1. Tomorrow, Izzy goes in to have this bump on the sole of her foot removed. This bump has been on the bottom of her foot since she was a tiny baby, and it has grown with her. For years and years it didn’t bother her at all, and Mr. Pete would playfully poke at it when she had her feet on his lap, and it never elicited a response. But over the past few months it has gotten painful whenever she tried to wear dress-up shoes, and sometimes even while she was walking barefoot. But I knew that something absolutely had to be done when she told me that after working all last Saturday at the confirmation retreat that her foot was very tender and painful.
2. Last month we saw a foot specialist (who turned out to be one of my former brides!) and she sent us for an MRI.
We went back for our follow up visit after the MRI to go over the findings. The doctor told me that her bump was probably vascular and that she probably would not be able to remove all of it, but that she thought she could debulk it enough to make it comfortable for Izzy.
Then she told me that another bump showed up on Izzy’s MRI, in her ankle, and this one was a bit more worrisome. So worrisome in fact that they had already made an appointment for us to see an oncologist the next day at 8:30 a.m. – never a good sign.
3. So Mr. Pete and I lay in bed that night tossing and turning. At 3 a.m. I asked him if he was asleep, and he said, “yes,” which made me smile. We have had many sleepless nights as parents. Sometimes because kids were sick, sometimes because they were out too late and wouldn’t call us, and sometimes because something extraordinary had happened – like the day our girl knocked out four of her front baby teeth!
This was to be one of those nights.
4. The next morning the three of us went to go see the oncologist. He was a very nice man but also very professional and straightforward. I don’t think Izzy had any idea that we were worried that this lesion, hidden deep under her Achilles tendon, might turn out to be a sarcoma.
Fortunately, after looking at the MRI and examining her ankle himself, this doctor said that whatever this was it had benign looking features and he was not concerned about it. He would however, like us to have another MRI in 6 months to make sure that it is not growing or changing. So for now, we have dodged a bullet.
5. After that things moved pretty quickly. They scheduled Izzy’s surgery for this coming Monday. She will be nonweight bearing for two weeks! and after that she will be in a special boot. She also has to wash her foot very well tonight with some special pads that they sent us in the mail. Izzy shares a room with Rosie on the second floor, so this was going to be very interesting to see how she was going to manage going up and down stairs to get to the bathroom.
6. We do have a first floor bedroom. Noah and Gabe used to sleep in it. But when Gabe moved out, he left most of his mess behind him. Eventually the room became one of “those rooms” where junk entered, and never left. We always kept the door closed because it was going to be such a huge mess.
For Izzy, it became a challenge! She started on Friday afternoon, and as of Sunday night, she has all of the garbage (at least 10 bags worth) out of the room, the floor all swept and mopped, a new coat of paint on the walls, and all of her stuff in the room. In other words, it took her 48 hours to totally transform what I didn’t even have the courage to attempt.
I am in awe of her!
7. Having Izzy tackle that room with such gusto has helped my heart to heal too. I blogged before about how painful it was for us last fall and the circumstances around it. And truthfully, even now I have had pangs of guilt and regret about how things turned out.
But watching all of the clothes I bought that were just laying on the floor or under the bed, and seeing books and toys and other things that I bought just trashed or broken – kind of made me feel glad that I don’t have to deal with that any more. There’s a girl in that room now who values the space and takes care of her stuff and appreciates the things we get for her- and it just helped heal my heart a little more.
And I’ll need a stronger heart to get through this surgery that is before us tomorrow and all next week.
She is a lovely girl. I'll be praying for a smooth surgery.
Thanks Janette.
Good Luck Izzy! I'm not sure of you've gone through this before but some kids can come out of the anesthesia pretty combative and hysterical. It can be a little distressing if you're not expecting it. My sister (an ICU nurse) says it happens all the time, but passes quickly. Here's wishing Izzy a speedy recovery!