Monday.
My plans: school, our biggest day of the week, and clean the house. Finally. No appointments. A good day to stay in sweats.
At 7:31 I realized my plans weren't going to go quite on schedule. Noah's left leg was too swollen to put his tiger leg on. No way he was going to make the bus at 7:35. New plan. Ice the leg and elevate it for 30-60 min. Ibuprofen. Try again. Success. At which time the nurse returned my phone calls and said we needed an appointment. Yes, indeed. But the earliest we had been able to get was March 24th. She asked if we could make it this morning. Yes, we can! 3 kids to Grandma's with a bit of schoolwork. On to Lowes to pick up Greg. Off to Cincinnati Children's, Anderson campus. Hadn't been to that one before.
A little history, a bit of an explanation on just why we dropped everything for a last minute dr. appointment.
Noah is a pro at prosthetic legs. He amazed his physical therapist and all of us with how quickly he mastered his tiger legs. But, he struggled daily with the tightness of the liners. Still. Meltdowns every afternoon and/or evening. He tried breaks frequently, more frequently, less frequently. (Taking the liners off and on repeatedly was causing too much friction.) He tried wearing thicker or thinner socks. (A snug fit keeps the tiger legs from slipping and slipping causes friction.) He tried a layer of padding in the door of the tiger leg so that his weight is not on the bottom of his stump. And nothing really helped.
A couple of weeks ago Noah had another appointment at Hanger Clinic. 3:00 p.m. I purposefully did not have him take a break on the way there. (Wasn't trying to be mean, but it's hard to believe there is a problem when you only see smiles, not meltdowns.) So there were tears. No meltdown (he saves most of them for home, thankfully*), but plenty of tears. It turns out that his left leg was swollen and the next remedy to try was to not take breaks from the liners. (The compression of the liners would help the swelling go down.) Noah and I were not sure how we were going to survive! But. He limped out of the clinic, dried his tears and said with surprise, "Walking helps." (Previously, the only thing he thought would help the leg pain was to Get. Those. Liners. Off. NOW!) For the last 2 weeks, Noah has not wanted to take his legs off until bedtime because he doesn't want his left leg to swell. Whenever he has pain or discomfort, he walks until he gets relief. I cannot tell you how thankful I have been for him to have a plan that helped and all of us to have a break from meltdowns.
Noah's prosthetists also suggested that we make an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon which we did. March 24th, earliest appointment. Ugh. So we went to his pediatrician and got an x-ray to make sure we weren't dealing with an infection in his bone or anything like that. And settled in to wait. Until March 24th. Which brings us to today. And YES we will be in Cincinnati at 11:00. Gladly. God is good. Grandma was home to keep the other 3. Greg could take off work to go along. And we made it with 10 minutes to spare.
A long wait to see the dr. Grumbling tummies (no time to pack snacks in our mad dash out the door). Then more x-rays. More good news: no bone spurs etc. Nothing that requires surgery. (Noah and I don't do well with surgery we have discovered.) The spots on his legs that tend to get sore are where the knobby inner ankle bone is. (I'm guessing there is an actual word for that.) The bad news: no quick fix.
Noah is to use his wheelchair at school the next 2 weeks, then every other day for the 3rd week. His shiny, new, red custom wheelchair. He is pretty excited about that. But he is sad that he won't be able to play tag at recess. I am pretty excited about that, not that he can't play tag, but that he can see the benefit of his tiger legs. Progress! Noah is to wear his tiger legs at home a few hours each day for the next 2 weeks. His dr. hope that taking it easy like this will help the swelling stop. He is also hoping that Noah's prosthetists will be able to make some more adjustments to his tiger legs so that the sides of his legs and not the bottom of his stumps will bear all of his weight.
I don't know how many more tweaks and solutions there will be. Maybe this is it. I hope and pray so. I am sharing some of the nitty gritty in hopes that you will pray for Noah's adjustment to his legs, for the team of doctors and prosthetists who work with him, for answers, for help.
Noah's amputations were on Feb 18th, 2015. Almost a year ago. The medical side of things has been rough at times. But Noah is amazing as those of you who know him can attest.
Praising God for a doctor appointment today. For a custom red wheelchair that is about to get a lot of use. For no more surgery. For lunch from the rice and bean store (Chipotle).
*Home-a safe place to let the worst out. Yes, he is safe here and truly one of the family!
Praying for you all!
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