Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Little setback

Well, we've had a bit of a setback with Caden's clubfeet. While he was healing from the sores the first abduction brace caused, his feet relapsed. A relapse which was made worse by his Arthrogryposis. His heels tightened back up. We had an appointment at Shriners today, and he'll have to have his Achilles cut. They set us up for it next Tuesday.

It's an outpatient procedure; they'll put some numbing cream on the backs of his heels then let it set for about an hour (which is when the effect peaks), then they take him up to the OR and give a shot of lidocaine (the cream numbs him so he doesn't feel the lidocaine injection), after which they make about a 1/4 inch cut, move aside the tissue and stuff from the tendon, snip it, close it, and then immediately cast his feet to hold them in place so the Achilles can grow back to a longer, looser and proper length. He'll have to keep those casts on for 3 weeks straight, no changing them every week like we did in the beginning.

Poor Nugget, with new casts on it's back to the sponge baths. We won't be able to have fun full-dunking bath time anymore for a little while :( I really believe stuff like this is way harder on mom than it will be baby!

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