He Did It! and Beautiful Snow!

Hayden had his appointment with Dr. Pirani yesterday and it went really well. First off, Dr. Pirani apologized profusely for Hayden not having his casts replaced last week - I could tell he not very happy about that. As well, he told me we did the right thing by taking his left cast off due to the issue we were having with his toenail cutting his foot. He re-casted Hayden's left foot first before he even removed the right cast and it went quite well, with Hayden only fussing a bit. I think the main reason he fusses is because he is in a slightly awkward position in my lap and since he is a big boy (21 pounds now), he feels a little uncomfortable.

Dr. Pirani pointed out to me that even though we had lost some ground with the left foot due to not having the cast changed and subsequently having to remove it, that the crease on the bottom of the sole is not as deep as before. He casted it at about a 3.5, which is roughly where it was when he casted it three weeks ago, so we didn't regress any further than that, which was encouraging.

When Dr. Pirani went to remove the right cast, I mentioned that I was not overly thrilled about Milt's casts because they were a bit thin at the top and only had one layer of the sock, so they chafed a bit. He told me that he'd have to talk to Milt about that. Once removed, the top of Hayden's foot started bleeding in a couple of places as soon as he began to kick. I couldn't really tell what the reason was, but Dr. Pirani was concerned about it and put a special bandage over it before he casted it.

Oh - and while I was waiting for him to come in to see Hayden, I happened to flip through Hayden's chart that was there. In it there was a two page report that Dr. Pirani had made up talking about our referral there and why we had come, his findings and subsequent course of treatment. He had copied it to our family doctor as well as the Orthopedic Surgeon at Children's, so I had this little smug moment of "in your face" because while he was very diplomatic in the report, he did say that Hayden's feet were not fully corrected and definitely not ready to be in the boots. HA. IN YO' FACE!!

Here's the best news though: Hayden's right foot is looking so good that Dr. Pirani said he might not even need the tenotomy! He emphasized "might", but it was the best thing he could have said to me! To think that I could spare Hayden even a moment of pain in this whole process...well...it was enough to bring tears to my eyes. So I am crossing my fingers!

Dr. Pirani thinks that he may be able to do the tenotomy next week or the week after, so that is great news too! There may be an end in sight to this part of the process after all!

AND....Hayden rolled over from front to back last night on his own! He has been trying so hard to go from back to front I figured he'd decided to bypass that one, so I was helping him get over (it ain't easy when you can't bend your knee) and as soon as he was on his tummy, he rolled over! I wasn't sure if it was an accident or not, so I put him back and he did it again - two more times! And he was trying so hard to get from his back to his front that I almost thought he was going to do both in the same night! Ha ha! Just the thought that he may have some freedom of movement without me to help him is a bonus!

He was somewhat fussy last night and I ended up giving him a little Advil because I figured either it was teeth or his feet bothering him. He is still slightly agitated today, so I am guessing it is his feet. It has been compared to tightening someone's braces, so I can imagine it is probably kind of achey.

My asthma is bothering me quite a lot right now, so I guess I am going to have to make an appointment to see either my doctor or the respirologist. Just the thought of another appointment in my week makes me nauseous. It's the reason I have been putting off seeing the chiropractor. It takes so much effort for me right now without the vehicle - EVER - that I'd rather just tough it out. I NEED A CAR!

So it snowed for about a nanosecond here in Vancouver yesterday, but it was exciting nonetheless! There's nothing left of it today, sadly. But it gives me high hopes that there will be more to come. Woo hoo!