A Leg's Going Away Party

A one-legged gingerbread man!  Yes, they make one-legged cookie cutters.

Sunday afternoon was my leg's going away party.  It marked perhaps one of the first pre-amputation celebrations in the history of medical leg removals.  It's only a matter of time before Evite has an amputee theme.

It was great to share the send off with friends over brunch and drinks.  These are the people that have lived with my injury for the past three years and know exactly how excited we are to finally put this all behind us and get our active lifestyles back.

I got up early to make a sun-dried tomato and bacon egg roulade (here is the recipe).  It was simple to make but took a toll on the ankle early in the day with all of the standing at the kitchen counter.

A reminder of why I've decided to get an amputation.

One of our friends went to the beer store and asked for amputation-themed beers.  After reassuring the staff that this was actually a good thing, they recommended Antigoon, a belgian pale ale, and Heavy Seas Peg Leg, a russian imperial stout.

You should see a doctor about that.

The stout was not bad.

What other amputation appropriate beers are out there?  Does it count if the taste of PBR makes me feel like cutting off my tongue?  Maybe the draftnotes.com blog can help us find some others.

During the party we set out some sharpies and let people sign the leg if they wanted to share a goodbye message.

Some people signed their name.  The top incision scar was prime real estate.

I left an apology to my ankle.  My bad on causing the injury.  Your bad on being terrible.

Canada gave its official seal of approval by donning the leg with the friendliest flag in the world, The Maple Leaf.  The finished drawing is shown below.  Our awesome and quite impressive friends from Canada also brought the one-legged gingerbread men.

Some took the opportunity to just state some facts.

"Not resistant to trees."  Our only live testing we've been able to do so far shows that my ankle has little to no resistance to trees.

"Defective product: Return for disposal."  Another accurate statement.

Scott's signature ended up being difficult to read in the picture.  It said, "If found please return to owner."  It's a little known fact that the US Postal Service will mail feet back to their owners free of charge.

Crystal and Megatron (Crystal's unborn child) left a sentimental note.

They make a good point.  The foot and toes really have been handed a bad deal.  The ankle committed the crime, but the foot and "little piggies," because they're all an accomplice -- they all do the time.

The most elaborate signature of the night belonged to a two-person team from Hawaii (an artist and her creative director and mother).  They designed an entire diorama using a box of sand Crystal and Troy brought us as a gift.

By the way, how awesome of an idea was it to bring sand so that I could feel it under my foot one last time?  Amazing idea and something I will remember for the rest of my life.

Here's team Hawaii's diorama, complete with a palm tree and three coconuts made out of an incision scar, a dancing hula girl, and sand from exotic British Virgin Islands Home Depot.

It was a memorable night and a great way to mark an end of the last three years.