SPICA -- 4 Weeks to Normal

Since the last post, Graham has attended his new preschool for 3 half-days.  Chad has been picking him up at noon and I relieve Chad for football practice in the afternoon.  Graham likes school, but he is realizing that he can't do everything the other kids can do right now and that's just no fun. :(  His (4) teachers all tell us both how sweet Graham is.  We know. :)

We had our 2-week follow-up visit this morning to double check the amount of overlap in his bone.  We are still within acceptable range and DO NO need to make any modifications to his cast.  We will not need to worry about this for the remainder of his time in the cast, though we will need to go in for 6 month and 1-year follow-ups once the cast is removed.

Graham has been given the go ahead to start getting on the floor and exploring a bit.  Doctor says he will eventually try to "walk" in his cast.  We should discourage that (duh) only because he might injure his other leg in the process.  We seriously ran into a mom at the doctor today whose son was in his second SPICA cast.  He broke his OTHER femur shortly after getting out of the first SPICA -- apparently he had some weakening of his bones the first time around.  Needless to say, Graham swallowed his Flinstone's vitamin with an additional glass of milk today.  OMG.

If all goes as planned, then September 19th is the big removal day.  We don't do anything but countdown until then.  We will try our first full days of preschool tomorrow and Friday.  It will be so good to get into a routine again.  For all of us.

Nana is still here and it has been heaven for the mom to say the least.  We are all going to weigh in several pounds heavier by the time she heads out this weekend thanks to her serious comfort food cooking.  She has also finished a few more pairs of shorts for G to wear the next 4 weeks and tackled our laundry.  I think I'm going to hold her hostage.

Finally, I haven't reported on the spasms lately.  That's because THEY'RE GONE!!  Last Sunday night was our first night with no spasms.  It was a celebration to say the least.  His only complaint since then have been "itchies" which we relieve at nighttime with a dose of Benedryl (per doctor).  That seems to do the trick. 

I'm still having trouble with the picture uploads.  Will try to tackle that problem before next post.  Life is good.  Life feels mostly normal.  We are blessed.

SPICA Day 9 -- First Day of PreSchool

 Since this picture we have bought and modified a little table that 

slides right up to G a the perfect height.

It was a great first day!  Graham and I made it up to his school with his stroller, lunch box, Jaggy, nap blanket, nap pillow, leg prop pillow, car seat, extra clothes, extra liner diapers, paper work for his teacher, and a love note in his shirt pocket.  Whew!  When we go there, I spend some time getting him all settled into his car seat.  The table is just a smidge too high.  Chad and I are going to look for an alternative this weekend.  Probably IKEA.  That place has everything.

He was making new friends and telling tales of ambulance rides before I left. 

I went over to check on him mid-morning and he was in his car seat playing with some blocks.  He looked a little lonely.  The other kids were in different centers playing in the room.  I think today was the first day he realized he can't do everything he wants to do.  It will help a lot once he's cleared to move around on the floor a bit.  He had already worked on tracing his name and painting a picture.

When Chad got there to pick him up at 1:00 he was on his little nap cot all conked out. 

Next week, we will do 1/2 days again on Monday and Tuesday, then it's back to the dr. for a follow-up on Wednesday.  We'll see about the rest of the week after that!

Muscle spasms were horrible again last night.  We're almost out of Valium which doesn't matter because it doesn't do anything anyway.  I can't find anything helpful...there's very little that I can find on spasms related to broken bones except that they happen as the muscle works to hold the bone in place.  I hate hearing the word "spasm".  I hate typing the word "spasm".  It will be permanently deleted from our vocabularies once this ordeal is over!

SPICA Day 7 - 1 Week Follow-Up

X-Rays posted below.  Avoid if squeamish!

Happy Kid

Yesterday was our week 1 follow-up with Graham's Dr.  They took new x-rays and we talked a bit about the overlap in the two pieces of bone.  Overlap is normal, but there is a range which is considered "acceptable" before they intervene.  Graham is still in the acceptable range but she wants to watch it over the next week.  If it remains acceptable this week, then we should be in the clear.  If not they modify his cast.  SO, back in 1 week for more x-rays.  (too much overlap means possible shortening of the leg)

We also talked a lot about school and work.  We are still making some decisions and working some things out so will post more on that later.  Graham's preschool open house is this afternoon, so we are going to take him up to see his classroom, meet his teacher, and maybe see a few of his classmates.

X-rays at 1 week

The x-ray on the right looks more odd because the bar on his cast is included in the shot.

We also, of course, discussed these seemingly never ending muscle spasms.  She said they should be subsiding any day now and once they do, they're gone.  We have put him back on a regular Motrin schedule every 6 hours to help with any leftover inflammation.  Last night, right on schedule, he was just about to fall asleep when they kicked in.  40 minutes, an early dose of Motrin, a dose of Valium, and a dose of codeine later they were gone.  Dr. suggested continuing the codeine on top of everything when the Valium doesn't get the job done (never).  I gave him 1 ml less than normal and he woke up without any side effects this morning. 

