melodygirl
Cathlete
Hi everyone and, again, thank you for all your prayers, well wishes, and hugs for Wil and our family).
The surgery was Wednesday AM and Wil was quite the clown BEFORE going into surgery...different story coming out! Wil won the hearts of all the hospital staff beginning with pre-op team and moving right along to his care team after surgery.
At one point in pre-op Wil was holding onto the bed rails, laughing, shaking the rails and calling out "I'm in jail, get me out. Where's Dr. DeVito?" Then when the surgical nurse came to wheel him into surgery (we had already spoken with his Dr's assistant) Wil said "Stop, I haven't talked to Dr. DeVito yet."(his orthopaedic surgeon) The nurse promptly applied the brakes, went to get Dr. DeVito, who stopped as he was scrubbing up for Wil's surgery, came out, answered Wil's questions and left only after Wil was satsified. Love him for that. The entire staff of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite is undescribably superb.
Anyway, the 1 to 1-1/2 hour surgery became a 2-1/2 hours surgery as they did much more work than anticipated, which has resulted in much more pain that anticipated. The surgery is expected in the end to yield really good results for Wil.
The surgery encompassed Achilles tendon lengthening of both legs, left ankle bone repositioning, some rotational work of the left lower leg, lenghtening/release of both medial hamstrings, and lengthening/release of the tendons/muscles of both sides of his groin. OUCH!!! Think of how we complain of sore Achilles or a hamstring or groin pull...I'm not complaining anymore. I can't imagine how sore Wil is going to be once the actual pain is no longer the issue.
We've discovered that Wil has an unbelievably high tolerance for hard drugs. They were layering morphine, Tylenol with codeine and Valium as closely as possible in the hospital on Weds and Thursday and Wil NEVER slept and was never actually out of pain. Alot of screaming, crying, and "help me" was going on. (The nurses and I even joked of getting the rubber mallet to boink him and offer relief) They said any grown man should have been knocked out cold by then. Imagine how my heart has been breaking as I pray to take his pain for him. The pain issue was the same Thursday thru the night after we got home and for Friday. Finally, about 12:30AM this morning Wil went into a restful sleep and slept until about 6:30AM. He has been in MUCH less pain since then, but is still on Tylenol w/codeine for pain and Valium for muscle relaxing (the spasms are awful).
Wil has hard casts on his feet up to his knee (BTW,red was the color of choice), ace wrapping from knees to groin area with knee braces/splints on the upper legs. He can't remove the braces/splints for 3 weeks, so, of course, can't bend at the knee, and isn't to sit up 90 degrees til Thurs next week. Absolutely no weight bearing for 3 weeks and then the braces/splints come off and the hard casts remain for 6 weeks. He has a reclining wheelchair which he finds somewhat cool. After casts are completely off it's on to crutches and months of physical therapy.
Throughout all of this while in the hospital, Wil was still asking about his dad and brothers and concerned if I was resting and eating. He even apologized to the nurses that they couldn't go to sleep because they were taking care of him. He also had a few, um, opinions, about meds tastes, the noise of the IV equipment when it beeped, the IV needle in his arm, etc.
I've assured Wil he is the bravest, toughest, most amazing boy I know. And he, says "Not really, I'll be ok. Some children don't get better." Really, I don't make these things up, Wil IS this special.
One more lighter note. Wil, when in his really less than happy moments, keeps insisiting that I get Dr. DeVito on the phone so he can scream "Get these casts off NOW!!"
Again, I love you all for your caring and would appreciate continued prayers and well wishes for Wil.
ETA: I'm creating a "CarePage" for Wil and will post the link and login for anyone interested in keeping up-to-date. But it's not done yet...snzzzzzzzzzzzzz...still need a bit of sleep...snzzzzzzzzz
The surgery was Wednesday AM and Wil was quite the clown BEFORE going into surgery...different story coming out! Wil won the hearts of all the hospital staff beginning with pre-op team and moving right along to his care team after surgery.
At one point in pre-op Wil was holding onto the bed rails, laughing, shaking the rails and calling out "I'm in jail, get me out. Where's Dr. DeVito?" Then when the surgical nurse came to wheel him into surgery (we had already spoken with his Dr's assistant) Wil said "Stop, I haven't talked to Dr. DeVito yet."(his orthopaedic surgeon) The nurse promptly applied the brakes, went to get Dr. DeVito, who stopped as he was scrubbing up for Wil's surgery, came out, answered Wil's questions and left only after Wil was satsified. Love him for that. The entire staff of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite is undescribably superb.
Anyway, the 1 to 1-1/2 hour surgery became a 2-1/2 hours surgery as they did much more work than anticipated, which has resulted in much more pain that anticipated. The surgery is expected in the end to yield really good results for Wil.
The surgery encompassed Achilles tendon lengthening of both legs, left ankle bone repositioning, some rotational work of the left lower leg, lenghtening/release of both medial hamstrings, and lengthening/release of the tendons/muscles of both sides of his groin. OUCH!!! Think of how we complain of sore Achilles or a hamstring or groin pull...I'm not complaining anymore. I can't imagine how sore Wil is going to be once the actual pain is no longer the issue.
We've discovered that Wil has an unbelievably high tolerance for hard drugs. They were layering morphine, Tylenol with codeine and Valium as closely as possible in the hospital on Weds and Thursday and Wil NEVER slept and was never actually out of pain. Alot of screaming, crying, and "help me" was going on. (The nurses and I even joked of getting the rubber mallet to boink him and offer relief) They said any grown man should have been knocked out cold by then. Imagine how my heart has been breaking as I pray to take his pain for him. The pain issue was the same Thursday thru the night after we got home and for Friday. Finally, about 12:30AM this morning Wil went into a restful sleep and slept until about 6:30AM. He has been in MUCH less pain since then, but is still on Tylenol w/codeine for pain and Valium for muscle relaxing (the spasms are awful).
Wil has hard casts on his feet up to his knee (BTW,red was the color of choice), ace wrapping from knees to groin area with knee braces/splints on the upper legs. He can't remove the braces/splints for 3 weeks, so, of course, can't bend at the knee, and isn't to sit up 90 degrees til Thurs next week. Absolutely no weight bearing for 3 weeks and then the braces/splints come off and the hard casts remain for 6 weeks. He has a reclining wheelchair which he finds somewhat cool. After casts are completely off it's on to crutches and months of physical therapy.
Throughout all of this while in the hospital, Wil was still asking about his dad and brothers and concerned if I was resting and eating. He even apologized to the nurses that they couldn't go to sleep because they were taking care of him. He also had a few, um, opinions, about meds tastes, the noise of the IV equipment when it beeped, the IV needle in his arm, etc.
I've assured Wil he is the bravest, toughest, most amazing boy I know. And he, says "Not really, I'll be ok. Some children don't get better." Really, I don't make these things up, Wil IS this special.
One more lighter note. Wil, when in his really less than happy moments, keeps insisiting that I get Dr. DeVito on the phone so he can scream "Get these casts off NOW!!"
Again, I love you all for your caring and would appreciate continued prayers and well wishes for Wil.
ETA: I'm creating a "CarePage" for Wil and will post the link and login for anyone interested in keeping up-to-date. But it's not done yet...snzzzzzzzzzzzzz...still need a bit of sleep...snzzzzzzzzz
