Visualization

I truely believe in visualization. Been into it since I was in high school and coaching gymnastics. I found that often seeing it happen in my head helped make it through things that are hard. Take the 3 yrs of infertility and 3 losses. I kept visualizing in my head a picture of hubby walking away from me with his hand on the shoulder of a small boned, thin, blonde boy in a greeen shirt. It wasn't until Matthew was about 3 yrs old that I realized that all those yrs of visualizing, it was Matthew all along. (Btw, the boys favorite color has been green since the day he could say green)

So today I called upon visualization yet again.

The boys and I were at the children's again today. I had this appt for Matthew back before the surgery, but choose to keep it, just in case. Decided I would have the surgeon look at the damp spot on the cast as well as help me out with the callous/wart (wasn;t sure what it was, but it was hurting Matthew).

We arrived and Matthew was very agitated. No doubt. Poor kid has been through a lot. We were in the waiting room when he was angry at not being able to play with something. He hit me in the face and sent my glasses flying. I am sure that my ears will be burning for the next few days as the parents sitting there watching probably thought this kid was the worst behaved one they have seen. It is the reason why I try not to pass judgement on seeing a short interaction of parents and kids... but I digress.

Dr. K was so pleased with Matthew's progress. Couldn't believe that he could jump and run so well just 3 weeks 1 day after his surgery. So he decided to do a cast change and rotate his foot outwards and upwards. Take advantage of how well he is doing.

So onward to Margo we go. She went to cut the cast off and Matthew started screaming and yelled "Don't cut my foot! Don't cut my foot!" He was almost hysterical. Margo had casted him all last spring. She said to me "He is acting perfectly normal for some one who has been through so much" Luckily, the cast room was empty. They closed the glass doors and even pulled the curtains.

Once the cast was off, he freaked out even more at seeing where the inscisions are. They are numerous, and the one in his arch goes from his toes to his heel in a half moon.

Once the recasting started, it really got hard. His tender little healing muscles and tendons were stretched out just as they were starting to feel good. Matthew screamed. And screamed. And screamed. I held him and visualized. I saw him running through the fall grass. No cast. No AFO. Just bare skin on cool wet grass. Running straight, running free. And laughing.

After his cast was dry, he was still sobbing and crying hard. I picked him up, gathered the old cast (he wanted it), the rocker shoe and Ryan's hand and walked out. He cried and cried and cried. Got to the parking machine, fumbled a bit but was able to get out the ticket and money. Got to the van.

The whole drive home, he cried and yelled "I want to go home! Owwiieeeeeeee I want to go home Oweeieeeee" I kept that sight of him running through the grass in my mind.

Now I know why Dr. K wanted to do the first cast change in the OR.

Once we were home, he got some codeine and a Batman cartoon. He settled really quickly and was even stepping on the new cast by the evening. Tomorrow should be a good day.

The next cast change is going to be March 5. I am not looking forward to it, but will keep that vision in my mind.

I am having a few glasses of wine tonight. I think I deserve it.

Normal

I tried, I really did. I tried really hard to find a shoe or boot or ANYTHING to fit over that cast. No luck. His foot is a size 11 and the size 3 was almost big enough. I refused to buy a shoe that many sizes too big. He would just trip and fall over it.

Instead, I found a second rocker shoe from last spring back in the closet. (a rocker shoe is an open toe and open heel canvas shoe with velcro to hold it on) I was able to put a touque on his cast and the rocker over top. So at least now he can walk outside.

Problem is, this child is never happy with moderation, or compromise. He wants it all. And, well don't we all. So he wants to go sledding after school again. So today I made it happen for him. I was able to put the touque on, then a large ziplock bag, secure it with a few elastics and add the rocker shoe on top. Not pretty, but fashion has never been a huge concern around here.

So as soon as I could secure the rocker, he was out the door running with his sled up the hill and down it. It is funny. He took it all in stride. He didn't question the look of it. He didn't step tenderly or even check it after a few runs to see if it was ok. He just did it.

For me, the best thing was not that he was able to slide again. It was seeing him so normal. Out there, dog piling with his little friend, running up and down, laughing all the way. Normal. That is all I want, and today, for a few minutes, I got it.

Celebrations

Hubby and I were going to celebrate his turning 40 in Oct and my turning 40 this coming Sept with a trip without the kids. The beginning of April was perfect. We can get a great condo in Cabo San Lucas, great flights with West Jet and found some dive companies. April works for my parents to come in from Vernon and watch the boys for us. Really excited, needed a break from the boys.

Sat down and started talking about it. Matthew is in his current cast until the first week of March. The next cast will be 2-3 weeks based on the amount of swelling. That takes us to around March 25ish. Then he will be casted for his AFO (they use the cast to make the AFO) and casted again until the AFO is ready. That takes us to about April 9 or 10th. Then there are the constant AFO fittings and adjustments that take place over the next few weeks to ensure a good fit that makes his foot do what it is supposed to and not give him blisters.

