What Ben knows (cross-post)

On the night before we head off to Montreal for 8 whole weeks, I am experiencing almost every emotion all at once. Excitement, happiness, fear, anxiety, and dread. I am beyond thrilled that this surgery is happening. I am positive that this is the right thing for Ben. But I am oh-so-nervous about all that it entails. Three days of post-operative appointments that surely won't be much fun. An up-to-8-hour surgery. Days of recovery and then weeks of rehab. Eight weeks of being away from home. Away from Clarence and Daniel.

The most amazing part of all of this (so far) has been Ben's understanding of what is going on. He's only 4-years-old, but he can pretty much explain what's going to happen to him. He understands that we are going to Montreal to see Dr. Farmer (the neurosurgeon) again and that he is going to have an operation. Dr. Farmer will make a cut in his back and cut all the "bad" nerves and leave the good ones. He knows that he has to lay on his belly for 2 whole days after the surgery. He even understands that he needs to work really hard afterwards. And then he says "I'm going to walk with no walker and no canes!". Well. We'll see about that one. I sure hope he's right!

His main focus is that he gets to spend time in the pool every day (starting on day 14 after surgery). We have a little handbook that explains the surgery along with the days leading up to it and the rehab afterwards. There are pictures all the way through it. Ben loves to look through the handbook so he can see the boy in the pool. That's all he talks about.

Luckily, there is a pool at the hotel we'll be staying at this weekend and he'll be able to swim in the days before he's admitted for surgery. Hopefully that will help with the wait after surgery until he can go in the pool.

So yeah. We're ready for this. Here we go. (I just need to finish packing first.)