Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Bones

We went to Ben's orthopedist Friday. If you've not been following along for awhile let's just say this particular doctor would either make an excellent politician or a champion of casual summer footwear. The guy has flip-flopped almost every single visit in regards to surgery on Ben's hips.

Saturday Ben's most recent primary nurse stopped by for a visit. Vickie happened to be with me in January when we last saw the Bone Doc so it was good to have her back me up since Bone Doc is singing a new tune.

In his defense Bone Doc does have some significant worries; mainly how Ben would do under general anesthesia. Although he's never had any problems in his previous dozen or so "lights out" experiences this one will require a much more lengthy time "down under"... like up to six hours. It just so happened that Ben had a tad of congestion at the end of last week which was not the case last winter. Last winter BD was all like, "Hey, he's so strong now we might just to this operation before Ben is fifteen - we'll just delay it until he starts showing pain when his hips dislocate," which they often do.

Evidently Bone Doc is now waiting on his replacement once he retires to make the call on not when but rather if the corrective measure is taken. Fortunately after about 10 days of positioning Ben gently due to obvious pain somewhere around his pelvis he's finally returned to baseline (normal).

The angle of the picture above doesn't adequately present the posture problems Ben faces. Essentially he has what is called a "windswept" growth pattern around his pelvis and related joints. Add in a profound case of scoliosis and we have a young lad with an S-shaped body structure. As you can see in the photo his left leg folds up under his right one - this has become "normal" for Ben...and it's something that we've worked hard to slow down. Ben has worked even harder at it.

So it was a pleasant surprise to watch Ben today at occupational and physical therapies. In fact it was pretty incredible given that it has been almost a month since he's been able to attend his out-patient appointments. Not only was he cooperative and exhibited no noticeable signs of pain, we all agreed that he had one of his best therapy sessions ever!

The strange and unexpected continues in living our lives with Ben. And the emotional roller coaster keeps letting us off at a safe departure place rather than flying off the tracks.

1 comment:

we_be_toys said...

You want I should come open a can of Whup-ass on the BD?
So glad that the PT session was such a good one, especially after what you were saying about hip dislocation. Ben amazes me anew with his will to not only survive, but to thrive!
Love you guys!