Tag: the leg

Home Sweet Home

Posted on by Tammy

IMG_9530Last night at dinner Soccer Dude casually mentioned, ” Hard to believe the last time I ate noodles at this table I didn’t have scars on my face from a dog bite.”  It struck me again.

I have joked in the past that travel week for us is kinda like living out one of those sci-fi movies.  You know, where you enter a time machine and arrive on a different planet and in a different dimension.  We leave a world of grandparents, bagged salad, dryers, large yards with trees (and speaking English!) — to enter a world of friends, noodles, apartment buildings, and a college campus where we teach English and art.  They are two totally different worlds and it can be unnerving to hop from one to the other.  We really fit in neither, but love both…I struggle to wrap my brain around that, not to mention help my children navigate our two realities.

This summer has been extreme. HA, understatement!  We went from our busy world in Asia to a world of hospitals, dentists, immunizations, doctor appointments — and did I mention doctor appointments?

In a way, it has helped us to be more thankful than ever to be back “home.”  Surgeries are behind us.  Little Man has a new prosthesis that fits and he is running again. (See photo of him during a walk through the woods!)  Soccer Dude continues to heal and the stitches are dissolving.  Life is moving on.  We are beyond thankful for Father’s healing and our ability to come back to our Asian home.

It never felt better to walk in our apartment door.  Starting the routine of homeschooling in our own space has been a comfort and facing a new fall has been a joy.  There is no way we would be back here without the pr.yer and support of so many of you.  It carried us.

A mentor always willing to take a phone call when we needed a sounding board, an ophthalmologist who fit Soccer Dude for contacts the last week we were in the States because his glasses were bothering the wounds in his nose, a pediatrician’s office willing to work us in to talk about hives and swelling, friends who drove an hour to play with us at a park and express their love and concern, friends in Asia calling and sending us gifts, a simple text message saying “we are pr.ying for you”….all these things (plus many more I could add to this list) carried us and reminded us of the love of a Father who provides.

So when we are weary from jet-lag, facing another busy semester after a crazy summer, when Soccer Dude breaks out in hives again…we have no doubt Father will provide.

Wow!  This post has been full of lists!  I am sure you could make your own list.  How is Father providing for you this season?

 

Thanksgiving in August

Posted on by Tammy

We ate turkey dinner with all of the trimmings.  Yup.  It was August 19th and we pretended it was Thanksgiving and it was so very yummy (mostly because it was lovingly made by my mom!)

Even though it was a fake Thanksgiving, I still paused over the gravy bowl and took a second to realize how many things I have to be thankful for.  Even just a week earlier I would have been hard pressed to visualize my whole family healthy and sitting around the dinner table.   I am one thankful mom.

Two and a half weeks ago Soccer Dude was bit in the face by a large dog – a large well trained dog.  It was a freak accident.  Really.  But as freak of an accident as it was, it landed our boy in the hospital for 5 days.  He needed two surgeries to repair the damage and in the process we discovered he is allergic to several antibiotics. As you can imagine, none of us were happy about this turn in events. We were supposed to be having fun at my parents home in Michigan – not sitting around a hospital in Detroit. Every time Soccer Dude would introduce himself to the nurse coming on duty he would mumble between the hundreds of stitches in his mouth, “this is the worst summer vacation ever.”

At about the same time, Little Man was struggling with muscle weakness and the process of making a new prosthetic leg was not going well.  The physical therapist who was helping us shook her head and told us he would need months of physical therapy.

So things haven’t gone as we planned this summer. It has been a ride.  But, we are amazed at how two weeks and a lot of prayer can change things.

Soccer Dude’s face is healing and he has had no infection in his wounds. He is still struggling with crazy allergic reactions that are causing full body hives, and he has some swelling in his face.  We are starting a new journey with him to figure out what all he might be allergic to…related to antibiotics, the accident and maybe even more.  Let the fun begin!  We would appreciate you keeping him in your thoughts.

Little Man –  He has worked hard over the past two weeks and his strength is coming back.  His story also is nothing short of miraculous. When the docs saw him Monday they were amazed and instead of recommending three months of physical therapy as they expected, they declared there no longer is the need.  We were able to move forward in the fitting process of the prosthetic and he gets his new leg tomorrow.

There have been times this summer that I wondered if we would be able to return to Asia this fall as we had planned.  We still have some loose ends hanging out there, but we are taking strides to be off this coming week.  We are taking it one step at a time and are thankful for each small victory that takes a step closer.

Resting Comfortably

Posted on by Tammy

IMG_0964The first several days after surgery were rough, but we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  Yesterday, Little Man was acting more like himself.  His fever has broke, last night he slept through the night without pain medication, and this morning he is asking to go for a spin in his wheelchair.  This mom is breathing easier!

