We had Jack's pre-op appointment with Dr. Kogan this morning. Jack was a little nervous, but Dr. Kogan is awesome and got him to open up a little. She spent a bit of time talking with Jack, walking him through what will happen the day of the surgery. He had written down a few questions to ask her and she answered them. I think he felt better after that and I KNOW he felt better when she sent him down the hallway to pick out some treasures out of the toy chest.
She gave Jon and I the specifics. She isn't going to do the patellar lengthening after all. This was to help with his knee-flexion. She's afraid it might complicate the lengthening process. She thinks she'll wait until after the lengthening is over to do that. His current LLD is 6 cm. The ultimate goal is to get it totally lengthened, which is ~5 cm. We're going to leave the leg a little short b/c he does limp when walking and keeping it short minimizes tripping. She can't give us a guarantee of how much lengthening we'll get...it all depends on how his bone responds to the process. The surgery itself will take 3 hours and the hospital stay can be anywhere from 3-10 days. She's guessing 3 days, but I think she wants us to prepare for more.
He'll come home with a wheelchair and crutches. That should be interesting....how are we going to keep him off that leg for a month??? If I could come up with a way to install a system of monkey bars throughout my house that would be perfect! He could just swing Tarzan-style throughout the 1st floor!
On the way home from the appointment, I asked Jack what he thought of not having to wear a big shoe lift once this is over. His face lit up, he is thrilled with the thought! He loves flip flops, and is always jealous of Max because Max wears them all summer long. I told Jack I'd buy him a pair of flip flops in every color. He liked that idea. I did too. In fact, I think when this is all over I just may treat myself to a pair in every color too.
After the appointment, Jon and the boys went to LegoLand. I was under the impression that my living room is LegoLand, but apparently I am mistaken.
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Sounds good! I think the household monkey bars is a grand idea. I remember hearing about him hauling himself up onto the counter top by his finger tips so he could get at some beans. ;)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of monkey bars. I'm smiling just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteRainbow flip flop collection = awesome.
How fun to be able to wear flip flops! :) Can't wait to see his and mom's new collection. We are all about the flip flops at our house.
ReplyDeleteMonkey bars are awesome!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see pics of Jack in flip flops!