handsful

6 months today! Seems like yesterday, and forever at the same time.

He’s been in the pressure sock one week (tomorrow), so he has one more week to go. His incision is healing nicely, and he’s not as squirmy about me touching it. The sock doesn’t bother him in the least…I never thought it would. He’s a very “roll with it” kinda kid. Usually.

As he’s become more comfortable with us, he’s developing some not-so-great habits, too. A little bit of whining, especially first thing in the morning. And, he can get upset easily. But, he snaps out of it really quickly with a lot of eye contact and reassuring words. Pretty soon, he’s giggling again…he holds no grudges.

We’re having some eating issues again, too. He’s SUCH a light eater, we still have to encourage him to eat his meals and they’re not big meals. Tonight, we had some success by having him race Payton. He loved that. We tell him he’ll get big and strong, and that seems to motivate him. He’s STILL 27lbs. Exactly. I plan on talking to our agency for some advice.

But, all in all, he’s such a sweet and happy kid. We’re blessed by him everyday!

As you can see, he’s got a new toy. His walker is a new favorite thing. Our sweet friends, the Gambil’s, are letting us borrow it for as long as he needs it. Their daughter, Hollyn, has had her leg for a few years and rarely uses it anymore, so they insisted we take it. It has helped immensely with keeping him up off the floor and he loves the independence it gives him.

Another bit of news: we had our 6 month post adoption visit from our social worker this week. China requires 2 reports, including current photos, at the 6 mo and 1 year mark. We mentioned that we’d not gone through the re-adoption process with either Lainey or Dylan and she assured us it’s quite easy in NC. We looked into it for Lainey while in FL, but it was a very confusing procedure and using a lawyer was going to be $$$. She told us she’d walk us through it at our next report appointment. This is such a relief to know that we can get state-side birth certificates for them and it won’t cost us a fortune!

Happy 6 months!

Randy, Lainey, Dylan, and I hit the road this morning, headed for…

Today was the day for Dylan’s cast removal!  It’s been four weeks, and we were all very ready.

This wasn’t Dylan’s first time at the rodeo….he remembered that the cast-cutter tickles.

He giggled the whole time.

The cutter isn’t actually cutting, per say.  It’s a pretty dull semi-circle blade that vibrates at a high speed.  So, there’s no way to actually cut the skin underneath.  But, it LOOKS like it is!

All the cutting is done, so time for the clamp to open it…she let Dylan help out with this part.

They cracked it open like a walnut and, voila….

After the cast was removed, we all looked at it and commented on how good it looked.  Dylan was quiet, just looking.  No mention of anything missing…we wondered what his reaction would be.  Then, the nurse began to wash his leg with a soapy rag and she must have bumped the stitches.  He got really upset and cried.  I’m sure they are tender, and he was hesitant to have us touch them again.

They told us that there are stitches on the inside that will dissolve.  The ones on the outside will fall off, she said in around a week.  There is also quite a bit of scabbing.  It strikes me that the scar looks like a smile.  (especially with those 2 spots that came off in the shower tonight!)

He can have baths, as long as he doesn’t soak too long.  They want him to hold off on swimming until the outside stitches fall off.

After we talked to the physician assistant for a while, we were sent to the braces room for his pressure sock.  He got nervous when we went in the room, knowing the sock would have to touch his leg.  The tech was as nice as can be, and said that momma could do it.  Dylan decided daddy was the better choice.

The sock is more like a pair of pants.  A hole for his long leg to fit through, and a closed-end sock on the other.  Then, the waist band goes up like pants.  It fit well, and even looks comfy to me.  They gave us 6 and we’re to wash/dry them with our other laundry.   He fussed while it was put on, but then was fine.  The thought of it touching was worse than the actual touch.

On the way out, we made our next appt for June 6th.  He’ll have the mold taken for his new leg that day!  Oh my, we’re almost there!

It’s fuzzy, but this was the shot of the two tired children on the way home.  And, Lainey NEVER falls asleep in the car.

The boy totally deserved cake after today!

The docs at Shriners told us to TRY and keep Dylan from putting much weight on the end of his short leg.

I just can’t call it a stump, I know it’s perfectly acceptable to call it that, I’m just not there yet….I guess we should come up with a cute  name for it.  Our friend’s daughter calls hers “Nemo”.  Get it?  He had a short fin.  Anyway…

Dylan isn’t exactly “walking” on it yet, other than when he walks up / down stairs.  When scooting on the floor, he kinda drags it behind him.  Truthfully, he acts like it’s not there…he’s just as fast as he was before the cast.

Today, I noticed that he camo print in one spot on the end looks like it’s fading.  I assume that’s because it’s getting rubbed off by the friction of it against carpet, etc.  So, we came up with a solution.

Tube sock to the rescue.  Wonder how many of those we’ll go through, trying to save the cast?

Excuse the goofy shot.  He was being…well, goofy.  We had to bring his car seat up to the room to make sure his cast fit.  No problem there.

The doctors made their rounds EARLY.  7:10am to be exact.  He was given the green light to go home, so we spent the morning having breakfast and packing up.

He got his cast “tricked out” before we left.  They padded the edges with mole skin and then he chose a camo wrap.  He’s in very little pain, and is already scooting around on his bottom a little.

We are amazed that, less than 24hrs from his surgery, we were on the way home.  Our experiences at both the R McD house and Shriners in Greenville, SC could not have been any better…the staff, doctors, everyone was so caring.  We feel very comfortable there already.  Good thing, since we’ll be spending a good deal of time there off and on for a lot of years!

