What did you do at work today?

Re: Gabrielle going in for foot surgery; it reminded me of our son J.R. He was born with a 'club foot,' which they tried to fix with casts. He had casts until he was 7 months old, and they decided at that point to go ahead and do some surgery.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Hauck, and took about 4 hours. He said it took a little longer than he planned, but there was a lot of putzy work. (his words) Basically, what he did was take out all the bones, cut and extend muscles and ligaments, put the bones back in and pinned it all back together. I remember thinking at the time: when he goes home and his wife says how was your day dear, he responds with---it went ok, I reconstructed the foot of a seven month old baby.

The main problem came afterward, JR was in a lot of pain that they just couldn't get under control. Mocha-momma spent the night in the room with him, and she vividly remembers this scene. It was about 2:00 am, and she was on a sofa bed. Dr. Hauck quietly slipped into the room to check on JR, and MM heard him say very softly, "I'm so sorry you hurt little man" and he comforted JR for a few minutes. She was very, very touched by this surgeon's compassion for our son.

Previously in the evening; when MM had gone home to get some things for the night, I had been holding JR and pacing around the room when he let out a flow of vomit that would have made Linda Blair proud in The Exorcist. I ended up wearing a hospital gown with my derriere exposed until MM got back with some clean clothes for me.

JR is fine, but his left foot is still a little askew, and it's two sizes smaller than his right foot. It makes shoe shopping somewhat of a challenge.