Cast #3...and Feeling Hopeful!
As you all know, Avery is now in cast #3. I try my best to stay up to date with my posts, but you know, life happens. So, his appointment went well overall. He still had a bit of a cold that day, but thankfully it wasn’t anything that would be concerning or cause us to have to reschedule. We arrived at the hospital for 6 o'clock in the morning, and everything was pretty much routine, which we are now getting the hang of and know what to expect. The nurses weighed him, listened to his lungs and took his vitals. Anesthesia came to introduce themselves and have me sign papers. Then we spoke with Dr. Glotzbecker for a minute, signed more papers, and then it was time to head in for Avery to be put under. This is always the part I hate the most. This time it was even harder.
With the first two casts, when they administered the anesthesia, Avery was sitting on my lap with his back towards me. I held him tight and quietly sang to him our song, "Blackbird" by the Beatles, and he quickly fell asleep. The only time I saw his face is when they placed him on the bed, and I then kissed his forehead and told him I love him. For cast #3, they had him lay on the bed first, so of course he is already screaming and crying because that's typically the first thing he does when he sees a hospital bed. I was only able to hold his hand, and while watching everything that was going on, it took every ounce of me to not push everyone out of the way, grab my baby and get the heck out of there. It was just about as horrible as when he had to go for a barium swallow, at only 9 months old, to make sure his feeding issues were not caused by anything internal. It still hurts my heart to think of that day. I will continue to go into that room with him, though, for every cast no matter how painful it is to watch.
The procedure went quickly, again, and before we knew it, he was waking up in the recovery room... and he was NOT happy. He usually doesn't wake up in the best of moods from the anesthesia, but I could tell something was different this time. Since he is nonverbal, it is not like we can ask him how he feels or try to explain to him everything that is going on. It makes it very difficult for George and me, as it turns into a guessing game, and all we can do is hope that we figure it out so that we can make him more comfortable and help him to adjust easier after each cast break.
A few days into week three now, and Avery is still not adjusting well. It has been very difficult for us to watch. This cast, like the others, is shaped differently. We are hoping that this is a good sign, and means that there has been some correction. However, while he has to wear it, it is not a good thing for Avery. Like most toddler boys, he loves playing on the floor with his trucks or building blocks. With this new cast, no matter how hard he tries, he just can not find a comfortable way to sit or lay down. At every diaper change, I have to apply Aquaphor to his hips and upper thighs to keep them from becoming raw, because the cast is constantly rubbing on those areas, as it sits lower and tighter than the previous casts. The lotion does help a lot, but those areas still tend to get very red, and slightly bruised. We hate to look at it, because we know that there isn't really anything we can do. For playtime, we have turned a large empty cardboard box into his own little play table. It helps by keeping his toys at a higher level so he does not have to bend over, or lay down, to play with them. Other times he uses the sofa, window sill, or ottoman to play on. When he does play on the floor, though, he is constantly changing positions until he just gets frustrated enough and gives up. It wears him out quickly, and makes him extremely irritable these days.
We are feeling very hopeful this time around, though. During his cast break, we tried not to analyze his back like we did after the first cast was removed, but we still would quickly look to see if we noticed any difference. To us it did look like there was some correction, but he does still have a very prominent rib hump. Now since I'm not an orthopedic surgeon, I can't tell you what any of this means, but with the noticeable difference in the shape of the cast and from what we saw of his back during the break, George and I have a very good feeling about this. Of course, that doesn't mean that the journey is over just yet. After casting comes bracing, and as long as the brace does the job it needs to do, then Avery will still have to continue to go back for follow up visits at Boston Children's every 6 months throughout his childhood to make sure that the scoliosis does not develop again. If it were to develop again, we would have to start back at the beginning, or in some cases they look into other options such as surgery but those are only in the worst cases, so we will only hope and pray for the best.
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| At Boston Children's with Avery's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Glotzbecker |
With the first two casts, when they administered the anesthesia, Avery was sitting on my lap with his back towards me. I held him tight and quietly sang to him our song, "Blackbird" by the Beatles, and he quickly fell asleep. The only time I saw his face is when they placed him on the bed, and I then kissed his forehead and told him I love him. For cast #3, they had him lay on the bed first, so of course he is already screaming and crying because that's typically the first thing he does when he sees a hospital bed. I was only able to hold his hand, and while watching everything that was going on, it took every ounce of me to not push everyone out of the way, grab my baby and get the heck out of there. It was just about as horrible as when he had to go for a barium swallow, at only 9 months old, to make sure his feeding issues were not caused by anything internal. It still hurts my heart to think of that day. I will continue to go into that room with him, though, for every cast no matter how painful it is to watch.
The procedure went quickly, again, and before we knew it, he was waking up in the recovery room... and he was NOT happy. He usually doesn't wake up in the best of moods from the anesthesia, but I could tell something was different this time. Since he is nonverbal, it is not like we can ask him how he feels or try to explain to him everything that is going on. It makes it very difficult for George and me, as it turns into a guessing game, and all we can do is hope that we figure it out so that we can make him more comfortable and help him to adjust easier after each cast break.
A few days into week three now, and Avery is still not adjusting well. It has been very difficult for us to watch. This cast, like the others, is shaped differently. We are hoping that this is a good sign, and means that there has been some correction. However, while he has to wear it, it is not a good thing for Avery. Like most toddler boys, he loves playing on the floor with his trucks or building blocks. With this new cast, no matter how hard he tries, he just can not find a comfortable way to sit or lay down. At every diaper change, I have to apply Aquaphor to his hips and upper thighs to keep them from becoming raw, because the cast is constantly rubbing on those areas, as it sits lower and tighter than the previous casts. The lotion does help a lot, but those areas still tend to get very red, and slightly bruised. We hate to look at it, because we know that there isn't really anything we can do. For playtime, we have turned a large empty cardboard box into his own little play table. It helps by keeping his toys at a higher level so he does not have to bend over, or lay down, to play with them. Other times he uses the sofa, window sill, or ottoman to play on. When he does play on the floor, though, he is constantly changing positions until he just gets frustrated enough and gives up. It wears him out quickly, and makes him extremely irritable these days.
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| Nothing can slow down this little man! |
We are feeling very hopeful this time around, though. During his cast break, we tried not to analyze his back like we did after the first cast was removed, but we still would quickly look to see if we noticed any difference. To us it did look like there was some correction, but he does still have a very prominent rib hump. Now since I'm not an orthopedic surgeon, I can't tell you what any of this means, but with the noticeable difference in the shape of the cast and from what we saw of his back during the break, George and I have a very good feeling about this. Of course, that doesn't mean that the journey is over just yet. After casting comes bracing, and as long as the brace does the job it needs to do, then Avery will still have to continue to go back for follow up visits at Boston Children's every 6 months throughout his childhood to make sure that the scoliosis does not develop again. If it were to develop again, we would have to start back at the beginning, or in some cases they look into other options such as surgery but those are only in the worst cases, so we will only hope and pray for the best.
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| A prayer for our special casted babies |
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