We're closing in on the end of another day of surgery for our strong boy Zackary!
After a very long 3 1/2 hour wait he was taken back for what was suppose to be a 'quick operation' in the words of Dr Herzenberg. I was told it would be about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. So once we passed an hour and half of waiting every minute was a new level of mom worry. After 2 1/2 hours I finally saw the doctor and he let me know everything was fine! What a relief, but really? Does he know all the new grey hairs he just created?!
So what happened in that few hours? The following... they completely restricted the tibia growth plate on his right leg. This is permanent and will have him lose an estimated 2cm of height on the right leg. On the ride side femur the did a temporary restriction. Instead of destroying the growth plate they put in two 'eight plates', one on each side. These are plates that restrict the growth so long as they are in place. We are going to monitor the difference change with X-rays every 6-12 months and once we expect only 1-2cm left of growth (out of 3-4cm that's currently there) then we will remove the plates and allow the last few centimeters to grow.
Why did we do this instead of so many other options? We knew we needed to continue to correct the leg discrepancy, that is currently at 4cm per measurement this week. It was at 0 when we left this time last year just so you have some comparison. Of course one option is another leg lengthening but that was so hard on everyone we are trying other options. We will be able to get 3-5cm of length shortening on the good leg which will actually make the legs even or have the right leg shorter by the time his legs are done growing by the age of 16. Who knew that's when boys' legs stop growing! This will set him up perfectly for his future hip surgery where he will lose about an inch with the reconstruction. All this to say, we've done a ton of research, okay Adam has, and we feel this is what's best for our situation. He will lose about 2" of overall height but it's the best of all choices. Sinai hospital continues to be the biggest blessing with a doctor who doesn't force anything, lays out all the options and answers ALL the questions we come up with.
Now back to today...I was able to finally see Zackary about an hour after I spoke with the doctor and for the first time since I can remember he was crying when he woke up. Pure tears of pain. It was so hard to watch. I couldn't calm him down. He let me know this was the worst pain he ever felt and it took far more time then I care to remember to get it all under control. Once that happened he let me know it's his natural instinct to use that leg, flinch and move that leg since it's always been his 'good' leg and his left leg still isn't 100%.
He's slowly learning to not use his right leg, or muscles at all at this point but they did admit him to the hospital for the night for pain control since he was having such a hard time.
We've now been in our room about 4 hours and he's finally off oxygen (just 30 mins ago) and he ate a decent meal, is holding a coherent conversation and even lost a tooth that's been loose for about 3 months! Yep, it's been a day!
The immediate future includes... being released tomorrow afternoon most likely. We will then stay in Baltimore one last night for safety then fly home Friday. He will need physical therapy for about 2 weeks back home then he'll be ready to rough house and play basketball again in about 4-6 weeks.
Thank you all again. These words are never enough to explain our gratitude but I can't say it enough either so THANK YOU! Thank you for supporting, praying, donating, checking in and sending good vibes our direction. We definitely feel all the love. For now I'll let you all go and digest all the info I just threw at you and will update in a few days to let you know how he's doing.
Until next time-
Momma Miller
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