We had an appointment with the doc today at 2:15. W actually got there before our scheduled time, so I informed the woman at the desk that there needs to be a marching band, cake, and some balloons there waiting for us. I think she considered sending me to Psych. Anyway, we got in and they whisked Derek away to get pictures of his broken leg. So far we have focused so much on his foot, we have not talked much about his broken leg. Remember, he broke his tibia and his fibula on top of getting the wound on his foot. Well, they got the X-rays while I sat in an internal waiting room with the other three kiddos. When he was done, Captain Hook, A.K.A Derek came hop/hobbling in at 90 miles an hour with a huge grin on his face! It was adorable, and made me think of these reunion videos you see on Youtube. We had only been separated for about 3 minutes, however, so there was no camera rolling.
This is Derek participating in Vacation Bible School at St. Lukes Episcopal Church. He and Ashley are in the same group together. Here they are in the basement during “Sports.” Derek is the one with his butt in the air and the boot on his broken leg.
We then went into another room where the doc came in to see us. Doc is always in a good mood. He asked Derek how he was doing while he attempted to undo my marvelous taping job on the foot. (Really! I am actually pretty good at taping the little guy up! Maybe a little too good…) He asked the nurse for some scissors, but she took so long, he had it torn off before she got there. Anyway, he took a look at the wound and was happy with what he saw. Yes!! He informed me that when the last little line of exposed tissue closed up, we could remove the dressings. He doesn’t think it will take long for this to happen. He then said it would be another 18 months or so for the rest of the foot underneath the skin to fully heal and fill in. Great news!! I have pictures of his foot on the page about Derek’s foot if you want to see it.
After rewrapping the foot and giving me a gigantic bag of dressing materials (Bonus!), he took a look at the X-rays. The bones are healing nicely, but you can still see some of the fracture there. The new bone that is growing over the injury and even straightening out the tibia is almost completed, but he still needs to grow more new bone and hope that the tibia keeps straightening out. They are confident it will. I guess I should back up a bit here. You see, his fibula broke completely in half, but his tibia only broke most of the way. Because it did not break in half, it is bent a little. As it heals, it should straighten itself out with the help of the cast and now the boot, but they are watching it just in case there is a problem. So far, everything seems to be working out perfectly. Yay!
The diagnosis for this visit: wear the boot for 2 more weeks, keep the foot wrapped up, and come back to see if the both boot and dressings can be permanently removed in two weeks! Amazing, huh? A month and a half ago, my son was lying in the street having been hit by a car. If the next visit goes like we think it may, two months and one week later, he will be walking around as though nothing even happened. He will obviously have a scar on his foot, and his big toe has a slight deformity, but we will fix that with reconstructive surgery in about a year. That is it. We were so lucky this is as bad as it was. As hard and difficult and scary as all of this has been, it could have been so much worse. God was watching over my son, so I guess he is not the Devil’s spawn after all.
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