Zephaniah's 3rd cast

Zephaniah had another post-op appointment today, this time to see the surgeon who had removed the bone spur from his leg.  The leg looks good but we told them how much trouble it was since the cast would NOT stay on his leg.  So they re-casted his leg again today, this time attaching a loop for a special belt, made especially for this purpose (we KNEW there had to be such an invention!).  Here's hoping it will stay on... it needs to until he sees this doctor again... June 1st.  Don't be fooled by the picture - Zephaniah was NOT happy to be re-casted (again) - but his big brother did a good job trying to distract him a little bit in the casting room.  

20 week ultra-sound

April 30th, 2012 - 20 week ultra-sound appointment.  This was the first time my husband was not able to accompany me - he, instead, watched the children.  But I made sure to get some nice pictures of our little one and Scott was happy to see them.  We are keeping the gender a surprise.  Isn't his/her little smile just precious already?  Girl or boy, will be such a JOY!

Cast on, cast off!

On March 26th I took Zephaniah to have surgery.  Some children come home and have to have it so much sooner for more urgent medical reasons.  I was glad we were able to wait 'til Zeph had been home for 6 months and at least adjusted a little and trusted us a little more.  But the time had come.  He had a bone spur (sharp piece of bone) growing on his left leg, threatening to poke through his skin at any time.  On Easter little Zeph made it quite clear that, until after surgery, he would NOT be even wearing his prosthetic.  It was just too painful.  In fact, just a week before the surgery his body was trying to cushion it, forming a bubble-like covering over it and it turned purple.  It was literally perfect timing to have this done.  While he was under a second surgeon operated also on his hand to separate two of his shortened fingers on his left hand.  They could not separate the middle two because of some common possible complications - they typically start with the two outward fingers and then do a separate surgery for the remaining two.  The surgeon also repaired with a "Z-plasty" the back of Zeph's right ankle and took some skin from the top of his right foot (where there was extra skin) to graph into the sides of his newly freed fingers.

I had to have him there by 5:30am, he was the first surgery scheduled for their day.  But I sat with him and sat with him, tired, scared, unsure.  Finally I changed and dressed him in his gown and they took him to the O.R.  around 9am.  Nearly 3 hours later I met with the surgeons - all had gone according to plan.  Then they took me to see him.  I could hear him crying and fussing and as I approached I could see him fighting the nurse, flailing and confused and screaming, "Mama, mama!"  I took him from the nurse -whoah - heavy!  They had casted his left arm and leg, full casts.  He looked up at me, closed his eyes and relaxed completely in my arms.  I was so glad to see that he was able to be comforted by me - that by now I have, indeed, earned his trust.  A 1/2 hour later they sent us home.

The next night Scott went to pick him up to give him a kiss goodbye (he was leaving for work) and "thunk" his leg cast just fell right off!  Ah!  My husband bandaged his leg.  My mom came over.  I called the advise nurse who should have told me to go to the casting clinic at the SAME building as the surgery was at.  Instead she told me to go to urgent care or ER.  I took him in and waited and waited and waited.... only to have the say they didn't DO re-casting!  We were out 'til super early in the morning - all for nothing!  Then I had to get up really early the next day and take him to see a pediatrician who then ordered the re-casting.  Then I took him to get re-casted.  He did much better than I thought he would.  Still, it was not exactly "fun" for him!  The next day.... you'll just NEVER guess... yep.  Cast fell off again!!!  Ah!  My ingenious husband has rigged up the cast so it won't fall off again but it would be nice if it had been done in a way that it wouldn't' fall off in the first place!

On May 3rd I took Zeph and the other three kiddos to his post-op with his main surgeon.  He took the top of the arm cast off to see how the skin graphs were doing, how he was healing.  Ouch, ouch, ouch!  Oh it looks just terrible!  I even just had to make sure and ask if it really was typical for the "little" fingers to be that swollen, blue and even black - 7 days after surgery.  I was assured it was all typical and looked "good".  Yikes.  I also noticed how even the smallest air brush against his delicate fingers sent him screaming and shaking in pain.  I had been slowly lowering his pain med dose.  Not after that appointment!  He does seem to be doing a bit better now.  He is now very strong on his left side, LOL.  He can now actually LIFT his left arm, casted!  It's huge!  I'm impressed.

His recent days are spent mostly on the couch (occasionally out for a ride or on the floor on some pillows for a change).  We got him some neat little puzzles and of course his favorite blocks and nesting bowls keep him busy.  He isn't all that interested in movies but he does enjoy music so we put on children's musical videos a few times a day.  I'm sure he will be thrilled when he is "free" of the casts and once again more able to painlessly move about like the active little 2 year old that he is!

Please keep him in prayer as he continues to heal - especially for his fingers to heal and the graphs to take well.