Spica Cast Week Ten and it's off!

It was a very early morning, since we needed to check in to surgery at 5:15 am. Even so, there was a long line! All the first surgeries of the day checking in at the same time I guess. Alan was pretty content during the pre-op period, watching videos on the PSP, until someone came in his room. Then it was "Bye bye!" and the imperious wave to dismiss them. Everyone thought it was so cute.

They rolled him into the OR around 7 am, and one of us was allowed into the PACU to sit with him by 7:40. He woke up pretty quickly and started saying "See you later!" in addition to "Bye bye". Not quite so fast! He sat up a bit and had some juice while we waited to see Doc L and Kristi.

Originally, they were going to re-pad the cast and give it back to us as a bit of support for Alan to sit up in while he got used to be free again. Doc L had warned us that kids that have been in casts for a while will take some time to be comfortable with it's support when it's removed. Getting the cast back in a clamshell mode was supposed to be a bit of a security blanket/support for him. However, Alan had done such a number on the cast that it was irrecoverable. Kristi suggested propping him up with pillows and placing then around him like a fortress for support until he was comfortable on his own.

When it came time for us to get dressed and leave, Alan started crying and wailing when I tried to put a pair of shorts on him. I was worried at first, wondering if the pain he was expressing was a normal part of the recovery from the hemipevectomy or the cast. Kristi said it was a normal reaction to the loss of support from the cast we had discussed earlier. The pain from the surgery should be past by now but we still had to deal with the discomfort from the cast. Imagine how it feels when your foot falls asleep and then you have to rub the circulation back to normal in it - now multiply that by a leg and a half and months. That's what Alan is going through right now. The nerves and muscles have also gotten sluggish from lack of use and stimulation. It will take time for them to get back to normal.

Our boy is so stubborn and active that even knowing this it was quite a shock to us how sad and scared he was to move. He cried every time we moved him in and out of the stroller or car seat, or had to manipulate his legs to change him. Time, massage, and a little Motrin is all we can do right now.

Otherwise, Doc L says there are no restrictions on Alan's activities. She wants him to wear the hip and foot braces he wore before the cast was put on as much as possible to provide some support and keep the foot from dropping (since they had to release his tendon in the surgery). We left those at home in San Antonio, but we'll get them on him as soon as we get home. In fact, if he wants a particular toy, we should leave him to go after it rather than get it for him. Tough love! It's going to be hard, but Alan is a tough little man.


We were back from the hospital by mid-morning, in plenty of time for lunch - in Alan's case, a yummy frosted cupcake!


After lunch we headed out to the Rodeo for Alan to get out of the hospital for a while. All that fresh air and Alan had a nap for a while.