Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. We took all three. . .if you consider the skylink at DFW a train. And for purposes of this blog, we do. It makes the subtitle more catchy. In any event, we flew from Albuquerque, NM to DFW. As an interesting aside, we landed in terminal D coming into DFW. Any of you familiar with DFW know this to be the international terminal. This proves to me that the majority of Americans think that New Mexico is part of Mexico. The picture to the right is my own, personal superman! For real. Lydia thinks that I make the world go round, which you might think is all cute and sweet. until the world isn't right, and since Im responsible for making the world go round, I must be responsible for when something goes wrong, right? Baby Logic. In any event, Paul was a go to husband and father. He held her when she needed holding, walked her around when she needed walking, and did all the things that made the trip bearable for me, Lydia, and the hundred or so American airlines passengers. Thank you Mr. Cash. America appreciates you.
So, we finally got to Florida, and made it to the hospital the next morning. As soon as we walk in, some lady comes over to us, so excited, and says, "Lydia!", scoops my baby away, and starts walking around the office introducing her to everyone. That lady is Jennifer, our coordinator. She's known Lydie longer than Lydie has been alive. We've had this trip kinda planned since in- utero. It's like a little family in that office. There were people in the waiting room who started talking to us like old friends. I guess they realize that we will all be seeing a lot of one another over the years - so, lets skip the pretenses. The picture above is us getting the X-Rays ready. And the picture to the right is after a long day - right before we left. One thing about the Paley office is the wait. The wait is ridiculous. Hours and hours we waited. But, we were prepared and we didn't mind. When we finally got in the office with the SuperDoc, we didn't feel rushed and he didn't seem to mind the screaming baby. It was interesting to meet a man who was going to change your family's life. He was normal, almost. He cracked a few jokes and seemed to have a level of "swag" that you want in your daughter's pediatric orthopedic surgeon. If there is one guy that I want to be confidence about what he's doing, its the guy messing around in my daughter's hip and knee joint. People keep asking us if we liked the doctor and let me tell you this - It doesn't matter how we feel about the guy, he is confident he can fix my daughter's leg. He can be an a$$ as far as I'm concerned. But he isn't. He was calm, answered our questions, and has created an environment where my family feels safe and surrounded by people who care. So, If anyone has found this blog by virtue of a good search that started with "no femur", which was our scenario, go ahead and start saving the money and make a trip to see Paley. Just do it. Please.
As you may or may not know, Lydie's hip is all kinds of funky. That needs to get fixed, regardless. Paley is going to do that surgery at around age two - So December 2014. Then about the age of four we can start the lengthening process. Its going to take a lengthening at 4, 8, 12, and a shortening at 9 or 11. So, assuming that everything goes perfect and we get as much length as we can and no complications, we are looking at 5 surgeries and she is done at 12. Crazy huh?! From "We need to amputate" to "We can always grow new bone". It is an amazing experience.
Well, I'll finish up this post at a later time. We are about to go to the zoo. :) In the meantime, here are some fun pics of the trip.
Xoxo,
AC
