other three were trying on hats.

We celebrated this step with a family BBQ dinner at Dickey’s. This has become a favorite place and once each Dallas trip we try to eat here. It was a fun celebration.

On her final day of PT for this part of the trip Alex asked if she could do a whole set of stairs. Her therapist took her into the stairwell and let her try and of course she did it. She did two flights and asked to do two more so we did and then had to make her stop. She has always enjoyed stairs but she loves them even more with her new leg. she got really good at them also. https://rumble.com/vip2xj-this-girl-is-unstoppable-first-full-flight-of-stairs-for-this-new-amputee.html

Today after our appointments we walked around the Dallas World Trade Center. There was a show going on and we enjoyed looking at all the interesting things. The kids especially enjoyed the glass elevator ride to the 15th floor and all the flags of countries flying in the building. We enjoyed looked at the floor with all the western gear. Boots, furniture, and equestrian equipment. It was a good little adventure.

Sweet memories are being made. Since the very beginning of this journey with Alex it has been our goal that years from now our children would look back and have sweet memories of this time. Of course they will remember the hard, the frustrating, the things they wished weren’t, but we hope those things will be overshadowed by the sweet things. Only time will tell of course but we are certainly making the effort.