I realized that I had never posted a picture of what made Warren considered special needs in China's eyes. Warren's special need was listed as a malformed right foot. That was it. For us that was pretty cut and dry and we were thinking reconstructive surgery or amputation with a prosthetic foot. So doable. I knew when we got to China that was not it. You could tell right away there was something more. His right leg was much smaller in both length and width of his left leg. But nothing slowed him down! Once we got home we went to the international clinic where I was informed he was missing his fibula bone. We were told amputation of the leg above the knee. That was a blow I have to admit. Luckily they told us that they had a new Doctor coming in who specialized in such things and Fibular Hemimilia like was Warren's case. So we waited and came to terms with amputation and met with Dr. Ruggles. He shocked us with a whole new plan of leg lengthening! It was a lot to take in and we decided to give Warren a chance. We knew once we amputated there was no going back. At least this way we gave him a chance. So we have now began the journey of leg lengthening. This by far is not an easy journey on Warren or the rest of his family but its one that we hope will help him. Warren is also a special case in that most of the surgeries start before the child is walking. In our case Warren was in China and nothing was done so he is starting his at 3! Also Warren's foot is also a little different in that most kids have 3-4 toes on that effected foot. Warren has 2. He has always been a special boy! :-)
I have never posted a picture of his foot and I don't know why. I am not ashamed of it and neither is he! He is pretty proud of it! So here it is!
And of course a picture of the Doctor that gave our little guy a chance to keep his leg when others just said no.
I wasn't able to post pictures from the hospital in my last post because I was exhausted if you want to know the truth, so I am going to post them here. We loved our hospital stay as much as it is possible to love a hospital stay. I am thankful we did not have to travel to Baltimore or Florida where the majority of FH kids go to get treatment. Dr. Ruggles was trained by the Baltimore crew so I know we are in great hands. And we loved Nationwide Children's hospital!
And for all those in the FH community Warren had a Super Ankle surgery and a surgery to straighten the tibia.
And I will end this by saying that a lot of people have asked me if I thought the orphanage knew about Warren's issues. I will say that I don't see how they did not know because it was pretty obvious. I know it was a poor orphanage so maybe they didn't know exactly what was wrong but they knew it was something. Maybe they left it off so he could find a home and if that is the case I am not mad, I am thankful. Had we known his true diagnosis we may have been scared off. I cant say for sure. I am glad they left it off and glad that he is my son. There was a reason we didn't know and I wouldn't change a thing!
