We are a go for launch!!!

ORIGINAL PICTURE DELETED PER SAM'S REQUEST (SHE HATED IT ;)........)

Sam officially went in for surgery at 12:20 PM EST. Although she was taken in an hour late, she entered into the most challenging event of her life with courage and bravery. As we told her every minute that passed, we know she will do amazing. Sam asked me to update her blog once she went in, and after a somber lunch of New England Baptist Hospital's finest grilled chicken sandwhich and Lentil soup, we found a nice quiet place to keep every one updated. By 'we', I mean THM (see prior post for explanation) and Josh (otherwise known as 'Sam's Special Friend').

It wasnt easy seeing Sam battle back the tears as we anxiously awaited the trip to the OR, much less mine. And now its here......the day, the event, the challenge, the impending fix. I cannot express how proud I am of here. This has been something that she has dealt with for years and now the day has come. We have tried to keep her positive and motivated throughout the months (and as well since I have known and fallen in love with her) by telling her that she will be back on her feet in no time. I only hope it has helped. Throughout the last 3 months, she has opened up to me about all her fears and uncertainty of the surgery and now that its here, I feel that she was fully prepared; emotionally and physically.

A bit of good news: Once Dr. Murphy came in to discuss the surgery with Sam before taking her in, he informed her that he might not need to conduct the femoral osteotomy. Not to get into the specifics or that I could if I really wanted to, the femoral osteotomy would add about 2 hours to the surgery and more extensive rehab. In a nutshell, they were possibly going to remove the head of the femur, rotate a few degrees, and reattach with some extensive hardware in order to marry up the knuckle with the socket. But alas, we are keeping our fingers crossed that his opinion makes it through the next few hours. We'll keep you posted.

We've spent the last hour or so opening up her thank you gifts. To my surprise (although I know I shouldnt be since it speaks of her character), she bought gifts for me and her mom and gave us explicit instructions to not open until she "goes in". So here we are......in the waiting room, and I open up a big red bag and discover the following: The classic childhood game of 'Operation'-----how fitting right?, 1 pound of Cherry Twizzlers (my fave), a box of calming tea, some Ferrero Rocher's, a battery powered shaking plush doll that screams out that it's MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME (you should have seen the audience in the room with us), and one pack of Breath Savers (since we have recently started to dog on each other that we can both have bad breath from time to time) See attached pictures. I like how she wore my hat :) ................... I love this woman.

Please keep her in your prayers and thoughts over the next few hours and days. I'll have her phone with me during her surgery if anyone wants an up to date status. Feel free to call. Wish her the best!!!