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Where has my week gone? Sorry I left you hanging with the wish. Life is busy enough as a mom of four, but then add Christmas, and our anniversary and there is little time for blogging. I have been trying to simplify--I'm not sending Christmas cards or taking gifts to neighbors. And for once in my memory I haven't baked any goodies at all. Not that we are being deprived of sweets. So many people have remembered us this Christmas and we are feeling very loved and very humbled. Thank you Anonymous for all the many ways you've helped our family this year and this season. I don't know where to send the thank you notes, but you all know who you are. So, the wish. On Monday afternoon, Steven's wish granters called and told me that the wishing room was still broken, but they wanted to come over to our house and visit with Steven and get the paperwork started. Then when the room is fixed, Steven can go and officially declare his wish. She then asked if Steven knew wha...

Yesterday Steven was supposed to declare his wish at the Make-a-Wish wishing room. Unfortunately, the room was broken (let's hope that isn't some sort of omen!) and we had to reschedule for tomorrow afternoon. He was pretty disappointed, but got over it and is really looking forward to tomorrow. I won't have time to post about the wish declaration for a few days, but before he wishes, I wanted to list off all the things he has considered for his wish. This is a kid who studies maps for fun and has a variety of interests and passions. He has pondered his wish for all the months of his treatment. In fact, if he is ever feeling down, we can usually distract him by talking about what he wants to do for his wish. He has had a really hard time coming to a final decision, in fact, I'm not even sure he knows it yet. I guess we will know by tomorrow. So here is a partial list of ideas he has considered (in no particular order). These are only the ones he has thought ab...

On Wednesday day morning, I took Steven into see Dr. Jones for a follow up appointment. Before we saw the doc, he needed some Xrays. Getting Steven on the table and putting his leg in the position they needed for the pictures was excruciating. He was screaming through it all and the techs were trying to get what they needed as fast as they could. I had every intention to take pictures of the xray, but with all the drama, it slipped my mind. So now I will just have to try to describe what I saw. Let's just say, that at first glace from my untrained eye, I saw immediately why Steven is in so much pain. In fact, it made my stomach churn. When Dr. Jones said he broke it the other direction, he wasn't kidding. Even the techs were really confused about why a cast was on and his bone looked like that. Imagine taking a stick and breaking it in half. There are jagged edges all around it. Now set it at a slight angle--the jagged parts are jutting out. That is my small at...

As the days tick past, we are seeing gradual improvement with Steven's pain levels. He is taking less and less medicine and is moving a little faster. But when I say a little, I mean a little. He is fine as long as his leg is in a certain position, which is straight out in front of him, or a little elevated. So moving him consists of holding onto a pillow which holds his leg (almost like a sling) and then he moves himself slowly with his arms and other legs into his wheelchair or out of it, depending on where he is going. On Saturday we were able to take him to the movies and then he went to sacrament meeting on Sunday and to his grandma's house. Moving him in and out of the car is the hardest of all, but it can be done. I may have mentioned before that it takes about two weeks for the bones to start to knit together to where it doesn't hurt as badly to move. He is sleeping through the night (usually) and in a happy mood. Yesterday we had a bit of a set back--he was doing h...

So, today is the two month mark from Steven's last chemo. His hair is longer than ever, and coming in much lighter than it was. What? At first he thought it was grey--it does seem to lack some of it's old colorfulness. He has had a better day. He is still extremely careful with his leg and will only move very, very slowly in and out of the wheelchair. He is in good spirits, though. In the picture, he is playing with bubbles and dry ice. He spent a long time making a popcorn string--somehow he is still obsessed with the Christmas tree. Most of his anxiety about moving is gone. Okay, he is still worried and careful, but he isn't hyperventilating and crying anymore. Someone asked when he would be going back to school. I don't know about that--I am almost positive it will be before the 8 weeks is up. He probably won't make it back next week, but I bet he will by the week before Christmas. Okay, I hope he will. If he doesn't go back and he continues with his obsessio...

