Thursday, May 26, 2011

Deja vu!

So...it's almost as if I said, "Hey Jack, I have nothing to blog about. Isn't that a shame?" And then he responds with this...
Jack e. in May

Jeffrey in February
 OWWWWWWWW!!!!!! NO, MOMMY!
Jack begins to wail on Monday about his big tootsie-toe, "IT HURTS!!"
Last weekend, I noticed Jack had the top half of his toe nail missing and it looked irritated. The day after that it had a little blood around it. Okay, he stubbed it, bit it, picked it, banged it...something. I don't know. Walking around he complains a little, but tubbies, WOAH tubbies!!! He gets so mad at me when I have to wash it or take the bandaid off.
With all this fussiness, and my gut, I decided to finally take him to the doctor's today. Good thing I did.
Our little Jack e. boy has cellulitis. That's right! You heard me. He's competing with Jeffrey and his big toe. What's up with these kids?
So...we started washing with antibacterial soap (Jeffrey's left over Dial), taking oral antibiotics (just like Jeff), but Jack gets to soak in iodine, then peroxide and get lathered with Bacitracin. 
And if that doesn't work over this holiday weekend, you might ask,...podiatrist visit for a possible in-grown toe nail and draining. Awesome! Let's hope this regimen knocks out whatever infection Jack has festering in his toe.
Fingers crossed, enjoy your holiday with healthy toes :)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Lookin' Solid

Jeffrey couldn't get enough eggs

Jack liked to chuck them into the cups...crack!

Jeff loungin' with PopPop

Easter Baskets

Galoshes...aka fire boots. Yes, Kristen he slept in the t-shirt/smock :)

Hello and Happy belated Easter. We've been super busy, what with a whole week off from school and all. Woohoo!
We've gardened, cleaned, gone to the Philadelphia Zoo, visited all sorts of family, took a nature walk, and um...what was that other thing... oh yea, played baseball!








We even made time on Thursday to go to our appointment with Dr. Standard. I'll skip right to the medical stuff and our visit to Baltimore.
Thursday morning the whole fam headed south around 10am and returned to our home around 8:15pm.
L   O   N   G    Day! But, of course well worth it!
With Jack and Jeffrey in tow we parked, ate lunch at the hospital cafe and went down to see Ms. Kym. That's Jeffrey's physical therapist in Baltimore. Therapy was at 1:00. We took the STAIRS down to the basement. That's right, I said "stairs." Jeff had never climbed up or down those stairs. We were always in a wheelchair/stroller in the elevator. Kym said Jeff's range of motion and strength were great, especially for his age and this point--post fixator. The only slight concern, surprise, surprise...his weak ankle. She watched him stand on one foot and run up and down the hallway. Honestly, that was the best he's ever done both. Showoff! haha

We discussed the possibility of having an orthotic, ankle brace, to help stabilize his leg, but after consulting a few other therapists and the good Doc himself, all agreed we should let him just be a kid. The brace could limit his activity and why would we want to do that if it is not causing him any pain right now? If at some point his knee becomes so far bent in that it is over the inside of his foot, then we would pursue that option.
Physical therapy is lined up at home for the next 7 weeks, once a week. Dr. Standard and Kym said that his own play therapy (swimming, biking, playing baseball) was enough! YES! No more therapy! Don't get me wrong, it was great, but it's nice not to have to worry about rushing to drive to TWP .
After therapy, we went to the 2nd floor for our clinic visit. The appointment time was 2:00, what time were we seen??? 4:45/5:00ish. We are used to the wait, but the boys had a tough time trying to occupy themselves.
Waited with lollies
Even spied on Dr. Standard as he went to other rooms and waved and yelled hi like "We're here!"
When the good doctor walked in the boys were excited and tired. It's tough trying to listen to the doctor and keep 2 restless boys in check. Jamie is so good at that!
We looked at the xrays.
Dr. Standard was showing Jeffrey the rod that's in his leg to keep his femur strong and free from breakage. He had a hard time finding the original point of the osteotomy (bone cut) since it has healed and filled in so well :)
Cool. You can see how the femur is now longer than the other side and his knees are uneven.
The doctor pulled up the original x-ray from April 1, 2010 (our initial consult) and put it side by side with the current one April 28, 2011. Craziness!
Current x-ray                                                Original x-ray from last year
Well, good news all around. Glad to be through this phase. Still keeping an eye on that ankle.
I took this pic with my phone the other day when he was bare foot and I really noticed the appearance of the ankle.

Thanks for your continued support of reading the blog, coming out to cheer on our bball player at his tee ball games, asking how the family is doing, and just building us up.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Quote of the Season

Jeffrey: "It was a good hit, but I hit the pitcher right in the penis."
To which dad replies, "SHE'll be okay".
hehe