Officially scheduling fixator removal

The past 2 weeks have been very good. There was only one time just two nights ago that Mary randomly said her leg was sore when she got into bed and she asked for Tylenol which is odd because she doesn't request medicine.

Today we had our follow up with Dr. Scott.

• They removed the cast and put on a new one as he mentioned he would at this visit. The new cast is trying to straighten her foot more. This time you can see her toes which is nice but they might get cold.
• She enjoyed the 10 minutes her leg was free and we took the opportunity to clean her leg.
• I am still surprised at how quickly your body atrophy's.



The guy was very nice and tried hard to work around the signatures






unveiling after 1st cast






Old pin sites scabbed under cast- site of last infection






examining foot- looking to see how straight he can cast it at this visit






Daddy cleaning before getting 2nd cast on


 



Notice the atrophy of her lower leg in just 2 weeks



X-ray shows the bone is still consolidating well so we are scheduling the complete removal of the fixator. It's perfect timing because Mary is getting tired of skirts, not getting to participate in things like PE, and of simply not being able to move freely. She is over her walker so we will brave crutches at school starting Thursday.

new growth from one view

new growth from a 2nd view

Close up of old pin sites- larger area slower to heal is where the last infection was

photo op: difference is from not being able to fully extend her knee yet (and the shoe of course)

new cast

swollen around new pin sites

• So we are waiting for two things. A new infection to pop up since Dr. Scott said the swelling around the 2 new pins shows "something is brewing" meaning an infection. (Remember I said her leg was sore...) We are holding off on the antibiotic until more symptoms like drainage appears.
• The second thing we are waiting for is the date of the fixator removal. It should be the week of Nov. 12 which will be 3 weeks from the calculated estimate based on the length gained. (66 days of lengthening = 132 days of consolidation)
• When he takes the fixator off he will put her in a higher cast to continue to work on straightening her foot. You don't want to cast to the new bone area because it puts stress on it and we don't want to cast over the knee because you lose range of motion. So the cast will go right below her knee but as high up as possible.
• Her knee has been anywhere from a -8 to a -11 in PT (goal is 0 degrees). We need to do more PT at home like we used to now that she has a cast on and can't do PT by just practicing walking like she had been.