Right on time.

God is always on time.

We reported to Loma Linda at 7am on Tuesday morning without insurance approval.
We got all checked in; Josiah got in his gown; Nurses took his vitals; Anesthesia came by to consult with us; Dr. Nelson stopped by to say hello.

At 8:45am, I heard a nurse on the phone mention Navarro, and "Oh, well, they're all set to go back in a few minutes. (Pause). Oh. Ok. I'll let her know."
I was waiting for her to come over and tell me that we did not have authorization to go through with the procedure...
but she didn't!
I took some last TSF pictures...

Look at his SUPER LONG toe nail! Gross! Lol. I asked the doctors to PLEASE trim them. I even signed a hand-written consent for it! :)

Then at around 9am, Josiah was given some pre-op "silly medicine" before the anesthesia team came to take him back.
They later told me Jo informed them all that he was going to be Batman for Halloween, that his sister Ava was 2, and that his brother Jack was "this big" (showing about an inch between forefinger & thumb) :)
Every surgery they've told me that he has been very calm and brave.
(Peace of God!)

Surgery started at 9:30.
He was out by 10:30.
While we were waiting, we went downstairs to the cafeteria. While there, I got a voicemail (there's no signal upstairs). I listened to it and it was Kim, the surgery scheduler. She said that a little after 8:30am, "they received the approval directly from Health Net. Everything was good to go."
Amazing.
Though it was a big headache on Monday, I am thankful for Anna (from Health Net) and Tammi (from Loma Linda) for working diligently to get it resolved in time. (I still have to figure out my Primary Care situation, and make sure we will be able to go back to Dr. Nelson in the future, but for that day, it was all good).

After surgery, Dr. Nelson informed us that everything went great.
He casted the foot in the hyper-corrected position (stretched to the left) for good measure, and said Josiah should be able to walk around on it soon. (Can't wait!) He also told me he had already enjoyed a post-op cupcake. :D (We had brought the surgerical team cupcakes (from My Delight Cupcakery, of course).

We're due to go back on Monday morning for them to remove the cast, check the pin sites, and recast him. I'm leery of having them take it off and recast him when he might be sore still. But then again, it'd be nice to check on those pin sites.

Jo did have pain when he woke up and he was pretty grouchy. He kept asking me, angrily, why God allows pain. (Another one of those teachable moments this frame has provided. I told him, "God does not promise to keep us from difficult things, but he does promise to be there with us. He strengthens us, and comforts us. He's also teaching you about compassion through all you're going through").
But by the time we were ready to go, he was doing ok.
We left Loma Linda at 1:30.






Here is Josiah today (Thursday) with the new Lego creation he just built. (Thanks Nana!)
He has not needed any pain medication since last night when we gave him Tylenol and Advil.
Praise the Lord!

I must say, I'm in love with his new cast. It's so little! :)
He'll have it on for 6 weeks.

We are all so excited to be done with the frame!
As you can see, we've been counting down the days.
106 down, 41 to go!


We're looking at the week of Nov. 13th for cast removal.
Guess we'll need some new Thanksgiving Shoes!

We have a lot to be thankful for.

One of the people on the top of our list this year will be Dr. Nelson and his team.