No Cast and Leg Fittings

I was almost concerned that Joseph would refuse to accompany me to his Phila visit this AM. He was so worried that it would hurt to take off the cast and that there would be blood.
Well this is what he saw when they removed the cast. Pic is a bit light...but no blood, just some dried out wrinkled skin.  The Dr's were so happy with his results...he is going to need to do the work from here on out.  Splint at night, and work the wrist during the day. I was a bit surprised we aren't doing PT, but we will see how "mom PT" goes. If we have too many crying evenings like tonite, I will be requesting PT by a professional.
 Thumb is still not in the right position, so we have another stint with the fixator in our future, but we will see if we can arrange it after next summer so that he can go swimming.

Then on to some socket fittings for his legs. He was cast 4 weeks ago and they were ready to try on the sockets. They temporarily attached the feet to see how they feel.

I have a video of him walking but it is sideways and I don't know how to right it! He did pretty  well and didn't use his favorite 4-letter word too often...(hurt)
Now we get to pick out some cool fabric to do the outside of his legs. I sort of talked him into it when I told him he can go to the fabric store and pick out whatever. (maybe I'd better clarify "whatever")  Maybe he will pick "skin" after all.

Progress!

On Friday, my parents, Joseph and I journeyed to Phila to get fitted for
the new legs!! and to get rid of that wonderful but hated fixator!
Unfortunately we will not have the new legs by big brothers wedding day,
but they will be coming!
Thankfully the removal of the fixator went as planned and we didn't need
to stay overnight or some other unwelcome surprise.
Actually I guess there was one unwelcome surprise...the cast....should
have figured that was a possibility, but I didn't and he woke with it on
his arm and was not a happy camper....when he heard that it would be 4
weeks...he really was not pleased!
One day soon we need to write a book about this summer, it has been
quite the adventure.

Progress!

Today we did a run to Philadelphia...to see the Doctors....not sure how
many we saw today...but anyway first the good news. The fixator will be
history in about 2-3 weeks....well as soon as the appointment can get
squeezed in there. Oh and the plastic surgeon said he does not think we
need to graft YAAY!
This-a mama is ready to get rid of that thing...there might be a
certain 11 y.o. boy that thinks the same thing.
The other half of the visit was good, but we aren't quite as far along
as I'd hoped....the incision looks great...the swelling is down...but
not quite far enough...the prothesist (the people that make the
prosthesis) was just not sure that his swelling was down as good as it
could be and rather than make legs that are too big...we are wearing
compression socks/tubes for about 2 weeks then see how he looks.
The let down came this evening...we were talking about touching his legs
and getting them ready for legs...the skin can't be too sensitive and he
was groaning and moaning...didn't want to wear the compression socks to
bed ( I can understand) He also decided that he could not walk today
because his calf muscle was "hurting" the proper adjective never did get
decided upon. Was it achey because he walked too much yesterday
(probable)...or was the muscle torn from the tendon (not
likely)....really could not get a finger on exactly what was going
on...but it was BAD!
Anyway, daddy had a little chat about trying not to let pain rule you
and helping us figure out how to help him....
along the way I asked if he ever had someone that pushed him to move
ahead to work hard at a goal...
"yes a teacher (ayi) in the orphanage"
I asked him what he thinks she would say if today she could see the
choices ahead of him....
on one side...don't try...keep crawling...stay in wheelchair...because
it hurts to work
OR
work with mom and dad and doctors...do the exercises...toughen the
skin....move the muscles so that he can play basketball with his
brother...walk and run with his classmates.
That upset him...I do it a lot these days....
but he got me back he said...
"that is why I didn't want to come to America...all the surgeries"
I bit my tongue for awhile...then asked him who the kid was that crawled
by me the other day and lifted his fixator arm and said..."even though
this was hard, I would tell other kids it was worth it."
"Not me" was his answer.