He loves the wheelchair.  Even when he was experiencing a lot of pain he was willing to push himself around.  After a month of not being able to wear his prosthesis, mobility seems like pure heaven.  He has mastered doing donuts and his favorite new game is pretending to be Pac Man.  He chases everyone (ghosts) to eat them.  Love hearing him laugh as he chases us – Don’t love those huge wheelchair wheels running over my toes!  He has also figured out how to crawl without touching his leg on the ground.  It is like some crazy knee lift push up while crawling.  He is amazing.

This week we are focusing on his continued healing and exercising his leg to keep his mobility.  It is more natural for him to keep his knee bent so they have given him a brace so that his knee doesn’t lock. Next week, we go back to the hospital for them to check his leg and fit him for a compression sleeve to continue the healing and prepare him for a new prosthetic.

We can’t thank you all enough for keeping him in your prayers.  Our family feels very blessed by your love and support!

Surgery Day

Posted on by Tammy

IMG_1039-1We literally rolled in on our last wheel, but we are now in Florida getting Little Man all fixed up.  We can’t sing the praises of Shriners Hospital in Tampa loud or long enough.  They really are bending over backwards to help us care for our guy.

On pre-op day they discovered that even more was going on than we had anticipated.  Rather than one bone spur needing to be removed he would need further amputation and reconstruction of his limb to remove old scar tissue.  This is much more invasive than we had planned for, but since we were in good hands we felt confident with the direction things were going.  Unfortunately, this means a longer recovery time, but we will take that one day at a time.

Yesterday was surgery.  He wasn’t feeling very brave, but when they rolled a wii into his room as they prepped him for surgery everything else seemed less important.  Mario Kart saves the day.  Unbelievable that he could be woozy from pain meds and able to win a race.

Surgery went as planned with no surprises.

We spent the night in the hospital (and may be here another one) due to his history of infection.  They are giving him iv antibiotics and pain medication.  He is having a very hard time with pain because some of the meds that usually work just aren’t working in his body.  Truly, this is one of the hardest things I have done as a mom.  Hate seeing my baby in this much pain.  He wanted to know if my leg was hurting because I was crying along with him.  Sweet boy.  No mom’s leg isn’t hurting…just my heart.

Would appreciate you praying for him that the pain would ease, that he would stay infection free, and that he heals beautifully.  I am ready to be eating this boy’s dust again!

The Leg – Surgery it is

Posted on by Tammy

Surgery has been scheduled for July 9th.  Although it is a bummer that Little Man needs surgery, we really are seeing God’s provision in how all the details are falling in to place.  His team of doctors in the States were able to review all of the information we sent them from here and they have concluded that there is a 90% chance that surgery will be needed.  So we are getting ready.

The surgeon “happened” to have a slot for the surgery the morning after our already scheduled appointment so they switched it to a pre-op appointment and surgery will happen the next morning.   Provision for sure!

The procedure is routine in the States – a bone reconstruction in his limb or in the words of our family “the doctors are going to fix the booboo in Little Man’s stub so that he can wear his prosthetic again!”  That is what matters.  It is killing our little guy not to be able to wear his leg.  He likes to be on the move!  I am afraid the frustration of immobility will be a theme for the next month if not more, but in the end he should be more comfortable than ever.

Our summer plans really are on hold while we seek the best care for Little Man.  We had hoped to do a lot of visiting and speaking – now we might be making a lot of phone calls.  We hope that you all will understand our lack of visits this time around as we focus on getting our little guy up and running again.

We for sure will be keeping you posted on how he is doing and how the process goes. I would love to hear any suggestions on how to entertain an active four year old while in the hospital!

 

Against the Norm – Leg Update

Posted on by Tammy

We live in a city where you often see adults with limb differences lying on street corners.  They might be playing an instrument, singing, or painting characters with a paintbrush between their teeth.  What they all have in common is a metal bowl sitting next to them to collect small bills.  They beg for a living.  People stand around and stare.

IMG_0961Our family gets stared at a fair amount, but it has intensified the past few weeks.  People just don’t know what to do with us…we don’t all look the same and we go against the cultural norm.  (Where we live, staring is not considered impolite.  When you don’t know what to do with something, you just stare at it.)  Usually, I take the stares in a stride.  It is part of living here.  I hate to admit that the past few weeks have been harder for me.  The momma bear in me raises her ugly head when it is my son’s leg that is being stared at.

We were out for an evening walk in our loaner stroller  (High five to a great expat community who is coming to our aid and helping us with our needs!) when we came past two grannies sitting on a bench.  They live in our apartment complex and I have seen them a few times.  I knew right away that they wanted to talk about Little Man’s leg.  I started to bristle until my sweet four year old reached his hand over to the woman.  They held hands as we talked.

