Surgery

This ducky is awesome!

I have been looking forward to/dreading this day for months. We will be one step closer to making it possible for Wyatt to walk normally, but how am I going to be able to hand my baby over to the doctors? Wyatt was set to be at the hospital at 8:30 am. He will be going under general anesthesia as well as having a caudal for pain so he is not allowed to have any food after midnight but can have breast milk until 5 am. That is a relief because baby boy likes to nurse! We arrived at the hospital right on time and got checked in. The nice guy in registrar gave Wyatt a small rubber ducky to play with. It was wearing a raincoat which was so appropriate as it was pouring that morning. Wyatt gnawed on that for quite a while! We were quickly down to the surgery waiting area. I was starting to get nervous. Wyatt was crawling around so happily and loves staring at the fish tank. He was of course a hit with everyone else in the room. Wyatt's huge smile and the fact that he loves to screech at the top of his lungs when he is excited is definitely a head turner.

We soon went back to the children's part of surgery. It was such an inviting place. Everyone was extremely friendly and they had every toy a child could possibly want to play with. My 2 year old would be in heaven! We found out that Wyatt's surgery had been pushed back to 11:45. Ugh...such a long wait with a hungry baby. He was so good though and hardly put up a fuss. I had to keep hiding from him because as soon as he saw me he would want to nurse. That was very hard! He did look really cute in his hospital gown. Darren said it looked like a dress, but at least is had astronaut koalas on it.

Toys!

Time passed amazingly quickly. Soon we were speaking to the anesthesiologist about what to expect. Wyatt would be given gas to be put to sleep at first. It was a cute mask with Sesame Street characters on it and smelled like strawberries. They gave one to Wyatt to play with so it would be familiar. After he was asleep they would put in the IV and give him a caudal. The caudal is similar to the epidural I got during labor. On children it is placed by the tailbone and fills up there. There are no nerves or veins in that area and it is extremely safe. That meant that when Wyatt woke up he would have to pain and no idea what had just happened. The caudal should block pain for 10-18 hours.

Wyatt rockin' his hospital gown.

Shortly after we were talking with Dr. S. I am so happy he is our surgeon. He is very affection with Wyatt and I have complete trust in him. He explained the surgery again. Basically there will be a small incision in his feet and a pin will be placed holding his bones in the proper location. The pins will be sticking out of his foot, but because of the casts we won't have to see it. Thank goodness!

At 12:20 the nurse came for Wyatt. Wyatt went to her with only one little squeak and then they walked away. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I still tear up just thinking about them walking through the surgery doors.

Darren and I went to lunch while we waited. I think that was the longest two hours ever. Dr. S came out and said everything went well. His bones aligned perfectly and there was no need to cut his achilles tendons at that point. We might have to cut the tendon on the left foot at a later date, but we will see if it will correct itself. He showed us the x-rays which were cool and disturbing at the same time. We thanked him for doing such a good job and waited until we could go back to see our son.

Wyatt's right foot with pin.

And his left.

Snuggles right after surgery. So sweet.

When we were told we could go back it was all I could do to not run. I wanted him in my arms again! The first time I say him in the crib I couldn't help but cry. There he was sound asleep with half a dozen wires and tubes hooked up. He looked so helpless. He started to wake up and was very crabby and confused. The nurse said that was normal and asked if I wanted to hold him. Duh, that was a stupid question! It was a little difficult to figure out how to hold him with all the wires, but we managed. He slept for another 45 minutes before he woke up and was ready to eat. After a quick snack he seemed more alert and we were given the okay to unhook him from all the monitors. We dressed him and got ready to go home. Wyatt was still confused but not in any pain because of the caudal. He was annoyed to find the casts back on and kept trying to push them off. Sorry buddy, but they are there for one month. I will write more about his recovery and future plans later, baby boy is hungry :)

Cast Free

Right after the casts came off!

