The Goodwins

Today Kirk, Ella and I spent the afternoon in Chicago with the nurse and plastic surgeon who will perform Ella’s surgery on April 15th. For those of you who don’t know, Ella was born with a large nevus (hairy mole) on her scalp, which carries a pretty high risk of melanoma later in life. With that as well as Ella’s Down syndrome in mind we’ve decided to have it removed.

The appointment was good in that Kirk and I still feel that it is the right thing to do for Ella and her future, that this is the right time to do it, and that we are blessed to be so close to the right doctor. (Dr. Bruce Bauer at Children’s Memorial in Chicago)

On the other hand my heart does not agree with my head and I firmly believe this whole situation stinks! I can’t stand that we even have to make this decision. And it breaks my heart to put Ella through what is going to be a long process of skin expansion and plastic surgery. Kirk reminds me, however, that in the big picture 12 weeks is not very long. And if the smiles on the faces of the kids in the pictures we’ve seen is any indication, this process will be much harder on Kirk and I then on Ella… next year she will not even remember that it happened. But still, my heart is heavy and I can’t help shedding a couple of tears. B.