Brandon's surgery is quickly approaching. This upcoming Monday I will check him in the Manteca Medical for his 4th surgery since we have been married. This one is a doosey though. They will be taking bone from his hip and fusing it into his foot, severing his big toe and reattaching it to give him a more flat stance, and stretching the tendon so that they can successfully preform his next surgery in the future (ankle replacement.)
It kills me to think of the pain he is going to be in. It stresses me out to think of the load I am going to be juggling during his 3+ month recovery. Last night we bought his wheelchair off of eBay. Wheelchairs are not cheap by any means. And unfortunately, we both know this is going to be his long term transportation, for even if the surgery is successful (doctors give it a 40% chance) then he will still have chronic pain so some of our favorite family activities are going to be quickly limited such as hiking, and nighttime family walks. With this chair, he would at least be able to accompany us, without continued damage to his bones.
For those who don't know, Brandon was born with severe club foot, instead of his feet facing foreword, they were born completely backwards. God was watching out for him since the beginning as he was born in Topeka KS, the leading area of the country for podiatry at the time, and so he had the best surgeons working on his feet turning them around which meant that he was in a double casts until two years of age. As of now, he is the Kaiser report patient for all of California's podiatry department being one of the worst cases of clubfoot his doctors have ever seen, and Dr. Lawlar has done reports and presentation consults of his case giving us opinions from doctors from all over Kaiser California.
The good news is we are in good hands. The bad news is there is not much left to do if this surgery fails as his last one did. Even if he were approved for ankle replacements, it is not as easy as that may sound as this is a relatively new surgery and ankles are high pressure joints. He is not a candidate because of his age...he is too young. If he got them, they predict that he would need replacements every 10 years. So we are back to the above. Wheelchair status. The insurance would have provided the most basic (and restricting) wheelchair, but I found the all sports wheelchair on sale for $300 (normally $1700) and a friend of ours is going to powder coat it burnt orange (Brandon's favorite color.) This chair is the kind that paraplegics use on the basketball courts, or to play court basketball in. I fear we will get many miles out of it in the years to come.
We are still praying for a miracle. God is capable of doing great things of this I have no doubt. But we trust in his will and not our own.
"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Jer. 29:11
We hold on to God's promise, and trust that our lives are in the palm of his hand. We rejoice in the miracle of walking for as long as he provides. Heck, we are already on borrowed time. Wheelchairs are not the end, but the beginning to a new chapter in our life.
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