We have passed the 1 Week mark!  Peppa Pig is filling up our calendar and we all like the looks of that!  Day 8 is beginning as normal, G playing at his table while watching Nick Jr.  The daily request for biscuits and gravy has been submitted and I am on it!  It's going to be a great day. :)





SPICA Day 6 -- @#$%* Muscle Spasms

The muscle spasms were at an all -time horrible this afternoon.  Graham took his first daytime nap today around 1:30.  While he was sleeping his foot on the WIP leg kept twitching and he would moan -- obviously spasming, but he stayed asleep and they would come and go so it seemed minor.  When he woke up around 3:30 the kicked in full-force.  We gave him Valium and 3 hours later at 6:30 he was still having violent spasms about every 30 minutes or so.  By "violent" I mean he is screaming in pain, face turning beet red, kicking his good leg, and instantly sweating.  We made the decision to give him another full dose of Valium at the 3-hour mark rather than waiting for the prescribed 6 hours.  The result was a slightly goofier than normal Graham who, at 10:00 p.m. as I type this is still spasm free.  I cannot wait to talk to the Dr. about this at his follow-up appointment tomorrow.  How long is this going to last?  If not for these painful spasms, I think we have finally begun to settle into our new "normal". 

That's the bad.  The rest of the day was great.  G woke up a little cranky thanks to the codeine we gave the night before in effort to stop the spasms (no more codeine for us).  Once I busted out the monster trucks and the paint, he perked right up and the morning became rosier.

Graham and I started a Peppa Pig countdown calendar.  He gets to glue a little Peppa Pig onto each day as we get closer to cast removal.  He's been making comments like "I don't want my cast off."  I explained that it's not coming off until his broken bone is all put back together and fixed and that it won't hurt.  "Like with a glue stick, Mommy?"  Exactly like a glue stick.  He's already quite attached to this thing.  We should find out tomorrow the exact removal date. Of course, he sees his cast as what made his leg stop hurting so he loves it! I was guessing the removal date on the calendar since his Dr. is only in that office on Wednesdays. 

His calendar includes his first day of school (pending tomorrow's visit) and daddy's football games that we will miss this season.

Overall, a happy day!  Seriously hoping the Valium sticks with him through the night -- spasms usually start to kick in right when he's about to fall asleep.  @#$%* spasms. 



SPICA Day 4 - Miracle Day!

Day 4 (yesterday) was full of little triumphs and even some normalcy (I cooked dinner last night).  Today was Graham's first day off the couch.  We decided one of our carseats would work quite well if we leaned it against the couch.  At first, G did not want to be lifted at all.  He was in quite a bit of pain still when we lifted/moved him from the hospital.  I promised if it hurt I'd put him right back down.  I promised I would go slow and soft.  He liked the soft part.  "Not bumpy, Mommy?"  Not bumpy.  As it turns out, it did not hurt to lift him this time and once he was upright in the seat and realized this, he was so happy!

We now refer to his legs as "the good leg" and the "work in progress leg".  He kicks the good leg when he's happy and excited!

Since this picture, Chad has modified his little play table so that it slides right over his legs at the perfect height.  We were able to play with his Imaginex ship, playdough, markers, etc.  Little G is back!

Since I had grown more confident in lifting him, Graham and I decided to practice walking to the toilet together.  We walked down the hall and I (softly) set him on the toilet so we could both see that this was possible.  The next time he had to "go" we went in the potty instead of the diaper.  GLORY!  Which also meant that his first BM was in the potty instead of the diaper. GLORY again!  This milestone is going to make the next 5 weeks and 3 days much more tolerable for both of us!

We also hopped in the red wagon to tour the house while Daddy was mowing the lawn.  First stop:  the play room.  He gave me orders as to which toys we would retrieve to take back to the living room.  We toured everyroom in the house and watched Daddy mow out the window for awhile.  Then, back to the chair set-up.  He wanted nothing to do with that couch yesterday.

Finally, we tried out the jogging stroller on loan from one of the football families.  This will be our main mode of transport to and from the car.  He LOVED it. 

The only downer was at bedtime.  G and I were going to camp out in his bed together.  We were trying to get back into sort of a routine with books and songs.  BUT the leg cramps kicked in.  The doctor said it's "like a charlie horse x 100".  He immediately went into screams and cries.  His little head was drenched with sweat.  We were prescribed Valium which helped the first time this happened, but not last night.  We finally gave a dose of codeine along with the Valium and moved our slumber party back to the couch.  With all of the fun he had during the day, the exhaustion from the leg cramps, and the drugs, we didn't even make it through one episode of Peppa Pig before he was out.  And he's still out at 9:00 the next day (Day 5). 

Too bad I couldn't sleep when I had the chance!  I made Chad let me do all of the lifting yesterday, because he starts 2-a-day practices today and I wanted to make sure I could do it all while he was still around.  Hence the strained back and the lack of sleep.  That and the fat yellow cat that kept pawing at the couch and meowing because he wanted to play.  I locked him out and he busted through the cat door.  Fat cat may not make it through another night if he pulls that stunt again.  No rest for the weary. 