“What happened to his leg?” she asked, and I answered with our standard reply, “He was born this way.”

“Oh, you are such a good person.”  Again, I have a standard response for this common statement.  “No.  He is a good person and I am happy to have him in our family.”

“He is your son?”

“Yes, we have four children.”

This is where the conversation took a twist.  Usually the conversation turns to how crazy I am to have so many children and how tired I must be!  HA!  I have a standard reply for that conversation too!  Instead, my son, interrupted.

“Want to see my booboo?  I can walk, but I am hurt right now.”  I guess the English word booboo translates into Chinese because she understood! 🙂 He pulled up his pant leg and stuck out his residual limb to this unsuspecting granny.  I felt myself cringe and I prepared my heart for the look of horror that would most likely come across her face.  I had seen it so many times as folks stood around staring at us, staring at his missing leg.

That granny….she leaned down looked at his leg and while holding his hand said, “I am sorry you are hurt.”

Tears sprang to my eyes at the sweet, gentle nature of this old woman.  To add to the healing power her words had on my soul, she looked up at me and said, “This boy will bring so much music to your home.”

I laughed as she told my son to be thankful he had a home to play music in and he would never play music on the street. Only a Chinese granny can be sweet and then fuss at you in the same sentence!

We live in a city where limb difference is equated with life on a street corner.  To the man who helped me carry the large stroller off the bus, to the mom at the bus stop who told her son not to stare, to the granny who held my son’s hand…thank you.  Thank you for going against the cultural norm.

 

 

Update: Little Man is doing much better.

The sore on his leg is finally starting to heal and this momma is breathing easier after two phone calls to our team of doctors in the States.  I can’t say enough about Shriner’s Hospital in Tampa.  They are just amazing!  We still are unsure what the next month will hold, but we are confident that Little Man will have the best of care.  This coming week the surgeon is reviewing x-rays that we sent to him from here.  High five to technology!

The antibiotics are done, the pain has subsided, now the hardest part for our little guy…not being able to wear his prosthetic!  It is hard for such an active guy to be slowed down.  Thank you to everyone who is pr.ying for him!

Not an Issue

Posted on by Tammy

IMG_0893Having a child with a limb difference is a total non-issue, except when there is an issue.  I mean, I often forget that Little Man only has one leg.  In the morning he puts on an extra sock, a limb sleeve and a plastic leg.  I don’t think about it again until bed time when we take it all off.  We would never call him disabled and most of our neighbors, until recently, had no idea that he was any different than the other children who play around campus.

 

… and then a sore appears.

 

The last few weeks we have struggled with what seem to be minor sores on Little Man’s residual limb.  Even a tiny sore can keep him from being able to wear his prosthetic and an infection in a sore becomes a concern.  This really is the first time we have dealt with any of this, which doesn’t help.  We are new at this, trying to figure out the best way to care for our boy with our doctors living on the other side of the globe.

We are thankful for the American doctors who live in our city who have helped us keep the infection at bay.  We are also very thankful that we had planned a trip to the States to see his medical team.

We are not sure what those doctor appointments will lead to.  Right now the sore is not getting worse, but not healing which might be the result of many different things – his need for surgery or that his prosthetic hasn’t been fitting well.

So our summer plans are shaping up a bit differently than we had planned, but it is a small road bump.  We know it will all go back to a non-issue soon.  Until then, we would appreciate your pr@yers for extra grace, wisdom to make decisions about his care, and a speedy recovery.

For now we are struggling with an active pre-schooler who is suddenly immobile, which creates for some interesting moments and some challenging decisions.

IMG_0927We have begun the quest to find a stroller for a heavy, growing, pre-schooler with on leg.  A new stroller is a must on our shopping list for the States because our cheap umbrella stroller just isn’t cutting it any longer.  Who knew there were so many types of strollers!  And, I am pretty sure they cost more than my first car!  Okay, maybe not that much, but it sure feels like it!  Wisdom.  I truly need stroller wisdom!  We are pr@ying the wheel of our stroller stays on for the next three weeks till we get to the States to buy a new one, and in the mean time Little Man is enjoying many piggyback rides.  He calls himself “Agent W” because he “flies” around on our backs!  Can you believe that Little Monkey can carry him?

We also need wisdom and grace as we interact with our neighbors and friends.  Out on our family walk after dinner we had a woman stop us and with utter shock tell us that our son had lost his leg! We laughed so hard!  We just couldn’t help it.  We have had many folks ask us what happened to his leg, but never had anyone tell us it was missing!  🙂  We know it is gone and we love him the way he is.  We would appreciate your thoughts as we strive to communicate that to those around us.

We will keep you posted on how his leg is healing, our next steps for his care and the funny stories that come up as we go along!  Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts!