Evas Story (final but really just a pause) Eva really has a high tolerance for pain, but a couple years ago she would complain that her feet and ankles hurt when she would run and play. It was obvious that something in her bones didn’t form right in her ankles and she had flat feet. Our doctor suggested we see a specialist and referred us to Children’s Mercy, this was our first introduction to this wonderful place we have called home for over two months now. We eventually took her to an orthopedic surgeon in Manhattan and he recommended surgery. The procedure would require breaking the bone on the outside of her foot and inserting a wedge and screws to hold in place, then break her heel bone and shift it over and staple and screw it in place then make an incision on her Achilles tendon to relax it. She went through the surgery and recovery on her right foot during which time she couldn’t put any weight on it and was either on crutches or wheel chair for about 6 weeks. Once her right foot was healed they repeated the procedure on her left foot. I guess I tell you this to share some of what Eva has overcome and we know that she will be able to handle anything life throws at her. During the past 2 months we have seen the little girl that we have loved from the minute we met her, and for Jody the minute she saw her file on the computer, go through some really tough times. There have been some times when she was pushed to the point of tears and real dark days but she always comes out of it and we have heard so many times “I’m sorry that I cried” Other times when things aren’t going the way we had planned she says “it is what it is”. A friend of mine wrote a blog titled “Hopes...Dreams....My trip to Holland”, it was about her twin daughters with special needs who were only with them a few short years, she is my inspiration to write the daily log and this story (thanks Karen). Basically the title is from a poem about someone planning a trip to ITALY and after many months of preparation and anticipation on the flight the flight attendant announces “Welcome to Holland”. Sometime we plan the “perfect” life and along the way our plans change and you end up with challenges you never expected. Eva has been such a blessing to us and even with this unexpected challenge we wouldn’t change our life for anything. Jody and I often talk about the “butterfly effect” and what would our life be like if we changed just one thing along the way and what if we would never have had the opportunity to be in Eva’s life, I just can not imagine not having her with us she has filled a hole we didn’t even know we had. Many times people have said “you guys have given her such a wonderful family” and if you asked each of the kids and Jody you would hear that Eva has given us more than we could ever repay. Well that’s the story, naturally there have been so many stories each of the kids and Jody could tell but they will have to do that. Thank you all for your kind words for both Eva and us it means a lot to us.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:55:17 +0000