It's been a nearly normal week. Tara's as cute as custard RACING around on her crutches - or running like a leopard on 3 legs (ie. crawling with one leg in the air - she competes against anybody who's willing to give it a go...and always wins). She's settled into a fab routine of making her bed every morning while hopping around on one foot - try it, it's exhausting (making a bed is tiring enough on two feet!). And last night she had a 'feeling' in her 'body' that she needed to draw a pic for her teacher - so she wrote a lovely message and did a divine pic - and today her teacher wrote her such a beautiful note saying that she's such a 'lucky teacher' to have Tara in her class & how special Tara made her feel - which is a real little gift Tara has - making other people feel special. The girls at school continue to be so lovely - bringing in a bandaged teddy on crutches, notes asking when Tara's "cool operation" will be so they can visit her etc.
Of course we still don't have the date for the op - Rosie at Reception was away today and lacking info yesterday. Ocasionally we get sooooo annoyed - but yikes, we're lucky to have such great medical facilities. Saw 2 such sad articles yesterday - about the number of homeless families in South Africa, and the sharp increase in child rape in Zimbabwe - and you just realise that really our children are blessed, as are we.
So while we wait we're learning heaps more - could now write an exam on endo- and exoskeletal prosthetics (altho' we're embarrassed to admit that we still don't know when it's correct to say 'prosthesis' and when to say 'prosthetic'!). And the month's delay has also given us time to see one last specialist before we go ahead. He's a friend of Philippa's in Melbourne, and renowned for his work with children. So Tone and Tara will fly down in 10 days' time to see him. We're sure he'll say the same as every other specialist has said, and we're very happy with our guy in Brisbane - but we'd kick ourselves if we didn't meet Phil's friend before the op - coz afterwards, it'll just be too late! (Thanks again Jean-Luc for helping make it happen! Pic today of JL during the triathlon last weekend.)
There are little things you learn about amputation that freak you out - like an amputated girl we met told us how she fell in the shower and her tibia pierced thro' her skin. Major pain! Major operation. And it's not just the painful things - but the dependency - two children we've met both mentioned how they have specially appointed aids that help them at school when they're too tired or too sore to move. That's not really the dream we had for Tara. We thought amputation = freedom! So...blah. BUT we are so totally aware that she will gain SO much more by having an amputation, and that having it will mean a LOT more freedom than not having it. But still - argh - she has such cute toes!
Heard a fab line on telly today - that having a child with an affliction is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but rather about learning to dance in the rain. And we have DANCED!!! And are still dancing! (Actually Tara's just hopped in, with her pyjama arms on her legs and is doing just that - dancing!) This one mum on the TV show also said how her biggest fear was that nobody would ever love her afflicted child as much as she did - and I remember us worrying about the same thing when Tara was a baby - but WOW - we couldn't have been more wrong. You guys have filled up our gorgeous little girl with SO much love, she genuinely bubbles! She is so adored by so many people. Just amazing. And she LOVES every message she gets - insists on reading them herself. She's promised to write something this weekend...after she's met her new Scottish penpal/e-pal on Club Penguin. New e-pal is daughter of fab UK author Fiona Gibson, writer of such books as 'The Fishfinger Years' and 'Mummy said the F-word!'.
Of course we still don't have the date for the op - Rosie at Reception was away today and lacking info yesterday. Ocasionally we get sooooo annoyed - but yikes, we're lucky to have such great medical facilities. Saw 2 such sad articles yesterday - about the number of homeless families in South Africa, and the sharp increase in child rape in Zimbabwe - and you just realise that really our children are blessed, as are we.
So while we wait we're learning heaps more - could now write an exam on endo- and exoskeletal prosthetics (altho' we're embarrassed to admit that we still don't know when it's correct to say 'prosthesis' and when to say 'prosthetic'!). And the month's delay has also given us time to see one last specialist before we go ahead. He's a friend of Philippa's in Melbourne, and renowned for his work with children. So Tone and Tara will fly down in 10 days' time to see him. We're sure he'll say the same as every other specialist has said, and we're very happy with our guy in Brisbane - but we'd kick ourselves if we didn't meet Phil's friend before the op - coz afterwards, it'll just be too late! (Thanks again Jean-Luc for helping make it happen! Pic today of JL during the triathlon last weekend.)
There are little things you learn about amputation that freak you out - like an amputated girl we met told us how she fell in the shower and her tibia pierced thro' her skin. Major pain! Major operation. And it's not just the painful things - but the dependency - two children we've met both mentioned how they have specially appointed aids that help them at school when they're too tired or too sore to move. That's not really the dream we had for Tara. We thought amputation = freedom! So...blah. BUT we are so totally aware that she will gain SO much more by having an amputation, and that having it will mean a LOT more freedom than not having it. But still - argh - she has such cute toes!
Heard a fab line on telly today - that having a child with an affliction is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but rather about learning to dance in the rain. And we have DANCED!!! And are still dancing! (Actually Tara's just hopped in, with her pyjama arms on her legs and is doing just that - dancing!) This one mum on the TV show also said how her biggest fear was that nobody would ever love her afflicted child as much as she did - and I remember us worrying about the same thing when Tara was a baby - but WOW - we couldn't have been more wrong. You guys have filled up our gorgeous little girl with SO much love, she genuinely bubbles! She is so adored by so many people. Just amazing. And she LOVES every message she gets - insists on reading them herself. She's promised to write something this weekend...after she's met her new Scottish penpal/e-pal on Club Penguin. New e-pal is daughter of fab UK author Fiona Gibson, writer of such books as 'The Fishfinger Years' and 'Mummy said the F-word!'.
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