TWO summer surgeries!

It's looking like a July surgery for Sumana and NOW Gretchen in August! My poor big girl has had a lot of ankle trouble over the last year or two. We finally saw an ankle specialist and after 6 weeks of hemming and hawing, she will need ankle surgery. She has a congenital defect in her heels that make her 'the leaning tower of Pisa' and I guess the injury to it compounded the problem.

The doctor is going to break Gretchen's heel bone and take out a piece; hoping to straighten her up. Then she's going to lengthen her Achilles tendon and suck out all the accumulated scar tissue. Nice, huh?? Because of Gretchen's busy summer (graduation party, summer school and working at camp), we're opting for a mid-August surgery. By then, Sumana should be in better shape, too.

The bugaboo at this point is scheduling. Dr. Sanders is already booking up for the summer and his secretary is out til mid week. Dr. Baumhauer only does surgery 1-2 days a week and hasn't finalized her August surgery schedule yet. Lots of hoops to jump before the BIG days.

While Gretchen and I were waiting to see her doctor, a woman in the area was LOUDLY complaining about how she had driven 1 1/2 hours to see the doctor and how things were not going as she planned. I must honestly say that I was quite irritated with her attitude. True, we only drove an hour, but I am soooo thankful that we have such wonderful surgeons/specialists within an hour or hour and a half that we can see. I remember all of our 5+ hour trips to Philadelphia to Shriner's because we felt the need for a continuing second opinion.

I'm so glad those days are gone. We have some of the best doctors in the country right in our backyard! What a HUGE blessing. Though I had to drive to Rochester on Wednesday afternoon with Sumana and then Thursday morning for Gretchen, it really didn't bother me at all. I am just plain thankful we have that option.