I’m not sure what I had expected after Jordan’s hip surgery, but it’s been a crazy ride. In preparing the house for Jordan’s homecoming, I researched on different blogs and looked for suggestions on Pinterest. I also watched videos about how to care for him to maybe get some insight for what to expect and where our journey would take us next.
Jordan and Gabriella
I kept finding advice about making sure we had a bean bag chair to help with positioning him. A good friend’s son was generous enough to allow us to borrow one. We were also blessed with numerous pillows to help with positioning him in our chairs and in his bed due to his spica cast being at the angle it’s in.
The car seat loaned to us by Akron Children’s allowed Jordan to sit up in the car despite him being very uncomfortable on the way home from “Doctor’s house.” The strap pressed on his tender diaper area.
We also rented a wheelchair, which allowed him to recline and supported his lower body in his cast.
Diapering has also been different. We were given the advice to tear the tabs off of a smaller diaper and tuck it into the cast with a larger diaper over the cast to secure – and hopefully help – preserve his cast for 6 weeks.
Ok yeah…6 weeks. Randy and I have gone to almost all of Jordan’s appointments together. We each heard that Jordan would be in his cast for 4 weeks, followed by a couple of weeks of non-weight bearing because of soreness from being casted, and then 5-6 weeks of extended therapy.
During our follow-up visit with Dr. Adamczyk, he informed us that Jordan would be in the cast for 4 more weeks. We came to the agreement post visit we would rather be safe than sorry, and as long as Jordan wasn’t in pain, the extra time would be bearable.
Cast Off
To pass our time one of my friends suggested placing a puzzle piece on daily toward our Cast Off date. I’m happy to say we now only have 4 left in the countdown.
The first week Jordan would tell us, “My cast hurts. I need go to Doctor’s house to get it off!”
Our hearts broke, but we were thankful that with time and decreased swelling it’s become part of his life. Our main concern has come with his bowel habits.
Part of having spina bifida is having complications with bowel and bladder because your muscles and systems don’t work as easily as everyone else. We’ve fought with constipation for a while so having a combination of pain medication, immobility and a neurogenic bowel has been a constant battle for the past 3 weeks.
In fact after some extra “help” we were graced with 3 diapers full.
The pain he has experienced after having his surgery has been hard on all of us. Whether it’s his bowels or pain from having his surgery it’s hard for him to deal emotionally and he would become aggressive toward Randy and me. Once we were able to make his tummy feel better, Jordan was able to relax and be fun loving as he usually is.
Positioning him has also been a new challenge we faced. We worked hard to find just the right spot.
We took his Anywhere chair and placed a towel under it to lean it back, a box behind it to keep him from tipping, pillows under his body and legs, and a boppy pillow under his head and arms, until finally he said, “That’s good!”
In fact the biggest blessing through this chapter has been Jordan being able to let us know what feels good and what needs changed.
So onward we head as we gather signatures on his cast from those around us. The signatures encourage our little man to be the trouper God has created him to be. His cast is growing crowded, well except for his feet. He won’t let anyone sign below his bar – including Dr. Jones when he requested to sign his feet.
