Surgery in St. Louis

I am so behind on this blog, hopefully I will catch up soon. But for now I wanted to make sure I posted about Kambree's upcoming surgery. On Sunday (October 28th, 2012) we will fly out to St. Louis Missouri where Kambree will have Selective Dorsal Rhisotomy (SDR) surgery on October 30th. The quick explanation is they will go into her spinal cord and clip the nerves that are sending false messages to her muscles causing them to be tight. The goal is give her better mobility and give her the chance to move more normally without the added tightness in her muscles. Better quality of life really.
It was a hard decision to decide to do the surgery, I looked into it almost 2 years ago and decided against it. It is very invasive and it worried me. As time went on I thought about the surgery and what benefits it might give Kambree and decided I should submit all the paperwork to St. Louis (Dr. Park who will perform the surgery is the best and the surgery is not done at all hospitals that is why we are going to St. Louis). It was quite a process to go through just to even see if she qualified. I figured I'd submit all the information and paperwork they needed and see what they said (thinking in the back of my mind they would say she was to high functioning) In July they reviewed all her information and let us know that Kambree was a great candidate and that they love doing kids like her because she is so high functioning allowing her even that much more of a normal quality of life.
So Joe and I decided we would go for it. We have fasted much and prayed much about it. I was still feeling uneasy about things (it is a huge surgery) and then at stake conference watched the Mormon Message: Motherhood, a partnership with God, by Jeffery R. Holland. I was reminded to rely on the Lord, To rely on him heavily and to rely on him forever, it just so happened we watched the same video Sunday and I was reminded again. It was a sweet answer to prayer. So Sunday we will go. We are all ready. Kambree was very nervous and apprehensive about all of it. Finally I sat down and drew her a picture of exactly what we would be doing. That set her mind at ease and I printed her off a calendar so she could count down the days. This has helped so much. She is excited for the time spent with Mom and Dad by herself and the Plane ride. She knows it will be hard and that she will have to re-learn to crawl and walk again but she understands also that the benefits will be so great and she looks forward to those. The therapy afterwards will be intense 4-5 times a week for 4-6 months and then 2-3 times a week for the next 6 months. It will be intense for our whole family but hopefully the benefits and sacrifice will pay off and it will be worth it in the end.
Kambree is one of the strongest girls I know, the road is going to be tough but hopefully the sacrifice and hard work will reap great rewards. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.