Lauren saw her orthopedic surgeon again yesterday. Her gait is actually worse than it was when it first started about 3 weeks ago. I took time off of work to take her myself instead of delegating to my (amazing) mom and (amazing) mom-in-law. This way I could speak with the surgeon and we could assess her together.
He agrees that something is wrong (duh). We are all on the same page now thinking it's her ankle. It's painful for her to get her ankle even to neutral. It's painful to bear weight. Something is making a popping sound in her ankle. She's holding her left leg out pretty far. At this point, nothing is showing up on x-ray. The plan is to wear a boot (walking cast) for a month and then if things aren't a lot better we're going to either do an MRI or CT scan of her ankle. He said he's not sure if this is a fracture we can't see on xray, a soft tissue problem, something resulting from her most recent fracture in June, something popping up from her surgery in March, or if she even has another tarsal coalition not showing up on xray. Because her gait looks eerily similar to how it did pre-surgery, except it's more painful now. I am genuinely hoping fixing this problem doesn't result in another surgery (first because surgery sucks, second because taking a lot of time off is a buzzkill because it prevents me from taking time off for vacations, etc). However we fix this problem, the goal is just to get her walking more functionally. Her mobility is majorly impacted by this new injury and it's only going to cause further mobility issues if we don't get it resolved. When does life settle down? Does it just not?
I'm in school now. I have about a week and a half left of this semester (5 week semesters). It's a lot more work than I expected! I can't say it's hard per say, but it's time consuming.
The good news is, today has been a fantastic day for behavior for Lauren. She got "super star" (earning a star for ever part of her day for following directions), she was good for speech therapy after school, and then for me this evening she took a bath, ate her bedtime snack, and then was so super snuggly at bedtime. I still rock her, and today she kept kissing my neck, face, arm, etc and telling me she loves me and I'm a "cute baby angel mommy". She told me she wants to let daddy rock her tomorrow (he always asks and she almost always says no). It was just one of those rare days where her behavior was awesome! She was pretty good at her appointment yesterday, but we waited a long time before seeing the doctor so total we were at the office for 2 hours. I really think she was as good as she was able to be...even if our visit involved eloping, telling a female resident "go away, I don't like you" (it turns out her hands were really cold), and purposefully wandering into the wrong room FIVE TIMES while coming back from going potty. Hey, she was happy.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Foot issues...again
If I could change one thing about Lauren, it would be her physical disability. It's hard to watch her struggle. It's hard to pick her up now that she's half my weight. Her mobility affects her weight, which affects her health. But then her weight affects her mobility. It's a cycle of scary possibilities and it breaks my heart!
As you know, Lauren had surgery in March (mid-foot osteotomy and tendon release) to correct a foot deformity known as a talo-navicular tarsal coalition. Before surgery her foot turned inward, and she complained of pain. She had surgery in March, got her cast off April 26th, then started walking independently around Memorial Day weekend. Her gait looked good, if a little externally rotated (basically the opposite of what we had before). She then had a spiral fracture to her tibia after tripping over a kid at school (aka she broke the same leg) and was casted again for about 4-5 weeks. She's been getting physical therapist with an AMAZING and so patient therapist, and her gait got a lot better! The orthopedic surgeon had told us her foot would likely always be externally rotated, but shouldn't cause too much of a problem. He said it could be fixed surgically in the future if necessary. Her PT worked with her a ton and showed us what to do at home and her gait looked wonderful.
Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. All of the sudden her foot is internally rotated again, much worse than it was prior to surgery. She is complaining of ankle pain. I can't tell if it's internally rotated at the ankle, knee, or hip. She is walking and running, but refusing to walk a lot more and asking for her wheelchair. Her gait is back to being unsteady. This morning she actually held onto the wall while walking down the hallway to the stairs. And then once on the stairs she called me to have me hold her hand because she was scared. This hasn't happened in months!
She's seeing her orthopedic surgeon tomorrow morning. I want xrays of her whole leg and her hips. I'm afraid he's going to say it's "normal" and not do anything. It's not like I want another surgery, believe me. But I can't imagine her always walking this way, it's barely functional.
And I've been complaining about her behavior...and realized that her behavior had gotten so much better after her surgery that I joked with the surgeon that he fixed her personality in surgery. Now she's back to being a half demon child some days, and complaining of pain along with a changed gait. I'm a little nervous! I don't want surgery. But we HAVE to fix this. Maybe more physical therapy or different bracing can do the trick, I don't know.
On a cuter note, Lauren got an award today at school! She got recognized along with a couple other first graders for behavior. Her award is for doing her best in the hallway. Woo hoo!!
As you know, Lauren had surgery in March (mid-foot osteotomy and tendon release) to correct a foot deformity known as a talo-navicular tarsal coalition. Before surgery her foot turned inward, and she complained of pain. She had surgery in March, got her cast off April 26th, then started walking independently around Memorial Day weekend. Her gait looked good, if a little externally rotated (basically the opposite of what we had before). She then had a spiral fracture to her tibia after tripping over a kid at school (aka she broke the same leg) and was casted again for about 4-5 weeks. She's been getting physical therapist with an AMAZING and so patient therapist, and her gait got a lot better! The orthopedic surgeon had told us her foot would likely always be externally rotated, but shouldn't cause too much of a problem. He said it could be fixed surgically in the future if necessary. Her PT worked with her a ton and showed us what to do at home and her gait looked wonderful.
Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. All of the sudden her foot is internally rotated again, much worse than it was prior to surgery. She is complaining of ankle pain. I can't tell if it's internally rotated at the ankle, knee, or hip. She is walking and running, but refusing to walk a lot more and asking for her wheelchair. Her gait is back to being unsteady. This morning she actually held onto the wall while walking down the hallway to the stairs. And then once on the stairs she called me to have me hold her hand because she was scared. This hasn't happened in months!
She's seeing her orthopedic surgeon tomorrow morning. I want xrays of her whole leg and her hips. I'm afraid he's going to say it's "normal" and not do anything. It's not like I want another surgery, believe me. But I can't imagine her always walking this way, it's barely functional.
And I've been complaining about her behavior...and realized that her behavior had gotten so much better after her surgery that I joked with the surgeon that he fixed her personality in surgery. Now she's back to being a half demon child some days, and complaining of pain along with a changed gait. I'm a little nervous! I don't want surgery. But we HAVE to fix this. Maybe more physical therapy or different bracing can do the trick, I don't know.
On a cuter note, Lauren got an award today at school! She got recognized along with a couple other first graders for behavior. Her award is for doing her best in the hallway. Woo hoo!!
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