Two week follow-up

So we headed back to the doctor for William's two week follow-up and of course I forgot his blanket which has been his comfort through all this. I won't forget it ever again. He must of remembered them cutting his cast the previous week because he was upset as soon as we set foot in the office. Then as we headed back to x-ray he was freaking out and screaming for his blankie...(bad mommy). His x-ray did not look much different then the previous week, but the doctor seemed okay with it. He was more concerned about the rash he had the previous week. If that had not gotten better they would have possibly re-casted him. Next week if the bone has shifted at all they may have to put on another cast but he doesn't think he'll have to. He did seem to think his leg was going to be shorter and he would limp. I hate thinking about him limping but I don't think he'll even notice...I bet it won't even slow him down.

Our major hurtle as of late has been constipation. The nurse yesterday said to try prune juice, so we started that today. They say that because of the lack of physical movement he can get stopped up. Poor thing he cries and says poopy, it's a battle every time.

His mood has been good and JT has really started interacting with him which is awesome. I am going to try to start bringing him to the daycare on monday for half a day to see how he does. I don't see him making it a whole day but hopefully he can tolerate it some because I need to work to make some money. The doctor said that as long as I was there to change him and be available for him that he didn't see it being a problem.

Post Holiday

I am so thankful that the holiday came. It was a great distraction for William. We had a lot of time with family which meant extra hands to give Mike and I a little break. Plus the new toys really got William playing again. Santa brought him legos and he will now sit with his big bucket of legos and build with them.

His pain seems to have improved a lot. At this point we really only give tylenol or ibuprofen and mainly just before nap and bedtime. I have noticed a pattern though- he seems to have at least one melt down a day. It seems as if something like being tired or hungry will frustrate him and he just is inconsolable for a few minutes. I think this is fair..I know I would probably throw a fit once a day if I was in a body cast too.

As far as his cast...we put some of the waterproof tape around where they had cut away part of the cast. This has helped a lot. His cast has been staying pretty dry around his diaper. We still use the hair dryer on him everyday to make sure it is dry, plus he seems to enjoy the having the cool air in his cast.

Things are going pretty smoothly now that we have gotten into the groove. We plan to keep him home next week but may try going back to the daycare a little bit after the new year. As long as I am there and can help take care of him I think he may enjoy getting out. We shall see!

First Doctor Follow-up Day Five

So we had put cloth diapers up the back of his cast to get some of the moisture out. We woke up twice during the night to check to see if it was very wet. When I woke up he was dry as a bone so I didn't mess with it. Then Mike woke up and changed him and the cloth diaper was pretty dry so it seemed to have done a good job. He woke up around 5am and was clearly still tired so I put himj in bed with me and he went back to sleep. He seems to sleep better in our bed so we are letting him sleep in our bed tonight.

We took JT to daycare today because we had to go to the doctors office. JT was not happy when we dropped him off. I was going to try and let William eat with thier class but JT was so upset that we just left and he calmed down. His teachers said he really had fun playing and that I should drop him more often. I just want him home with me if I'm home. Maybe it would be better to keep to his routine but I know he notices when his brother is not there. Who knows what's best?

So William and I went to the doctor and had an x-ray done. The brake didn't look much better to me. He told me it could take a month for him to walk again and that he may have a limp for a while. Also his one leg might be shorter then the other. If it is considerably shorter like and inch or more they may intervene when he is older and slow the growth of the other leg to let the one catch up. Then we checked out the poopy cast situation and he said they could cut it out. Then we headed down to see the cast tech who sawed out part of the back of his cast. This was a little upsetting to William....just kidding, it was extremely upsetting! He freaked and I had to hold him and he was screaming bloddy murder. The saw is pretty loud and if you don't know it's coming or understand why it could be pretty scary. I was glad to get the yucky cast piece gone. After cutting out the piece he added more padding and while doing so William fell asleep. Poor baby it was two hours past his nap time.

We head back to the doctor in one week. He said that as long as the degree of seperation between the bone stays the same that they won't have to do another cast. So only time will tell.

JT is spending the night alone with his grandparents, so hopefully that will give him some special attention. I think it will be good for him to just get away and not have to think about his brother's condition for a night.

Day Four....I think?

