Blog Transfer

My old blog is being reformatted by Windows Live so I'm moving over here... since this is mainly about Mason and his PFFD, I'm going to list my old blogs here.  I don't know how else to do it, sorry!  I want people to have the information about Mason if they are curious about his surgeries and casting and prosthetics.  (Entries go from Sep 2010 to Sep 2009 and cover 2 surgeries, ACL repair and rotationplasty)

Time Flies

9/3/2010 6:11:32 PM

WOW! It's already September.. time for an update!

Mason and I kept busy during the summer waiting for Randy to come home. We visited my parents in CA and went to Lake Tahoe and then to my best friend's house in Oklahoma. Randy arrived in early August where we then promptly turned around and flew to my friend's wedding in Santa Barbara. Mason stayed with Randy's parents for a visit and we all had a good time.

Mason has gotten better at wearing his prosthetic leg and was doing great with his walker. This past Tuesday his PT transitioned him to a single cane. Walking is slower now because he has to train his muscles, but he is doing well. Mason also started an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Pre-K program. He enjoys going to school and has access to PT there as well. His teacher and the aides are all very nice and helpful.

When Mason was born, one of his front teeth and the tooth next to it were fused together. He had a cavity filled at the fused location a few months ago but some bone loss started to occur and he had to have them pulled last week. We are probably going to get him some pediatric partials next month.

We have a busy few months ahead of us: late Sept.: checkup visit to Portland; late Oct.: visit Uncle Mike and his family in Virginia; early Nov.: trip to Tampa to go to Camp No Limits (a camp for kids with prosthetic limbs) and then Randy probably leaves again the end of November. Whew... I'll keep you posted!

We are home!

5/18/2010 8:22:21 PM

Finally made it back home after a horrible weather detour from Houston where we slept in the airport and then flew to Orlando to make it back here.

It was a long month of travelling back and forth between Portland and California while Mason's leg was being made and fitted. He is still sensitive about his incision site so doesn't like putting on his leg because it goes up over his "boo boo". Once it's on though he's good. The only problem is that when he sits or plays on the ground, the leg tends to slip off (his ankle pops out) and I have to keep readjusting it. They say he will soon learn to do it himself.

He can walk in his walker with it but is still learning how to bend his ankle. All in all we are done for now. There may be more surgeries to fix his hip in the future but that will come later.... Until then, we are happy to be home and planning summer fun. Randy is being deployed next week so we are playing with daddy as much as we can. Hope all is well with everyone else :)

Surgery Done!!

3/18/2010 5:38:55 PM

Whew! What a journey! As our care coordinator Kelly said, "close Book 1 and open Book 2". We are done with surgeries for now and the next phase is prosthetics.

SURGERY RECAP:

Mason's leg was rotated 180 degrees. The thigh bone is not connected at the hip which made this possible. The nerves/blood vessels were rotated too while the muscles were cut and reattached in their new position. Dr. Krajbich is very pleased with the results and Mason is doing wonderfully! Thanks to God and lots of prayers, he is already playing on the floor, rolling over and scooching around (for those of you who remember the last surgery, it took 4wks for Mason to get to this point).

NEXT STEPS (ha ha... no pun intended..):

April 20 we get the cast off and he will be molded for a prosthetic. A temporary prosthetic will be made and 2weeks later, he will try it on and have physical therapy for a week. Then, we turn it in for finishing and fly home with a brand new leg around May 13 or so. CRAZY!! Randy will come with us to get the cast off. During the 2wk interim, Randy will go back to work and Mason and I will fly to my dad's in CA. Back up to Portland for rehab, back to CA while they finish the prosthetic, back to Portland to pick it up and then fly home to Florida... whew... I'm tired just thinking about it!!

Thanks again to everyone for their support! We are so completely blessed! Stay tuned for pictures/updates next month with Mason's new leg!!




11/6/2009 5:20:47 PM

Phew! I finally found some time to update this thing. For the most part I've been keeping you updated, but here's the recap.

*Randy came home.

*We flew to Portland and got Mason's cast off. He now has full range of motion in his knee and he is using his walker periodically.

*Went to the pumpkin patch, tractor ride.

*Train museum

We added 3/4 inch to his shoe.. now it's at 4inches. The next surgery will be in March sometime and Randy's next deployment will probably be in May. We are staying here for Thanksgiving and Oriana and the Hinkley's (tammy and craig and boys) will be coming over. Very exciting! Then off to California for Christmas in Lake Tahoe with family.

That's about it for now! Oh, on Friday's Mason goes around the corner to Miss Vickie's house for daycare. Mainly for socialization but also to give me a break :) We are still doing gymboree at the mall in Pensacola (which he loves) and I've also signed him up for Mommy and me gymnastics class. We start that next week. Ok, that's it.  Love to all!!

Is it October yet?

9/14/2009 7:48:43 PM
Spica casts and 2 year olds do not go well together. Mason is SO frustrated with not being comfortable and not being mobile, combine that with cruddy sleep and 2 year old tantrums and I've got a crazy monkey on my hands. My precious angel has turned monstrous, literally he growls at me. I would post the tantrum video to prove it to you but I don't want your ears to bleed. Only 4 more weeks and then Randy will be home and the cast will hopefully come off. Yes, there is a possibility that they might re-cast him!! I screamed when I got off the phone after they had told me that.


9/2009SURGERY RECAP:

To stabilize the knee, the Dr. took part of the ligament in mason's thigh and made a knee ligament because he was missing his ACL. The Dr. also shaved some bone from his thigh bone to line it up with his shine bone and kneecap, then fixed it with pins that will come out in October.

We are anticipating the rotation surgery to happen around February 2010 provided his knee is strong and stable. That will be another horrible cast but on both legs this time... ugh. At least Randy will be here to help me entertain the cranky monster and we know what to expect.. lots of TV time and crankyness.

That's about it from here. Wish it was fall temperatures already.