Steven made it home this evening and he is so glad. It was not an easy process. He needed to get into a wheelchair and then into the car. It took about an hour to get him into the wheelchair. He had some serious pain and probably more than anything, some serious anxiety. The nurse was really pushing him--he wanted to stay and she wanted us gone--and he was getting bugged by her. When she left the room (and he was sitting on the side of his bed), I said, "Don't you want to go home so you don't have to have nurses boss you around?" That did it (and the mention of the Christmas tree). And then he overcame whatever it was that wouldn't let him move into the chair. It wasn't easy, but here we are. Lets hope the days just keep getting easier in his recovery! I guess that is the general idea. They say it takes about two weeks until the bone has made enough fibers to hold it together so that it isn't rubbing against itself and irritating nerves in...

Steven's pain has been under control. . . as long as he holds still. He is eating, but to go home we will have to move him, so my best guess is that we will be here another night. He did have a good night--he slept from 10 till 4 with no morphine (but with Lortab) but we wanted to shift him to avoid bedsores around 4, so he got morphine. He has had no trouble going back to sleep all morning as docs and nurses came in. He just told the nurse that he couldn't go home today or tomorrow. This from the kid whose main goal has always been to get out as fast as he could. He was so sure of himself, he must be in some serious pain. Hopefully he will improve faster than he thinks. Yesterday morning, the kids woke up and started decorating the Christmas tree. He got really excited about ornaments and has been wanting to make some. We did one yesterday while waiting for surgery and he woke up this morning wondering if I finished it and if we could make some ornaments today. Luc...

I wasn't planning on an overnight stay at the hospital tonight, but here we are. Not my first choice, but oh well. I am tired and busy and my keyboard is at home, so I will give a short update. This morning we rushed out the door to come see Dr. Jones and get a cast. Dr. Jones still hadn't seen the xrays and when he examined Stevens leg he was struck by two things. First of all the splint from the ER came about an inch above the break, so it was doing more harm than good. One explanation for why Steven hasn't wanted to move an inch all weekend. Also, his leg was crooked. He looked at the Xrays and sure enough, the bone was bent. He said he wished it had broken the other direction, because he could have cast it as is and it would have helped Steven to get his leg straighter, thus helping with the walking. But as it was, he really felt like surgery would be best. He also decided to remove the screws and plate while Steven was under anesthesia and not going to be wei...

So....I am super tired tonight--mostly emotionally. I can't even describe how discouraged and disheartened I've been about the leg break. Of course, you would think that I would be a little more sympathetic for the patient and a little less concerned about my own disappointment. He is in a lot of pain and is very sleepy. He didn't sleep well last night and between that and the pain medication, his eyes were drooping all day. He fell asleep in the recliner tonight. It isn't fun to see him in pain, but I know that he will get over it, so my concerns are mostly centered on the future. You would think I would have learned not to count on the future too much. My life certainly hasn't turned out like I planned. During chemo, I got very good at living day to day and focusing on the present. Since he has finished chemo, I've been trying very hard to plan ahead and set goals. I know that the future is uncertain, but I have really centered my life on getting Steven walkin...

Okay, here is a post I've been avoiding for a long time. And it includes something new that I really hate to tell you, but even more so, hate that it happened. If you want to read that, skip to the end. The big question on everyones minds, including my own, is "When will he be walking?" This is a difficult question. The answer that we have recently heard is that once he trusts his leg a little more and will step down into it with his weight, we will see that he will progress very quickly. So, why doesn't he bear more weight on his leg? Well, there is the physcological side of it--I've heard that often amputees have a hard time trusting thier prosthetic. Plus, since his surgery seven months ago, he hasn't born a whole lot of weight on his leg, so there is some serious atrophy of the muscles. Also, you can tell by the pictures of his leg, he can't stand up straight on his leg. The rotationplasty leg is longer with the prosthetic. His prosthetist ...