Thursday, May 17, 2012

A well needed break

So we went to the ortho yesterday morning and he was happy with Nolan's progress. We took X-rays and it showed that there is new bone growth on the inside of the bow and nothing on the outside. What does that mean? It means his body knows his leg is supposed to be straight and is working on fixing it. We now are on a 2 month break from casting! This doesn't mean we are done...it's just a break...like Ross and Rachael from Friends. We go back in 2 months to do more X-rays and see how is body is handling everything. As of right now there are 3 ways things could go:

1. His body does fine and we don't need anymore treatment till his surgery to correct the leg length in a few years
2. His body is fixing the problem but just not fast enough to support him walking. In that case he will need an AFO which is a shoe like brace to support him when he is walking.
3. There was no correction made during the 2 month break and we are doing a second round of casting.

I am of course voting for #1 but I will not be upset if we have to start another round. Once we got through that first tough time; casting was pretty easy. My biggest complaint was that he wouldn't sleep well. He wasn't unable to reposition and fall back asleep....so whenever he did wake up he was wailing and it took awhile to calm him back down. Plus every time he woke up he would need to nurse to calm back down. I am just happy that I have been able to successfully breastfeed my little one so that I can give him the love and comforting he has needed during his treatment.

Since we have been cast free for almost a week he is only waking up about 2 or 3 times at night (which isn't a big deal since we co-sleep). He is sleeping from 9pm till 8am. And he is also taking good morning and afternoon naps.

I hit super mom status yesterday when I was able to scrub my bathroom tile floor, seal the tile, scrub the toilet, scrub the countertop in the kitchen, scrub down the kitchen cabinets, sweep the whole house, AND bake banana muffins! I'm pretty sure it was the most productive day I've had since he was born! Today was mopping but it looks like we are having a bit of a nap boycott. He has one more chance until I wrap him to my back and he helps get the chores done.

Attached is new X-ray followed by his first one. It's hard to see the change unless you look at the distal end (ankle joint) of his tibia and fibula. Also remember that this condition takes 5 to 7 years to fully correct. It is easy to get discouraged when you only see month to month and not year to year.

3 comments:

  1. I am hoping for #1 as well!

    I have to say, if I had known that we were in this for the long run, not sure how I would have felt when Matthew was a few months old. Now, 9 yrs in it just seems normal. :)

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    1. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but can I add you to my foot blog list? let me know

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