Talking to Therese

Last week while we were waiting at the dentist together, I took the time where I could give her my undivided attention and started to ask her about her life in China.  She has always talked about one little girl she calls JieJie.  I asked her if JieJie slept in the same bed with her.  She replied, "no, I sleep by self."  Then she looked up at me very seriously and said, "I not have a mommy and daddy."  I didn't quite know what to say to that, so I asked her if she needed one, and she said yes, very emphatically.  Then I pointed out the obvious, that she has a mommy and daddy now who love her very much.  She threw back her head and gave her giggle of pure joy.  It has been interesting how bits and pieces of her former life will come out. That is the first time she has ever said anything remotely negative, and she has said many times that she wants to "go back my China."  She is such a cheerful little soul and obviously made the best of her situation.  Several times since then she has commented, "I not have mommy and daddy in my China."  She probably is just now realizing what it means to have a mommy and daddy.  She was nervous about the surgery, since John had so many problems with his, but I told her that hers was a little one, and that we will be with her.  That relieved her mind quite a bit.  It breaks my heart to look into the face of this beautiful little five-year-old, and realize that she didn't have any idea what it meant to be loved in a family, and to have your mommy and daddy go with you when you need to go to the hospital.  It took nearly 5 years for this little girl to get her family.  I'm very blessed and honored that we have her.

Therese's feet

We had to suspend casting when we cut the casts off and found a wound on Therese's foot.  Here is a picture of the foot 2 days later, still very inflamed:

 

 

After a week it was much better but we still couldn't cast over it:

 

Finally, the second week after cutting the casts off, I sent this photo to the doctor and he said we could cast again. 

 

We were worried that we would be starting all over again, and the doctor had warned us that we would likely lose all or almost all the correction we had gained.  Here is Therese waiting for her new cast, after two weeks out of them.

 

 

Her feet looked about like they had when we started.

 

The doctor was very surprised at how far her feet we able to be moved for the new cast.  She didn't lose very much of the correction and this was such wonderful news.  The 8 hours of driving every Friday were very tiring and the thought of starting over again just made me feel exhausted.

 

For cast 3, Therese chose a blue cast.  Here is the procedure for removing the cast each week.

 

Cutting each side with a very loud tool:

 

That thing is loud!

 

 

We wondered why Papa looked so calm, then we noticed that he had come prepared with earplugs.

 

Therese's motto is, "I do it by self," and she loves to try to help pry off the casts.  I don't know what this tool is called, but I call it the cast-cracker.

 

Here is a foot after cast 3, the cast after two weeks of no casting.  The large lump is the callused skin and bursae that had formed on her foot where she walked on it.  When she walked, that was on the bottom of her feet, and now they are almost in the right place.

 

 

Cast 4 has taken her feet as far as the shortened achilles tendon will allow.  On Monday, February 24th, she will have a tendonotomy.  They will put on the last casts, which will be on for 3 weeks.  The next step after cast 5 is getting her AFOs and turning her loose.  She heard us talking about surgery and is clearly a little apprehensive about it, but she immediately announced that she was going to be brave, and "I not cry like John," since he cried constantly for weeks after his surgery.  She is a tough little girl but we would appreciate prayers for her procedure.  Our biggest challenge will be trying to keep a set of casts intact for 3+ weeks.