June is National Scoliosis Awareness month. Scoliosis Awareness is simply the educational promotion of scoliosis so that parents, family members, and care givers can recognize the warning signs of scoliosis and try to seek and implement early treatment. I am thankful that "mom's intuition" coupled with God's guidance, enabled James and I to question and pursue treatment for our little man. Honestly, I had no previous experience or understanding of progressive infantile scoliosis (PIS), so I was virtually unaware of the warning signs, aside from the gnawing feeling in my gut. The warning signs are highlighted below.
Below are the last pictures that I took of Hunter pre-cast for you to compare. These were taken on December 4th and his first casting surgery was February 21st. I could have taken photos that were much more prominent closer to casting, but my heart just ached so badly for him that I couldn't bear to take any more pictures. I did attach his X-ray pre-cast from February for you all to see.
Being that it is National Scoliosis Awareness month, it is kind of fitting that the little man that my heart adores, received his 3rd cast yesterday. It was a pretty rough day for him, but ultimately the casting process went well. We were about an hour or so outside of Dallas on Monday afternoon when the surgery scheduler called and told us that our arrival time had been bumped from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., which would mean that his casting surgery wouldn't take place until at least 12:00 p.m. The scheduler told me that Hunter still would not be allowed to eat after midnight, but could have clear liquids until 8:00 a.m. We tried to feed him as much as we could on Monday night and kept him up relatively late, in hopes that that would somehow ease Tuesday morning's hunger pangs. While the boys (James and H-man) and the dogs were sleeping, I set out about 6:30 yesterday morning to try to find some clear liquids and popsicles for Hunter. Three gas stations and a Walgreens later, a clerk pointed me to a Kroger off the beaten path. Of course I had to buy a whole box of popsicles, but I would do anything to help my little man and too many popsicles is never a bad thing, right?!
I made it back to the hotel room about 7:30, woke Hunter up, and asked if he wanted a popsicle for breakfast, to which I received an emphatic, "YES!".
He tried to eat both while warding off his golden buddies, until it became a melted mess. I was thinking the popsicle would tide him over....not so much. As soon as we loaded everything and got to the hospital he was pulling at the diaper bag looking for something to eat. Needless to say, it was a long morning. We tried games, puzzles, videos, etc, which were intermixed with a few meltdowns. Overall, he was a trooper and his 11:30 a.m. goof juice time actually came fairly quickly.
I have one of these at home!
They took Hunter back at about 12:15 and were finished with the bath and surgery within an hour. The nurse called us to tell us that he was about to be wheeled back in and the doctor wanted to speak with us. I heard him cry a very raspy cry as the nurse carried him in the day surgery unit. For the next two hours he was uncomfortable and inconsolable. He had the somewhat of the same behavior with cast #1, but cast #2 went much more smoothly. The only thing that we can think of is that the extra wait time with cast #3 created a more empty tummy and the anesthesia created kind of a gas build up in his belly.
When he settled down a bit, James took him back for X-rays and we were on the road headed out of Dallas by 3:45 p.m. Since the X-rays were late in the day, we haven't received the results as of yet.
Thanks so much again for all of the continued prayers, good thoughts, and support for Hunter man. Blessings to you all!
To Be Continued...will post on progress later this week.
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