31 months:
Aaron had his follow-up echo and he looks really good! He doesn't even need to have antibiotics for a dental appointment now. And we don't have to return for 2 years. Yay!
Yesterday we spent 5 hours (plus 2 hours travel time) visiting the pediatric orthopedist for both Aaron and Aiden.
We left with the following plans/information:
Aaron is going to undergo serial casting on his legs. Starting Monday, I believe. I *think* we will be casting both of his legs at the same time. It will take 4 to 6 weeks total; each cast stays on for one week. We could do one leg at a time, but that would double the time this all takes. But if we do both legs at the same time, he won't be able to walk and we will need to rent a pint-sized wheelchair for him. So we aren't sure yet just how we will get it all done, but I'm guessing we'll be doing both at the same time.
After the casting is all done, he will get new splints for his ankles/legs. They will be different from his current ones -- they will be "floor reaction" ones meaning the hard plastic will go in the front of his legs instead of in the back.
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| These are Aaron's AFOs (with SMOs). I don't have a picture of the floor reaction splints. This picture shows the bend that Aaron had in his knees at this age, even with splints on. The floor reaction, with the plastic in front, was supposed to keep the knee back better, but they didn't work out too well. They were so heavy that Aaron toed-in even worse than usual and had a difficult time walking in them. If you look closely (or click to enlarge the picture), you can see Baby Aiden in the background. |
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Aaron has been officially potty training for about a week now and he is coming along great! He can pee standing up like his big brother and dad even! #2 isn't making it into the potty yet, but we're getting there! Yay!
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Aaron has quickly turned into a crazy potty training addict. He is going to the bathroom every 10 to 20 minutes. He's having a blast. And he has fallen in love with using crazy amounts of toilet paper. And he is so proud of himself! He's even standing up to pee. Go Aaron! Just maybe a little less obsessively? :-)
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This week Aaron got his first set of leg casts on. He did awesome. He loves his casts. When the orthotist finished putting them on, Aaron looked and down and said, "Oh, I have shin guards!" Asher very much wants his own casts and so he's been wearing his shin guards from soccer all around the house all day, every day. It's cute. :-) However, the first pair of casts started to slide down his leg and were cutting into the tops of his feet. Then his diaper leaked and pee and poop got into the top of the back of one of the casts. Eww. We were supposed to have them removed today and a new set put on, but I called in and we went yesterday to have them replaced because of the sliding and the poop.
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| Aaron and Asher |
Aaron did great getting the old casts cut off. He didn't mind the loud saw at all. He just smiled and said, "It sounds like a car!" And he did just as well getting the second set of casts put on. Our PT came to the appointment and did some PT stuff with him between the sets of casts to exercise his legs. The second set of casts are a tad shorter and have a foam cushion at the bottom. They are still causing some sores around his ankles, but there isn't too much we can do about that. It doesn't seem to be bothering Aaron at all.
He figured out yesterday how to get up into a standing position while wearing the casts. He craws up like a "bear". It took him several tries to get it, but he finally did and he was so proud. :-)
This current set will come off on Monday. Then we'll get a third, and hopefully final, set. So it is going MUCH faster than we had originally thought. We could be done in as little as 2 weeks total. We're already seeing improvement in his legs from the first casts being on just 24 hours. So hopefully we'll be done with this soon. I'm so glad Aaron is handling it all so well. Really, he is handling it much better than me!
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