Surprise Casting

Last night at the pool Abby had her Drycast bag covering her arm again. It has been great at keeping the water out. That is until last night.

About 3-4 tablespoons of pool water was floating in the tip of her bag and we realized the seal around her arm wasn't as tight as it once was. Last night I called the answering service for the orthopedist but decided it was not urgent and could wait until morning.

This morning I left a message and when I they called me back they asked us to be in the office within 15 minutes. So we rushed over, they cut off her hot-pink-full-arm cast, took several x-ray pictures and Dr. Posta decided to go ahead and give her a new short arm cast. She chose purple this time since Alexis already had purple.

It's amazing to me how puny her left bicep is compared to her right bicep after only 15 days! So now we have the short arm cast for 3 weeks, at least. September 1st we'll find out what comes next.

In the meantime I'm hoping she can figure out how to buckle and dress on her own again. Washing her hair will still be a challenge! :) Abby, Stephen, Sydney, Brody and I are all grateful for any added mobility she gains. This has made me even more grateful for the helper Abby is to our family. I am so proud to be her Mama!

Abby's Cast

I misunderstood Dr. Posta last week.  He had no intention of taking her cast off today.  Abby's x-ray today showed the angulation (where the bone was sticking out) has almost disappeared.  There was what he called a butterfly fracture - that part didn't look any different.  Dr. Posta said that will fuse back together, it will just take some time.

So now we go back in 2 more weeks for another x-ray and if everything looks good, he'll remove the full arm cast and replace it with a smaller one (below the elbow).  We're excited about that, hoping she'll gain some independence again (dressing herself, opening packages, buckling, erasing, etc.)

In the meantime, Abby has plenty of time for ALL her friends to sign her cast.  Yay!

Broken Arm

We had our first broken bone experience today. Abby fell at the playground. She really did a good job fracturing her arm! Thankfully she is 7 and will only be in a full arm cast for a week. (An adult would have needed surgery for this type of fracture.) And she was such a trooper. She barely cried and had to endure hours of sitting in doctor's offices with no lunch.

She reminded me you could purchase a cast from the American Girl catalog. She wondered if we "should" get one for Alexis so they could match. Since they are $26 we tried to come up with an alternative. She asked the orthopedist if he could make a little cast for her doll. :) We settled for some colored athletic wrap at Target. But the doctor did throw in some cotton wrap to make it official.

Stent No More

Stephen's x-ray showed no signs of stones or fragments so he was able to have the stent removed this morning.  It was by no means pleasant, but it is over.

He will continue to have pain for 24-48 hours but should make a full recovery after that. 

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Midweek

So, Stephen is VERY eager to get the stent out. He went to work today for the first time, took the pain meds there, but when they wore off he was in a lot of pain again. Thursday morning could not come soon enough for him!

Because the string fell off of his stent, he'll have to do a cystoscopy to have the stent removed, but this time it will be under local anesthesia in the urologist's office. I'm really praying he will be as comfortable as possible for that procedure. And I'm very excited about all this being over for him. He's been a trooper, but it has not been easy!

Stephen's Home

We are home and Stephen is recovering. He should be sleeping but apparently he doesn't react to anesthesia like the rest of the free world!

Immediately after surgery, Stephen started talking to the staff. He announced, "I have a wife, three kids and I'm 23 years old." "Mr. Fowler, you're not 23," replied the nurse anesthetist. To which Stephen slurred, "Ooooohhhhh yeah, I'm THIRTY-three."

By the time I made it to recovery, he had the entire staff laughing. He looked at me with his gown falling off his shoulder as he sipped on a Sprite and said that he "rocked it" and that he could "run a marathon." That was before he tried to stand or use the restroom!

On a serious note, Stephen is still in a good amount of pain. The pain pills are not knocking him out, as we expected. We've seen lots of blood today, but we're expecting it to subside in the next few hours.

He has passed a few tiny pieces of the stones, which we are saving to have evaluated. I am hoping he will be feeling much better tomorrow.

Below are some videos of Stephen before surgery. (He gave me the Flip before we walked into the hospital, just in case there was anything interesting to film.)

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P.S. He'll have the stent removed Thursday morning after the doctor's evaulation and another X-ray.

Out of Surgery

Stephen is in recovery now.  His mom and I are waiting to go back and see him.  The surgery went well.  Dr. Bullock said the kidney stones were lodged so he wasn't able to just take them out (as he expected) so he used the laser to break them up into very small fragments.  He did have to put a stent in, so now Stephen will have to pass the "granules" through the stent.  He will have some discomfort from the stent but will be given pain medicine to use as needed.  Dr. Bullock assured us he will not be in the same pain he was when the stones were moving, but he won't feel "all better" until he has the stent taken out, sometime late next week. 

Thank you for your prayers!  I have some video footage of Stephen with his gown and cap on before he went back so I'll post them on the blog later.