So today was my first day alone with both boys. William woke up pretty cranky and ended up taking an extra morning nap. I think that his poor body is needing a little extra sleep to heal.

So during one of his morning diaper changes I looked up the back of his cast and realized that maybe some of the runny poop from yesterday had gotten up his back and the cast was pulling apart and sticking to his skin. I called the nurse who told me to clean it out as best I could with a damp cloth. Then to use the hair dryer on cool and try to dry it out. It was pretty gross and the smell was horrible. She said you can hold a dryer sheet in front of the dryer and that helps the smell. So I spent much of the day with him on his side or tummy watching cartoons and drying out. When my husband came home he had the thought to use some of our unused cloth diapers to put up the back to soak up some moisture. It did seem a little dryer after we tried that.

His brother continues to have trouble. He was pulling on his hand today telling William to "come on build tower." So I propped Willie up in his bean bag and had their daddy sat and helped them play together. At one point William rubbed JT"s head and said "I love you JT." How sweet. They don't know what's going on...especially JT. JT kept asking for my husband and his grandparents...I think he's wanting some attention. Tonight my parents came over to help and JT wanted to go home with them. We're going to let him sleep over there by himself tomorrow to get some special attention.

Well I'm off to bed, this whole experience is exhausting. We head to the doctor tomorrow so we'll see what they say.

Day Three

William had a much better day today. He was a little fussy this morning and complaining about pain. He Took a great nap though and when he woke up he was in a great mood. We only gave him ibuprofen instead of his pain meds and it seemed to be enough. He was being silly and laughing. He laid on the floor and played with toys.

There was a moment of panic when we realized there was runny poop coming out of his diaper. We panicked and quickly got his diaper off, but miraculously none of it got into his cast. They say that if any poop gets up in his cast it can cause skin irritation and if it gets bad enough they have to put a new cast on. We want to avoid that at all cost.

His brother continues to have a hard time. He did sit near him today and played with thier toys. Tomorrow I am going to make a soft spot in the playroom on the floor and try to get them to play together. I bet JT misses having his buddy to run around with. We may have some friends visit tomorrow and that will give JT someone to play with. I am curious to see how other children will react to William.

Tomorrow I am going to lay off his pain meds and just give him Tylenol or ibuprofen and see how he does.

Day two

William tossed and turned last night, like he was trying to get comfortable but he couldn't move. He would fuss and try to move around a lot. We tried to lay off the pain meds a little so that he could have a bowel movement and he finally did. He did seem to be is some pain this morning so we did give him pain meds when he woke up. He continues to just want to watch cartoons and seems to be in a little pain every time we change him or move him. We set up the dvd player in the play room so we didn't have to watch his cartoons all day.

We are going to try to take him over to his grandparents tonight for a change of scenery. We'll have to see how it goes taking him in the car. Till tomorrow...

First full day @ home

Wednesday afternoon William fell off a rocking toy at school and broke his left femur. We ended up at Vanderbilt and he had a spica cast put on that night around 11 pm. He didn't really sleep that night. He had muscle spasms and would wake up crying every 2-3 minutes. Finally the next morning after a dose of morphine he slept for several hours and spent a lot of the day in and out sleep. He was still twitching and crying but the frequency was decreasing.

Today was our first full day home from the hospital. He slept okay last night. The first half of the night he woke every half hour but then the second half we put him in my bed and he slept only waking once. We did wake up around 2am to change his diaper and give him some more pain medication.

He was in a fair mood this morning but still wasn't eating. He did give in and ate some cheese and crackers. I really didn't want to give him cheese because his lack of any bowel movement. I was just so happy he was eating. He mainly watched cartoons all day and did a little coloring. He didn't eat anything for lunch, but continued to drink juice. We all laid down around 1pm and didn't get up until 5pm. I think we all needed the rest. Even poor JT (William's twin brother) slept that long. JT is having a hard time too. At first he was a little scared of the cast, although now he will touch it and seems a little curious. He is jealous though and demanding attention from mommy.

Tonight William went to sleep with no fussing at all. I did have to lay with him until he was a sleep but there was less twitching and no crying. We will still continue to wake up once every night to change his diaper, we don't want any leaky diapers in the cast.

Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully the pain will continue to subside for him.