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!!
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