Tears, Cosmesis & Hicksville

Here are a few little pics & text Tara did for her drama class this week - which give a great indication of her self-image: she likes swimming and going on crutches and is good at running! (BTW - she's always drawn herself like this - with both legs wearing shoes - even tho' she's never worn 2 shoes in her life. She's never drawn the brace - not because she didn't like it, but it just doesn't factor as important in her life when she's so busy drawing, swimming, singing and playing!)

We had a lot of tears on Friday night - from beautiful Jadie - who's upset that she's not getting enough opportunities to help Tara at school coz all the other gorgeous kids are helping so much! But after lots of very open talking - all were smiling, hugging each other and happy...and so appreciative to be in such a lovely class of such kind girls.

Some of the school mums have been telling us such sweet stories about what their children are telling them about Tara - how they've learnt the name 'leggie loo'; how they know she loves leggie loo because she plays with her little toes in class all day (a novelty since the brace was removed); and how she says she can't wait for her 'pretend leg' so she can run fast.

Latest news on the op is that it'll be end March - we'll find out for definite (maybe!) on Tuesday. In the meantime, our research continues. A bit scary at times - finding out about infections and things that can happen after amputation - that it's like a marriage, where the wedding really isn't nearly as important as the many, many years of marriage afterwards. Likewise - it seems it's not like it's over and you can 'get on with it' after amputation. Apparently there are things to watch out for - for life - including no long soaks in a warm bath! But we've also found a lot of good news - like that there's a prosthetist in Sydney who supplies Heather's Cosmesis (thanks Filipa for link!) which is a fantastic silicon skin cover, made to match your skin tone, that Heather Mills helped develop - you pull it over your prosthetic so your two legs match. AND it allows you to paint your toenails totally normally! Costs thousands of course (just like all the good prosthetics) - but it's so fab to know Tara's dream of painting her nails can come true! (So yes please Dominique, Angelo and Jo - Tara would love that nail varnish kit in a few months' time!)

We've also made contact with a great company in Hicksville (who knew Hicksville was a real place!) in the US; and have discovered that Queensland's best prosthetist is actually here on the Gold Coast!

We're going up to Brisbane tomorrow to meet a young girl who's had an amputation; and on Monday it's our next pre-hab meeting - with the Chronic Pain Doctor, and the therapist who'll amputate a doll with Tara, Jadie and Cassie.