Thursday night, September 30

Today ended up being kind of a strange day. After they pulled out the nerve block, I feel like I was in a mental tug of war trying to discern my level of pain and how best to handle it. They haven't been real generous with pain medication so I can now tell that I need to be a little more direct in asking for help. No matter what--I made it through my first day and am now a little wiser in what to ask for tomorrow.

Whatever. The best part of the day was getting a visit from my Dad, and my friends and co-workers, Sharon and Lisa. They brought some cards that kids had made for me. They were all adorable, thoughtful, and sweet. I can tell that we should probably have a school-wide spelling test on how to spell our last name (Heettricks, Heetdreeks, Hendricks, Heaterks, etc.) . . . But one especially cracked me up.

It started as a piece of paper folded up so many times that it resembled a very unique form of origami--only to be carefully secured with about three miles of scotch tape. After spending 10 minutes just trying to open it up, I could tell that there was another wad of paper inside the package. Well--the paper was none other than $21.00 in bills. When I opened up the card, there was a beautiful watercolor painting of water and a prosthetic leg with the message, "For the water leg."

When talking with the kids on Monday, a lot of them asked if my fake leg would rust in water. I explained that I was going to have to save up some money for a special prosthetic called a "water leg" that can be used when walking in and out of water at the beach, washing a car, or going waterskiing (for example). Well, this little girl took it upon herself to get a "water leg" fund going for me. Too funny. So sweet. (Don't worry--I will get the money back to her parents as soon as I can.) :)

Anyway--I am slowly getting used to the look of my new body. I haven't had a chance to stand up yet--we will cross that bridge tomorrow. Thanks for all of the encouragement. Love to you all!

Anne