After dodging trains, red lights, and traffic, Derek and I eventually made it to the hospital for what we hoped would be his last appointment for the next 5 weeks since he seems to be improving. After we got there, we got right in. The nurse took the cast off using the loud cutting machine, but this time Derek was prepared and only a little nervous about it. When the cast and dressings were removed, I once again saw the wound. Even being more prepared for what I was going to see, my heart still dropped and I had to swallow my tears. How can that foot belong to my son? The doc looked it over and seemed to be silent for a long time. I finally asked him if there was something wrong. He told me that everything looked fine, but it seemed to be going slower than he would have liked. He was hoping it would be pinker than it is by now, but he did say he felt the skin graft was taking. Good news overall, I guess, but not as good as we were hoping. He wants us to go back on Friday to get a new cast and to clean the wound one more time. Bummer. After the Foot-Plastic-Surgeon-wound-fixing-orthopedic-surgeon guy was done, the nurse put a very green cast on his leg.
The other doc, the Orthopedic Surgeon overseeing the broken bones in his leg then came
Derek’s very green cast.
in and asked to get an X-ray of the bones. Bonus! I was not expecting to see this bit of information, so this sounds like good news. We got the X-ray, and he showed them to us. I could see the fibula, which was broken right in half, growing back well. The tibia did not break all the way through, which I was unaware of until today, and so it has a bend that is a bit disfiguring, but because Derek is three and has so much growth ahead of him, the doc said it would fix itself. Basically, this was very good news because it meant he was healing just fine. He gave Derek permission to hobble around and walk on it, and wants to see him in two weeks. (Bummer!) At that time, they might remove the cast all together, or give him a boot or shorter cast. (Bonus!)
Overall, the visit was a good one, but I no longer believe we are going to be free of hospital visits for a while. At least he is improving. That is fine. These docs are doing a great job, and I really like them. I just want my baby better, so if I have to go back every day, so be it.
I have created a page that compares the wound on Derek’s foot. I posted pictures of the wound on the day it happened, one from last week, and one from this week. I will continue to post pictures there, but please be aware that these pictures are gruesome and disturbing, so if that bothers you, please avoid the page. If you think you can handle it, it can be interesting to see the changes.
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