Yesterday's and today's turnings went better than previous days. In large part due to this guy:
When squeezed, he does this. Gross, I know...but very amusing to a 6 year old boy.
It's something to distract Jack and I think the squeezing when it hurts helps release some of the tension. We called Dr. Kogan and she said the pain behind his knee is where the calf muscle attaches. As the bones grow, the muscles/tendons/ligaments do too...so the pain he has is the muscle stretching. Makes sense because he describes it as a pull that burns. She said to give it a few more days and if it isn't better by our appointment on Monday there are some things that can be done to alleviate the discomfort.
He had his first PT session yesterday. He was pretty excited to see Niki and she was so happy he was there. He got quite the attention from several of the therapists, and he didn't seem to mind that one bit! A lot of the therapy is going to consist of stretching the knee and trying to prevent atrophy of the muscles. We'll see Niki twice a week and do aquatic therapy once a week. I am really hoping the aquatic therapy is fun for him, if so we'll get him into swim lessons. He's looking forward to it, he has a friend from his school that will be in the therapy session with him!
Here's some pictures of the ruler along the fixator struts.
These markings show the progression of the lengthening...1 mm a day. These struts can give us 37 mm of lengthening. Our goal is 50-60 mm, so in a month or so we will need to go back and have the struts changed out. This is a non-surgical procedure, just time consuming. From my understanding, he will be sedated for it just to help keep him still and for the process to go a bit more quickly.
This is the knob that we turn. You can see in the background 3 of the 5 other struts.
And that's about it for the excitement around here. Niki suggested that we encourage him to get up and moving with his walker more and that he can scoot around on his bottom. I'm trying hard not to push him, but it would be realllllllllly nice if he could start doing a bit more on his own! I really think at this point, he is still afraid of potential pain (understandably), but I think with time that will pass and he'll get more of his independence back. I know that will be nice for all of us!
THAT is a cool ball!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad pt went well yesterday and happy to hear the adjustments are getting a little better.
GO JACK GO!!!
That is so interesting, the ball that is. I like the pig one that poops out this juicy ball thing when you squeeze it, I'll try and find one for when I visit!
ReplyDeleteHey Jack,
ReplyDeleteThat is the craziest looking character I've ever seen! That bubble eye popping out is GROSS! I read that you will be doing water therapy. My brother, John did that and loved the feel of being in the water. I hope you will too! The water therapy helped my brother so much and I know it will help you too.
Mrs. Simmonds and I would like to stop by for a visit. We have some things from school for you. I will call you soon.
Love, Mrs. Pellant
i love the pic of all three. your kids are all sooo beautiful! i love seeing jack and his big smile. it makes me happy. hope things are going well today!
ReplyDeleteLove the stress ball! :) We had our last day of school on Thursday and the teacher sent home her final newsletter. She talked about how it would be a big adjustment for the kids to be done with school, have to think about new friends next year, uncertainty, etc. She had to remind us that what seems like nothing to us adults may seem like a mountain to these 6 year olds. Jack is doing a great job and hopefully things will improve on all fronts! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Max!
ReplyDelete