more details please...

I know that I owe more writing to this than I have been giving.

The last two days without the cast has been great. Madeleine is infinitely happier, a better sleeper, cuter and everything else you can imagine! She had a bath last night- the first in a long time. She loved it. She smells so good now! The steri-strips that were holding her incisions together came off and a lot of the blood that was still on her leg washed away. I have to say that her leg looks pretty good. Dr. Mosca did a really good job on the incisions and the stitches. It is still difficult to see your one year old baby scarred up. Her pristine skin marred with purple marks and lines.

She is obviously favoring the left leg now. We've noticed that she doesn't bend her knee. She will move it at the hip but not at the knee. I will call the physical therapist today. I can imagine that her knee is stiff after being in the cast for so long. She also had two large pins inserted into the bone where they did the femoral osteotomy (An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment. It is sometimes performed on a hallux valgus, or to straighten a bone that has healed crookedly following a fracture. It is also used to correct a coxa vara, genu valgum, and genu varus).

The end of her leg is interesting. The very definition of a Syme's amputation is inserting the heal pad under the tibia so that it can be weight bearing. The bottom of her leg looks like the bottom of her foot only round. It is soft and pink. Dr. Mosca left the heal attached in the back by her Achilles tendon. I remember when she had her little foot her tendon was apparent and very tight in the back of her heal. It looks the same and it warms my heart to see that my sweet baby is still the same in more ways than a few.

What is done is done

The cast is off. She did very well. It feels great to hold my little girl. As soon as it came off she started itching her leg. The pins that were in her thigh bone to hold everything in place were kind of gross. As she moved her leg around it pulled on the tissue and started to bleed. She seems to be feeling a lot better now but is a little wobbly still.

We will go back in two weeks for measurements.

More later- I'm tired now.

Cast Off!!!!

In about three hours we will be at Children's Hospital for the next phase of our journey. First Madeleine will have x-rays taken through the cast. Then we will meet with Dr. Mosca and hopefully take the cast off. We will then meet with Greg, the prosthetist, and he will make a shrinker sock for her leg.

They have told me that Madeleine will be wobbly and feel insecure in the beginning as she is use to the cast and its weight. They recommend a warm bath to make her feel better, duh. The kid hasn't had a proper bath for six weeks! The prosthetist recommend massaging her residual limb as she may experience numbness and pins and needles. I think it will also be helpful for Michael and I to get use to our little girl.

I'm scared, honestly. I'm scared of the next part of your life. I'm afraid to see what she looks like under the cast. I'm afraid that she will be in pain. I'm weary of the stares we will get from people looking at her leg.

Just our life, I guess.

Harry Potter

I know I'm late in the HP craze but I just finished the sixth book. I don't know why I didn't read it earlier when it first came out. Now I am thankful since I can move from the end of the sixth book right into the seventh and last one.

I think #6 is my favorite. The character development was good. The suspense was great! It was innovative and started answering some long asked questions.

I was surprised last night when I read that Severus Snape killed Dumbledore! I have faith that there is a reason. Snape is my favorite character {blush} and I trust Dumbledore.

Okay, I'm such a nerd....

Count down to Cast Off

The reality of the cast coming off is so real now. Madeleine continues to amaze in the cast- a few proud moments...
-she stoops and recovers (while holding on) to get a toy
-while standing up on the cast she does 'no hands' as long as she is leaning against something
-she cruises around her crib, in the cast!
-she crawls fast
-she sits on the side that is not casted and props herself up with one arm
-she does "one arm push-ups"

Man she is strong!

I was cleaning her diaper area yesterday and noticed some gauze or padding that seemed loose. I pulled on it to try to straighten it out under the cast and it came out. It was soaked with dried blood and I was once again reminded of the reason for the cast in the first place. I pulled up the skin on her leg to get a better look and saw the incision on her knee and the steri-strips holding it together.

We have been so focused on getting the cast off that I feel I have neglected the reality of what is underneath.

4 days 00 hours 56 minutes 23 seconds

Some pictures from when Grandpa Gordy was here. More to come soon. This is Madeleine showing off her "standing up" prowess in the cast.
Maxy playing in the sprinkler statue area at our local outdoor mall.



We are in the home stretch! I can't believe that this phase is almost done and we will be onto the next. My attention is now turned to how Madeleine will deal with the cast being OFF. Will she miss her foot? Will she be apprehensive about putting weight on her little leg?

Regardless, we are ready to move on. In the past six weeks she has learned new things, she has adapted to her limitations and that reassures me that she will be able to handle anything that comes her way.

waiting

We got cancelled. They told me not to come in since Madeleine is feeling better and Dr. Mosca will not take the cast off early. poo. If she had only had a syme's amputation he would be since there were two osteotomies there is no chance.

6 days 21 hours 30 minutes and 41 seconds.