We have thrived in and survived the 10 months. S has had well over 30 appointments, 2 surgeries(both feet), she has her last foot surgery this month and a major surgery in March.

Sarena has had a casts on both feet for two months. The right side is actually from her toes to her thigh. Even though she knows that the end result will be really good this has been very trying. Having the casts has meant losing independence, not taking a real shower or bath, not being able to crawl. We have had days that there are lots of tears over the casts and many talks about how fun it will be to go shoe shopping when they finally come off!! Can you imagine being 14 and never really being able to wear a pair of shoes? I sure can’t, but believe me I can’t wait to see this girls face when she can go to the store and get a pair of shoes or 3 or 5 that fit and that will stay on her feet, not just because she is my daughter and I love her, but because she has endured so much to get to this point.

She will have her last foot surgery December 17th. This is to remove the 4″ pins from her right foot. Hopefully she will be fitted for the right brace at this time, December 30th she will get the left cast off and go into a brace….YAY!!! The first week we will see the spine doctor to see if her scoliosis has worsened. We will see the neurosurgeon on the same day to hopefully be cleared for her spinal fusion/rod surgery, scheduled for March 20th. This is a major surgery with a week hospital stay and two month recovery time. There are about 6 weeks worth of testing leading up to this surgery in preparation.

School is going well from T and I’s point of view. S is very stressed out about pretty much everything about school 😦  On the bright side this sends me to God in prayer, and gives us ample opportunity to learn more effective coping skills and learn not to give up just because things are hard. You can’t give up even if they are really hard or even really, really, really hard! Lots of prayer and learning in this department for teacher(mama) and student(S).