Well as of two weeks ago ;) But I have two very demanding kiddos that don't leave me much time for the computer. We were so excited for our appointment because today was the day the casts were coming off. We would be doing x-rays and setting a surgery date. The office was running really late that day and we didn't see Dr. S until 45 minutes after our appointment time. I didn't let that dampen my spirits because today was going to be wonderful! He sits down and says we are going to take these off and cast for another 1-2 weeks. What? Come again!? No, no, no...you said we would be doing x-rays today. I was panicking. Not only have the casts been hard on Wyatt, but hard on me to because he would only sleep 1-2 hour at a time at night and most of the time I was rocking him in the recliner. We both have had it and are very exhausted. I pushed him to do the x-rays today. They came back amazing! Way better than the doctor could have hoped. He said after seeing these that Wyatt is okay to proceed on with the surgery. I asked him if Wyatt would benefit from more casting because if it is best for him I would do it, but he said no. I gave myself a little psychological pat on the back for good mommy intuition. We went home with a bare-legged baby :)

Wyatt's feet and legs were so sensitive that he hated us toughing him. His skin was cracked at all the creases and there were lines etched from the socks they put under the casts (2 weeks later and they are still there). Soon he got comfortable with touch again and couldn't be a happier baby boy. He started sleeping (me too!) better and took off crawling. He wanted nothing to do with his feet still. Just trying to tickle them would make him cringe. Too many bad memories associated with his feet already :(

Look at those cute bare baby legs.

A couple days before his scheduled surgery he finally got brake enough to try and stand again. He was so happy he did! He even started trying to cruise along the furniture. It was nice to see my smiley baby back.

Casts 3&4

Another late one :(

May 9th, 2012
Two weeks done and only 2 left to go. We are halfway there! Wyatt has adapted so well to the casts and has impressed us all. He can tear across the living room so fasts and keeps me on my toes. That boy has a sixth sense on things he should not be getting in to. I am nervous about today because we are going to be casting both legs. How will Wyatt handle both legs in casts?

Casts number 3 and 4.

Wyatt recognized the cast saw as soon and she brought it in today. He instantly starting whining and reaching for me. It broke my heart not to be able to hold him while she removed it. Wyatt's foot looked really gross this week after the cast was removed, but there was actually an arch! His skin was much more sensitive this week and he cried when Darren washed his leg. Dr. S commented on how his left foot was looking better than his right foot now. Yay for improvement! Wyatt knows now what to expect and he fought us from the first moment with these casts. He kept arching away from the doctor and we kept having to hold him down so he couldn't scoot away. Darren got to calm him down a little by letting him chew on his finger. Wyatt might have been more at ease, but Darren's finger was definitely hurting afterwards. Once Wyatt realized that his other leg was going to be casted too there was no calming him down. We just had to let him cry until they finished. That was hard. He quickly calmed down though once I was able to hold him. Baby boy is now sporting one blue and one orange cast. Our little shout out to Boise State University ;)

Look! I can still crawl.

It took Wyatt a little longer to get used to moving around with two casts on. He is crawling just as fast as he was previously although he can no longer stand up and he is a little annoyed about that. We will be keeping these casts on for two weeks straight this time and will go back in on the 23rd. We will be doing another series of x-rays to check Wyatt's progress and see where we go from here.

Wyatt has had a very difficult time with these casts. He has the same mobility but I can tell he is tired of having them on. The first week Wyatt wouldn't sleep more than an hour at a time. He would just cry all night because he couldn't get comfy. I felt so bad for my baby boy. The second week has been better. Wyatt is back to sleeping in his crib and we are all sleeping more. I can't wait until these babies are off of him!

Casts 1 & 2

I had this all written out and it didn't save :( So here we go again!

April 25th, 2012

Daddy and Wyatt plating while waiting for Dr. S.

Wyatt got a very long bath this morning and we sat in there until the water got cold. Wyatt loves taking baths and is going to miss them these next 4-6 weeks. He loves to be laid on his back and kick like he s trying to swim. I can tell he is going to be a water baby like Mommy. We then headed to his last PT session. I am pretty sure Wyatt could tell we weren't going to be doing our normal routine today. He was very antsy and didn't want to cooperate. Totally not like him! They finally broke out the swing and got a good 15 minutes of stretching in on his feet. We decided that was good enough, we were just wanting them to get flexible enough so Dr. S would have an easier time casting them.

Wyatt's first cast.

We were the last appointment of the day for Dr. S. He likes to do the casting last so he doesn't feel rushed (which I definitely appreciate!) Dr. S was pleased with the progress we made with Wyatt's feet with PT and said we will have to cast his left foot for 4 weeks, but only 2 weeks on his right. That meant for the first two week Wyatt only had to deal with one cast. Yay! Wyatt didn't like the whole casting process and even with us both trying to distract and comfort him, he cried the whole time. A quick snuggle with Mommy after he was done calmed him down. Wyatt is now sporting a blue cast on his left leg.