I think I may make Dylan a paper chain, so he can see how much time there is until he gets his cast off.  I need something to help him visualize these steps to getting his “new leg”.   We’re thankful that this particular step is behind him :)

Morning of surgery, snuggling with his panda pillow (thanks, Sandi, he LOVES it…)

While Randy feeds Dylan his dinner, I’m sitting in a lovely, open area with an indoor waterfall behind me, catching everyone up on Dylan’s day.

Surgery was scheduled for 10:45, so we arrived at 9am.  Dylan was in good spirits, until we put his gown on him.  He got kinda quiet at that point, wondering what was going on.  We could still make him laugh, though.

He took us loopy medicine, but only got wobbly.  No funny stories to tell…rats.  As a reward for taking the medicine (which we’ve heard tastes just yucky), the nurse wheeled in this huge wagon and told him to choose a toy.  It looked like Christmas in that wagon!  He chose a doctor kit, that he’s already gotten a lot of use out of.  He gave every nurse and doctor that came in a shot!

The time came to wheel him away.  Randy said a prayer over him, I kissed his little foot, and off he went.  I managed to hold my tears in.

We were told it would take 1 1/2 hours, so we went to the waiting room and then grabbed lunch from the cafeteria and brought it back.  Only about 40min into it, the surgeon walks in.  Huh?  It was a breeze, no complications, easy-peasy.   We were thrilled to hear that he’d done so well.

feeding him ice chips

He’s been awake all day, transitioning from ice chips to juice to crackers and now to dinner.  He’s literally eating and drinking as much as we give him.  And, wearing out the portable urinal.  Maybe this will push him over the 27lb mark?  Yes, that’s STILL what he weighed yesterday at his pre-op appt.

We’re told that, if he continues to do well, he’ll be discharged tomorrow.  Great news!  He’s beginning to have some pain in his leg, but they’re giving him medicine.  After dinner, he gets to leave the bed and we’ll pull him around in the wagon.

* added next day…after our walk, he decided to hang out in the wagon and watch a movie.  Looks like a great set-up, huh?

We left the house this morning at 7:15, arriving at our appt. at Shriners in Greenville, SC right on time.  We saw the child life specialist, nurses, anesthesiologist, surgeons, pain management specialist, and prosthetist.  Everyone was SO nice and welcoming, we feel very well taken care of here.  He received a stuffed dog at admission, his choice of Build-a-Bear (he chose the guy dressed up to go fishing…Ethan, you’ll love it), and then received another bear at the R McD house later on!

Some points of interest:

The surgeon said he would call Dylan’s deformity either a tibial deficiency or transverse deficiency.

He won’t have to cut through bone (GOOD news!), but will cut through the (fixed) joint instead.  Much easier, less pain, faster healing.

His surgery is scheduled for 10:45am and should take about 1 1/2hrs.  They expect he’ll only be in the hosp for 1 night.

They will give him a caudal block, which is similar to a spinal block – this will numb him completely from the belly down.  It’s given by injection at the sacral gap above his bottom.  This will last for 8 hours after surgery, which they say will help reduce the risk of phantom limb pain.  They will give him this when he’s already asleep.

He will come out of surgery already casted (his short leg completely incased in the cast), which will stay on for about 3-4 weeks.

After the cast is removed, he’ll be in a pressure sock (to help bring down any residual swelling) for another 2 weeks.

After that, work can begin on making his prosthetic leg!!

After his pre-op, we drove around downtown Greenville and were surprised to see how nice it is.  We parked and walked around, had lunch, and did a little shopping.  We then checked in at the R McD house, where we were given a tour and shown our room.  It’s actually a suite, with a living area, bath, and bedroom.

playroom…he’s loving the train table.

This place is wonderful, I can’t say enough about it.  Volunteers in the community bring a homemade dinner every night.  Tonight’s meal was provided by a baptist church, and we had mac n’ cheese, chicken patties, rolls, potato salad, sweet tea…all very good!  There is a huge pantry of food that we’re free to use, a great playroom and outdoor playset, big family room downstairs with TV (which, Randy is watching the b-ball playoffs right now), etc.  We’ve met some nice people staying here…one young man having surgery tomorrow right before Dylan’s and 2 families with pre-mature babies at the hospital beside Shriners.

Walking UP the slide.  There’s just nothing he can’t do.

he’s hopping so well lately!

daddy and Dylan slide races.

After dinner, we headed back out downtown for ice cream, then back to the room for Dylan’s bath (last one for 3-4 weeks!), and then it was off to bed for him.  He’s been asking all day to “go home”…I think he senses this is different and I expect him to be a little scared tomorrow.  We’ve talked about him going to the hospital, going night-night while they “fix” his leg, and then having a cast like last time.  (benefit of him breaking his leg in January is that body casts are BTDT for him…God does work in mysterious ways)   He asked for his new leg a few times today, and we keep trying to explain to him that other things have to happen first and THEN he’ll get his leg.  How do you explain time to a 3 year old?

Clean boy!

See you tomorrow with another update on our sweet guy.

Hollyn came to see us today.  She gave Dylan a glimpse into his future.  Almost 3 years ago, she went through the same surgery that Dylan faces on Tuesday.  She showed Dylan her short leg, and her prosthetic.  His eyes widened when he saw her leg was like his.

We met Hollyn’s family soon after we moved here.  We were amazed that God would provide this family for us!  Plus, her older sister and Abbey are great friends.  Sandi told us that Hollyn was very excited to have a playmate to have hopping races with.  So…

She kicked off her leg, and they hopped!

We leave tomorrow morning for Shriners.  I’ll be updating the blog while we’re there.  Lots of emotions right now…but, I’m trusting that God will hold Dylan and the rest of us closely during this time!