They wanted us to go to rehab...

Amy Winehouse soundtrack today...altho' it wasn't us who said 'no, no, no'. It was rehab. We saw the specialist on Tuesday - he's happy with Tara's progress...altho' we're still delayed by the scab (argh!). So he wanted us to go to rehab to learn how to do the shaping bandages to prepare her leg for the prosthetic...but they sent us packing back to Physio to do it (internal red tape, blah). The taping itself is extremely blah - altho' luckily Tara LOVES it. Whew. (And she doesn't want Tone to learn coz she knows the wannabe-doctor in him will take over & she wants to do it on her own.) But it is a schlep - has to be done a few times a day, not really efficient - so we've sent an SOS to cousin Phil to try source some shrinker socks for children in the UK.

Tara's amputation continues to bring out the best in so many people. A bus driver yesterday insisted on us riding free - and it's not like he was even a nice guy. He YELLED at some other people. And a teenager jumped up with a huge smile to give Tara a seat on the train yesterday. It's never happened before! (Shame, a very large blind guy tried to sit in Tara's empty wheelchair - managed to get him out before he and the chair fell over...)

Best news yesterday was that Tara can now swim...and occasionally use crutches - altho' we're gonna hold off on that one coz if she falls the delay will be mega-months. So she insisted on her first swim last night. And it was just beautiful. Jadie turned into the twin you wish you had - swimming with Tara, doing handstands, pogo-ing thro' the water - and then the two had their first bath together in months. (The last few weeks, Tara's baths have been very non-glam - all alone to prevent infection, with her leg hoisted onto a roof-like lid of a rubbish bin which was the only waterproof item we could find to keep her leg out of the water!).

She continues to have a fantastically healthy outlook. Like I happened to mention how gorgeous the modelling teacher's legs were and Tara (sitting in the back of the car with her sisters) said "what about ours?" (so I told her their's are all fab too). But she's aware in a good way that she has something a little different - yesterday, between Rehab and the Physio I had to push her past the very crowded cafe - and she didn't have her bandage on. So she goes "oooh, people will see my leg". So I said "is that a problem?". "Oh no!" she answered. "I want people to be able to see my stump." And just outside the cafe we saw a man with a really mangled and shrivelled body, curled up weirdly in a wheelchair, and Tara said "you know, that man probably thinks he's normal, because for him, he is normal".

So - in the spirit of Tara's "let them see me as I am" attitude - today's pic at the top is the first public photo of her unbandaged, bare, naked stump (currently called Stumpie Star by the girls)...and two very squishy faces with tight swimming caps on!

Below is Tara's first swim in the indoor pool - it was late at night so a bit dark - Tara on the left, Jadie on the right. BTW - new blog post below as well (I've published 2 at once here).