Surgery is Done - Phase 2 Complete

Getting ready for surgery very early in the morning.

Grammie, Jon, Aaron, Ethan and I woke up very early and made the trip down to Children's. We arrived right on time without any traffic. Everything went right on schedule. Aaron was so very brave even though he knew what to expect. Nana and Papa came to wait and keep Ethan entertained. His surgery was about 1 hour and it took him about 3 hours to recover. We were home by 1pm. Not bad! Ethan even got to go to school for a bit (he was hoping to miss the whole day).

Aaron cuddling with Jonathan Robert, his teddy.

Dr. Snyder gave us the foot plate which was ridiculously heavy. Aaron is happy to have it removed and is marveling at how light his leg is. Dr. Snyder was pleased how is leg looked and thought that his recovery would be quick. Aaron will complete his antibiotic treatment on Sunday, and we are hoping for no more infections. The original plan was to keep Aaron on bactrim until the rest of his external frame was removed. He, unfortunately, had an allergic reaction to the bactrim and had to be placed on augmentin. Dr. Snyder does not want to keep Aaron on augmentin long term because he fears antibiotic resistance or another allergy formed to penicillin.

Dr. Snyder also thought that beginning electrical stimulation to his tibia would help Aaron recover more quickly. I am looking at this option. Without the electrical stimulation intervention, Aaron would probably have the rest of the frame off in about 3 months! Either way, that sounds pretty good to me. Thus far, he has had the frame on for 5 months.

So, we move ahead hoping that Aaron has no more infections and that he heals quickly. I will be excited for him to put a shoe on and to walk on his foot. Maybe I won't need to carry him so much??

Aaron's leg a little lighter and a little itchier. Jonathan Robert, the teddy, looks on.

I tried to get Aaron to smile (this is at our house post-op), but he refused.

I guess this was before I gave him his medicine!

We are home and Aaron is enjoying unlimited TV and video games. Ethan is being a good big brother and giving him everything he needs. Grammie is doing any errand we ask. And, we have meals made by loving friends. We could ask for nothing more.