Hello all,
I come to you from the Hackerman-Patz House, our home away from home. As I sit here watching it rain yet again, a daily thing here, I realize that’s the worst thing that’s happened this week! It’s been a long week for sure but overall it’s going okay. Sunday was Mother’s Day of course, happy Mother’s Day to all you amazing super hero’s raising kiddos! We went from camping in the morning to home to pack and on the plane in enough time to be in Baltimore for a late dinner. Minus a little turbulence everything went smoothly.
Monday brought our pre-op appointment with Dr. Herzenberg. We took a ton of X-rays and talked for almost an hour in total. The X-rays were taken to see growth plates, current leg length discrepancies, and to check the rod that was in his leg. We then sat down and talked with the doctor and left feeling confident that we’ve set up a good plan for Zackary. He said due to nerves and muscles that run from the hip down toward the knee, Zackary complaining of pain in his lower femur could actually be displaced hip pain and he had hope that removing the rod would stop most if not all of the pain. He also said he’d be giving him a cortisone shot in his hip, when taking out the rod, to help with pain management. He confirmed as well that the bone looked dense enough for there to be no concern of removing the rod and Zackary being the active boy we know he wants to be with a little bit of PT.
Once we decided what was going to happen this week we moved on to what the next few years looks like. He talked about different options, I won’t go into great detail and bore you but there’s options of internal and external hip reconstruction surgery. Each has pros and cons but after consulting with the dr and Zackary we’ve decided internal will most likely be the route we will take. Looking back at the X-rays again and taking measurements in addition to knowing Zackary will lose some length in the hip reconstruction the dr let us know we will have to do another round of leg lengthening before we even begin the hip osteotomy. It was always a possibility but he made it very clear that it’ll be a must now, but only for about half the length as last time. Looking at his growth plates and estimation of natural stopping point of growing at the age of 15 it was decided that the leg lengthening will happen in 2020 and the hip osteotomy to happen in 2021 once the lengthening procedure has healed. He let us know we can continue to cortisone shots to help with pain if the rod removal doesn’t help enough and that he has a doctor he trusts to give the shots in the Phoenix area! 6 hours from home seems like a hop, skip and jump compared to here! So that was some encouraging news too.
Tuesday morning came all to quickly after a late night at our annual Olive Garden pre surgery dinner. We made it to the hospital around 9:30am with 11:30 surgery time scheduled. After being taken back to triage the first doctor let us know the surgery had been bumped to 11:45. Then we finally saw Dr. Herzenberg about 12:15 and he said hopefully before 1pm. Then about 1:20 they came in and took Zackary back. He was a trooper like always only complaining about being starving every few minutes. A fair statement since he hadn’t eaten in over 12 hours. They gave him his ‘happy juice’ cocktail and before we knew it he was loopy and we were giving our good bye kisses. One hour later Dr H came out and let us know the rod came out very smoothly, he had it in hand since Zackary requested to keep it. He also let us know he did the cortisone shot in the hip and a couple other shots of pain management in his leg that should last awhile. This made the momma in me very happy, I hate seeing him in pain. An hour after that we were able to sit by his side in recovery while he woke up and before leaving the hospital, though very drowsy, he was already taking steps to and from the bathroom! He spent the rest of the day sleeping at the HP house and spent the whole night eating once he woke up!
Today has included eating more, playing video games, watching tv and playing ping pong! Yes, playing ping pong, with no assistance! He’s walking everywhere with no pain or crutches. I’m keeping him on Tylenol and asking him to take it easy but if anyone knows him you know nothing slows him down! We’re very lucky with how smoothly has gone the last couple of days! We will stay here a couple more days just to keep an eye on the incisions and make sure he’s healing well before heading home on Friday. Thank you to everyone who’s helped on this trip with prayers, finances, good thoughts, texts and calls. They all, and you all, mean so much to us. Thank you!!!
Until next time-
Momma Miller