It appears I lied about the next posts being shorter.  It's also therapy people.  You've been warned!





SPICA Day 3 -- Codeine Free!



Finally ready to check out his basket of goodies.

Sitting up more.  No drugs for me, please!

Day 3 Wrap-Up:  G did quite well with just his regularly scheduled Motrin today.  Mom and Dad are getting better at the diaper changing.  It involves tucking a small diaper with the tabs cut off up into the cast, then wrapping him with a larger diaper.  So far, BM's have not been an issue, though I grow more concerned each day.  The thought of living with that on the cast for 6 weeks... (!)The blow drier set on "cool" has helped with the itchies that have already started and helped dry out his cast when diapers leak.  We are seeing perky signs of our boy.  He wanted to sit up and investigate some of the goodies sent by the coaches' wives and Grandmas and Grandpas.  Oh!  And HOURS of Nick Jr.'s Peppa Pig.  There are only about 8 episodes that we've recorded and we have watched all of them.  Over.  And over.  And over again.  Hope outweighs grief at this point!    

Trauma

5 days ago Graham broke his leg.  This has inspired me to get back to blogging for several reasons:  to spare my Facebook friends from my daily commentary (though FB has been a huge source of support the past few days!), to provide myself with a little bit of therapy as we get through these next few weeks, and finally, to document what will eventually be a triumph over tragedy story in little G's life!

This will probably be the longest post because I'm going to start from the beginning.  Then, I hope to just document the ups and downs of this little speed bump set in our paths.  I'm going to try to stick to the basics here:

What:  A complete fracture of Graham's right femur.  Pretty much right in the middle of his thigh with a slight angle to the fracture.

When:  About 9:00 p.m. last Wednesday.  Right before bath time.

How:  G-man and Daddy were enjoying yet another summer evening racing two balls down the driveway.  G was chasing the balls downhill at top toddler speed and stepped on one of them as it was rolling.  He landed on his knee which impacted the femur.  (I'm already getting nauseous again)

All of this led to a trip to the local 24 hour ER where they x-rayed (horrible), splinted (horrible), stuck him with an IV (twice, horrible) and FINALLY gave him some morphine.  An ambulance had been called from Children's in Plano which is about a 30 minute drive.  We were already hearing words such as "significant", "worst bone to break", "have you seen the x-ray?".  Mommy and Daddy were doing our very best to keep it together for Graham.

I rode in the ambulance with him, but they made me ride up front for "safety" reasons.  Whatever.  They just didn't want me in the back for some reason.  I swear I was not hysterical at this point.  No siren by the way.  Apparently this was not a "lights and sirens" type of emergency.  The morphine was doing it's job, so G was comfortable for the eternally long ride in that rattle trap of an ambulance. 

Once at the children's hospital, they had to x-ray again because the disc sent from the first ER wasn't compatible with their system.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Sometimes morphine just isn't enough.

Finally, one of the 12 doctors determined that surgery was not necessary -- rule of thumb is usually to cast if under 4 years and under 100 lbs.  G is both of those!  So, now we start talking casting.  G had to be sedated which was some newfangled medicine rather than anesthesia.  It was truly the worst part of all of this.  G is awake, but in a "dreamlike" state where supposedly he won't remember anything.  They had us stay in the room while they administered the first dose.  When they moved his leg his eyes got wide and he was trying to say "mom" but couldn't.  Horrible.  Complete and totally deserved breakdown once we got out of that room. 

Casting took about an hour.  I think.  When we went into see him he was happy and being silly.  He could answer all of my questions but the nurse wanted him to cough before we finally got a room.  Every time I'd say "Can you cough for mommy?  Can you cough like this?"  He'd smile and say "BUUURP".  Of course that made everyone laugh so he did that about 36 more times, but never coughed.  We were all pretty sure his airways were clear at that point.

Finally, thankyouLordJeasus, we were wheeled up to the pediatric ward.  It was around 5 a.m.  I thought G would crash, but we all stayed awake and watched Nick Jr. until he finally fell asleep around 7 a.m.  He was awakened 29 times to change IV, change the battery on the IV machine, check circulation in his foot, to show us how to put him in a special seat belt harness, and to practice putting it on him.  We were released by 10:30 a.m.  I don't think that should count as a full night's stay, do you?

The road home

Finally home and codeine-happy!

The cast, called a SPICA cast, is set in a sitting position.  It covers the entire broken leg, his hips, his torso up to his rib cage, and the thigh of his "good leg" with the bar in between.  They left a hole for potty and poo which is a whole nuther post. 

Day 1.  Done.  Exhausted. Happy to be home.  Grieving in spurts for the little things...new school clothes that would not be worn, showers with Daddy-no more, and a little guy whose world as he knew it was just turned upside down.  Then hope, as people began to share their stories with me through e-mails and facebook messages, hope as we had small talks with ourselves about how much worse it could've been and IS for some children and families. 

And so, blogtherapy begins for the next 6 weeks.  Perhaps someone will Google "SPICA" like I did and come across this blog and find it helpful or at least comforting to find someone out there who is going through the same thing.