Third and Final Cast

Well Riley's 3rd and final cast has come and gone, I'm just now getting around to writing about it.  Not sure if this is because I have been super busy with work, life with a 5 and 2 year old or if it's because if I don't write about it, maybe her surgery isn't that close.  But, it is just around the corner, that is true, 4 days away in fact.  Riley's last cast went great, her progress between the 1st and 2nd cast was great so he took her last cast off the week before her surgery (last Thursday).  He wasn't there so we didn't get an update on how her foot was but when I line all the pictures of the progress up (see below), you can see a dramatic change. It's still not perfect but it's much better and what I think he was aiming for.  She's in her "robot" until Thursday so she doesn't injure her foot which is weak from 3 weeks of casting.  But we get to bath her, heal up her skin and she gets a break before the big day.  Truth be told, I will feel much better a week from today!  Of course Ri rode her scooter on our walk to Peet's today, nothing can hold her back, that's for sure!

A rare photo of me that Riley snapped while we were waiting at the orthopedic surgeon

She was annoyed with me because I wanted a picture and she just wanted to go back to school

Robot on and ready to roll

The latest relapse and casting results.  Her foot was so crooked on her 5th birthday, it looks so much better after the last cast.  Amazing what he casting can do!

Cast #2

Friday Ri got cast number two put on.  The appointment was mid-morning so I decided to take her into my office for a few hours since Dr H is right by my office.  We drove up at my normal time, hello carpool lane!  I'm not sure if it was worth having Riley's backseat driving, she was quite the micro manager/worry wart on Friday but it sure was nice to use the carpool lane on the way up.  Ri had fun at work, since it was Friday, there were not a lot of people there but my row was full and my boss was there as well as two other co-workers and our admin so she had fun talking to everyone.  She also got to taste two of our new cereals for breakfast which she thought was awesome.  They come out this summer so she got a sneak peak at what we're coming out with.  She was a fan!  Then she finished her homework, asked some people to sign her cast, and then worked on some rainbow loom bracelets before we had to head to Dr H.

Casting went well, her foot is stiffer than Dr H would have liked to see but he said that just reaffirms that we are doing the right thing with the tendon transfer.  Jacob also made quite the impact on him this week because Dr H brought up how exhausting he is again today and how he was telling his friend with twin 20 month olds how exhausting he was.  Nice.  Ri micromanaged Dr H too, telling him that her foot was too far out, her leg was crooked so he set her straight.  It was pretty funny watching them because she had a comment for everything.

Trying out our new Jif cereal and Rice Krispies!

Kid tested and approved!

Signatures from my work

And one from her day care director

Foot after one casting

She cracks me up

Posing for our post-cast picture

The Road to the ATTT Surgery

So I'm super behind on blogging, so far behind in fact that Riley is due to get her second cast tomorrow.  Our first appointment went well, we were his last appointment of the day and did our pre-op exam and questionairre so we should be good to go for February 20th.  Riley wanted a rainbow cast but there wasn't enough cast there to do it so she surprised me by coming out with a pink cast, she had been telling me all week that if they couldn't do rainbow, she would want blue.  Dr H feels this is a definite thing, that we'll have to do the surgery eventually so we might as well get it done.  I just want Feb 20 to be here and gone already.  I am a wreck anticipating this surgery, stressed, tired, grumpy.  I hope these next few weeks go quickly. 

Ri of course has been a rockstar.  Knock on wood, but the 5s have been good to us thus far, I know we're only 2 weeks in but we have seen a huge jump in maturity and behavior in Riley since she hit 5!  I'm not complaining!  She's such a big helper, has a great attitude about everything and lets stuff roll off of her without a fit.  Even day care is telling me how great she has been, now if only I could get Jacob on board with this whole behavior thing...

Jacob was on his second lollipop by the time we got called back

Surprise!  It's pink!

Jacob went with Marc and Riley to get Riley's cast put on while I did Riley's medical history, they gave him gloves to keep him busy.  After Riley's cast was on Dr H came back to the room where I was, plopped into a chair, and proceeded to tell me how exhausting Jacob was.  I said "Try living with him!"  I love my little man but he's a handful!

Our traditional picture outside his office

And we've been in a drought for 3 months, no rain, not even fog, and what happens within a week of getting a cast put on my 5 year old?  Rain!  Such is my life!

Surgery Has Been Booked

Whelp, I scheduled Riley's ATTT surgery this week for 2/20/14.  It actually felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders as soon as we we on the schedule.  I opted for John Muir versus Lucille Packard due to proximity.  Both kids were born at John Muir and we were more than pleased with our care there.  They told us it would be out patient surgery which has me a bit concerned.  I have heard the first few days are really rough following the operation from a pain perspective so I was hoping to actually stay the night and have the help of the nurses but my mom is coming up to help us with Jacob so we can focus on Ri so hopefully we will be ok.  Ri knows, this weekend she asked me what surgery means.  Oy, the questions this girl comes up with, she really tests my parenting skills!  I was hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions, I think the less she knows about what goes into a surgery, the better.  I told her it just means that Dr H will fix her foot for good and she won't need an AFO anymore.  Of course she said she likes her AFO in response to that, only my child!  I told her if she didn't need her AFO, that she could pick any pair of shoes she wanted which seemed to sell her on it for a bit.  We start casting on January 24th.

I think there just might be a light at the end of this tunnel.  I'm very optimistic about the outcome, hopefully not not overly optimistic.