It definitely hasn't slowed him down. It took him only about 30 seconds to figure out how to crawl with the casts and he even still pulls to stand just by putting all his weight on his right leg. This boy amazes me!



May 2nd, 2012
One week down! Wyatt seems to be adjusting just fine except when it comes to sleeping. He has no desire to sleep in his crib anymore. He just can't find a comfy position. So we have been sleeping in the rocking chair again. It is not to big of a deal and I enjoy the cuddles.

Second cast!

Wyatt does not like getting the casts removed! The sound and vibration from the saw freaks him out. Poor baby practically jumped into my arms once the nurse was finished removing his cast. Boy was that leg stinky! We had just enough time to quickly wash it off before Dr. S. arrived. Poor Wyatt didn't know what to do with it out of the cast and his foot just hung there limply. But it sure looked a lot better!

The new cast (neon green) went on the same as the first. Lots of crying and lots of cuddles when it was over. I already can't wait to be done with this and I am sure Wyatt feels the same.

Our Last PT

Oops! I forgot to publish this ;) Written on  4/24/2012

I remember how anxious I was in the beginning about Wyatt's first physical therapy session. I only had my husband's experiences to go off of. I was fully expecting it to be 45 minutes of misery every week. It turns out that Wednesday became my favorite day of the week. Just Wyatt and I went to his appointments, Darren stayed home with Bella because it interfered with her naptime. We would arrive at the office and Wyatt would flirt with the receptionists while we waited. I then got to play with him on the floor with some pretty awesome toys while he got stretched. Wyatt hardly put up a fuss. He mostly jabbered to Holly probably telling her all about his week. After his session we would make the short trip to Walmart to get some groceries and visit with the ladies in my office. Wyatt hated going in the carseat for the ride home right after PT so this was a nice distracted. After Walmart, Wyatt would be asleep in his seat before we left the parking lot. I would then hit up some thrift stores on my way home (guilty pleasure) with a sleeping Wyatt in tow. This has been my routine for the past three months and I am sad to see is change as we move on to the next stage of treatment. Tomorrow is Wyatt's last PT appointment. He will be getting his first set of casts on too. It is time to move on to new adventures. I am still going to have to find time for my shopping buddy and I to go look at thrift stores ;)

Only 2 weeks until casting!

Wyatt's appointment with Dr. B went well this morning. No more ear infections! Although, he does still have some major congestion going on. And just in case you are curious Wyatt now weighs in at a whopping 19 lbs 12 oz! His PT session was pretty much the same as the past weeks. Wyatt's feet are stretching really well and he has lots of mobility. The problem is he won't stretch and move them himself. He always keeps them in the dorsiflex positioning. That is what he has always known so it must be comfortable for him. The casts will help reset his muscle memory so he can relax his feet in a more normal position.

Wyatt is about *this* close to crawling too! He gets up on all fours, rocks, and then he crosses his legs at the last moment so he can't move forward. Silly boy! I don't know if he will get it figured out before his casts go on or not. No matter, he can get to wherever he wants to be with his rolling and pivoting. He is one determined baby. We almost have two teeth as well! I can see the bottom ones just under the gums. It is like he just needs to bite really hard on something and they will pop right through. Although, I am a bit nervous how his getting teeth will change our nursing relationship. We have all day tomorrow off as a family with no appointments! I am so excited. Fingers crossed for good weather.

Happy Easter

Wyatt found an egg!

Wyatt and Bella going for a ride.

Yah....I know, it is a little late. Better that than never, right!? Wyatt is sick again with a cough and ear infections. That boy is sick more than he is healthy :( We still had a fun Easter. Wyatt enjoyed watching his big sister hunt for eggs and he even grabbed a few for himself. Of course he didn't care about the treats inside, he just wanted to suck on the plastic egg! Bella better get ready for some competition next year!

On the CVT front, I get more and more nervous the closer we get to the 25th. I am sure everything will go just fine and Wyatt will get used to having casts, but I am a Mom so I will worry. We have been looking in to having his surgery done at the Shriner's hospital in Salt Lake City. I would rather have it done here, I am just not sure we can afford it. Luckily friends have put us in contact with someone who can assist us with the application process. I will have to talk more about it with Dr. S at our next appointment.

Sorry this is so short and sweet. We have a big day tomorrow with doctor's appointments. Wyatt has a follow up with his pediatrician in the morning for his ears and we have physical therapy in the

Enjoying his 1st Easter!

afternoon. Goodnight all!