Surgery and miracles

July 14, 2009

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me mention Kiera‘s leg surgery, or the leadup to our learning that it needed to take place. Because it is an interesting story, and because some people have expressed interest in the situation, I want to write about it.

In any case, to start out, Kiera is having surgery on Monday, July 20 at the new Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital. The surgery is a bone fusion in her foot, and also involves clearing out bone fragments and scar tissue from the past.

This story starts at Kiera’s birth, when she had clubfeet. Doctors informed her mom that she would never walk. She could have a surgery at age 18 that would be a cosmetic surgery, but would still not allow her to walk. As a baby, she was unable to wear shoes, and would scream if there was any attempt to put them on.

Her mom faithfully took Kiera to her church to have her feet prayed for in hope of healing. After one of these attempts, her feet straightened out. Her mom noticed this at home, and tried putting shoes on her feet. No pain seemed to occur, she developed as a walking child.

Now, the interesting thing is that the surgery she is having now has nothing to do with this former condition, and she never had the cosmetic surgery at 18. When she was 16, she tore a ligament and needed surgery for it. When doctors fixed this ligament, they noticed that she had a tarsal coalition, and did a surgery to try to fix it.

This surgery didn’t work, and the piece of bone grew back (causing various bone fragments and scar tissue, as well as a piece of bone). She has been experiencing severe pain from this for the last couple of years, and since I have known her has had to be very careful with it. Because of the first surgery, the doctors are not attempting to remove the piece, but instead are fusing the piece with a joint, taking away the foot’s horizontal movement.

This surgery will require a three month recovery. For the first six weeks, she will be on crutches and fairly immobile. After this, she’ll be wearing a camwalker, and will still be sketchy, as far as movement goes, for the next six weeks. But hopefully after this, the pain will be gone.

And this is basically the situation. Thank you to those who have expressed interest and care in her situation. In all honesty, we are both a bit stressed about this, in anticipation of the physical pain, as well as the various financial and other burdens the surgery will cause. So your care is most appreciated.