Update on Heidi

Last week we got a hard blow from the Dr. Heidi went in on Friday and the Dr. told us that coming up soon he wants to remove the hardware that is still in her foot. Then he talked about fusing her ankle. If this happens, her ankle joint will no longer move at all. She will be permanently disabled and unable to move her foot. This also leads to arthritis and knee and hip issues and all that kind of stuff later on. It left me very discouraged and depressed and Heidi was hopelessly depressed and worried about doing things normal teens do, like walking, riding bikes, learning to drive a car.

So Monday we went to wound clinic and her wound is looking worst, not better. So they took x-rays and blood work. They called later that day to let us know that the wound is again infected. So she is back on antibiotics and yogurt (her least favorite food now).

Last night Heidi came to Greg and I will an article off the Internet about artificial joints for ankles. The article was in a European Medical Journal and she asked if London was to far to go to fix her leg. Well that not only broke my heart, but it got us all searching the Internet and finding out more information about this procedure. We found some information about a Dr. in San Diego that does it and we are going to call him on Monday and see what we can do as options before we fuse that bone. There has to be another choice out there and this gives us all a bit of hope.

Well anyone that knows our family knows we are all overweight and this is a problem for all of us, but more so for Heidi, because she could loose that foot to diabetes or other health issues. We as a family decided we need to change, our eating habits and exercise habits and all that stuff. We set attainable goals and we are going to help each other reach them. At first the goal might only be to walk to the corner and back, but if we do that then later it can be to walk around the block. We are going to eat better and healthier and I (as the mom) am going to quit taking the easy road (McDonald's drive thru) and cook meals. IF we all work together I know we can do this.

It gives us hope again and it gives us something to do, and to work towards. I will update this as soon as I can talk to a Dr. or someone that can help us. Our Dr. has been great, but he hasn't left us with any choices, so we are going to look for them ourselves.