There is no way we can go away in April. We can not determine how long this process will take or how many appts he will need. I can't drop that on my mom. It is hard enough for me and I deal with it all the time. I would worry that she would miss something. I am sure she would worry about it too.

So we decided to cancel our trip. We were both a bit bummed. Then we thought about it. What would be the best gift for turning 40? Seeing that little boy run with a straight foot that doesn't drop and make him trip. That would be the best gift I could ever ask for. And if I am lucky, I just might get it by my 40th birthday.

Good news from the hospital!

Great news from the children's today!

Matthew got to see Margo and she took a look. She is unsure as to why the bottom is damp, but after looking she is confident that there is no bleeding or oozing of other fluids Apparently, they switched to a new material inside the cast that does not absorb liquids (she even showed me... very cool) and the fiberglass is water proof. So it is impossible that anything would leak through the cast. It would come out the toes first and seeing the toes are dry and as far as you can see in the cast is dry, she is confident all is good.

What a relief!

The best thing was when he was really upset at having someone look at his cast. He took off running down the hall away from me. I watched in awe and with a few tears. His foot swung straight through. No inturning, no swinging it around, no unusual running gait just straight on through.

Then I had to chase him down and get him before he escaped out the front door. Man! He can run fast!

Complications?

Today is 2 weeks post surgery. He is running, jumping, and doing almost everything. He is a bit sore and will limp occasionally, but he is also just about off codeine. He had a dose at 8 this morning, and since then, only 2 doses of tylenol. So, it is looking great!

Until...

I noticed yesterday that the bottom of his rocker shoe (special shoe worn over the cast) had a drop of wetness. He told me he spilled juice at school so i thought that seemed feesible.

Tonight, there is still a dampness on the same spot of his cast and the spot looks discolored... dare I say blood colored.

Wasn;t sure if this warrented a call to the orthopedic surgeon on call. I mnean, it isn't an emergency. But will be heading in tomorrow to have some one take a look at it. Just not sure if it should be first thing in the morning and pull him out of school, or if I should take him after school.

What could happen?

Could be totally normal. He is in no pain, there is no smell or tender spots.

Could be that he will need the cast changed. No biggie. Been through that many a time. Zip the cast off, put on a new one.

Could be that it will need to be opened up in the OR.

it is one of the first two.

Will update when I can.

The road to recovery

Nothing keeps this kid down. He started running on his cast on Saturday. Just for short spurts. Then he would sit down on the couch and put his foot up and say it was was sore. Looks like I can return the wheelchair tomorrow.

He is still on codeine, but I think that is because he is moving so much. If he were to slow down a bit, he would have less pain, but I suppose in his mind, less fun too.

I'll try to post the pictures of him jumping on the couch from yesterday. Yes, we let him jump on the couch... and his bed too. The jumping motion is one of the best things to stretch his heel cord.

OR Visit

We had a tough morning yesterday. Matthew woke at 6 am and could not get back to sleep. I am sure he was anxious. At 7 am he wanted juice and something to eat and I had to tell him no. He was told previously, but he lost it. He was screaming and headed for the kitchen. Got the juice out but not poured before hubby got him. I know it was his anxiety, but gosh it was a tough hour and a half before we left.

We arrived at the hospital at 9 am and he was in a wonderful mood. Was acting silly, and playing. It wasn't until 10:30 that he started to ask for something to eat. He was supposed to go in at 10:15 but his surgeon was running late.

He was finally called back at noon. I got to talk with his surgeon first. He told me that he expected a lot of pain. He said that normally he doesn;t do bone surgery with a tendon transfer the same day, but he decided to because it just looked so good when he tried. He said he may give Matthew a caudal again (like an epidural) and that he would most likely be on morphine when he came out. He also gave me a new script for morphine. He had given us 30 doses last week, this time he gave me 50 doses. He was expecting the worst.

What could I say? I wanted to scream NOOOOOOO. But said, I trust your judgement, and my brave little boy was wheeled off without me, cuz he said "mommy, I am a big boy"

It was supposed to take 30 min to reposition, remove stitches and re cast. It took 50 min. I was worried it meant that he had done the caudal. But when they finally wheeled his bed back, he was only on saline drip and NO CAUDAL!

He woke quickly, no puking, and we were able to go home by 4 pm after seeing the surgeon. He was pleased with how it all went and looked. Matthew had a small blister on his heal. Not good, but hopefully, it won't cause any problems. We have dealt with blisters under casts before. Not good.

He is going to be in this cast for 4 weeks. Then, a cast change and assessment as to how the swelling is doing. Then maybe 2-3 weeks in a new cast, then fitting for an AFO and another cast til the AFO is ready. So, maybe another 8-9 weeks in casts.

His surgeon said he can walk on it when he is ready. He took a few small steps last night. Should have seen his face. The grin was ear to ear.

He had a good night too. Had codeine at 6 pm then at 10 pm. He woke at 3 am, I gave him tylenol and he slept til 7. Looks like he will be pain free soon! Yay!