First day of week 4: Bumps in the Road

We have survived 3 full weeks. It seems like much longer.
We had 2 full weeks of torture, followed by one really good week.
So here we are on the 1st day of week 4, and we're experiencing some bumps in the road.
After a week of minimal pain and hardly any screaming, the last 2 days Josiah has both went to bed crying, and woken up crying. Again, it's hard to tell whether there is true pain, or some pain with fear, or just an "annoyance" that he can't mentally tolerate. All that is clear is that Josiah screams when this happens; it is heart-breaking and maddening (especially maddening at night when everyone needs to get some rest!)
The spot where he says his foot is hurting is on the outside (by the ankle). Well, I'm guessing since we're pushing it over that way, there would be some discomfort there, and I'm thinking that it will only get more uncomfortable the father it goes. I'm not sure. I'll have to ask Dr. Nelson and/or Treyton's mom about that.

Thank God most of the day, he does pretty well.
He is getting around more now (by scooting around on his booty), and learning to use the wheelchair on his own.

We also (finally) ordered him a pediatric walker that came today. (We had 2 different adult walkers given to us, but correct height really does make all the difference. *Standing with arms at the sides, measure from the wrist to the floor. That is the height you need. Josiah's is 20.5 inches).
Unfortunately, the 2nd time he tried to use it was unassisted since I was getting laundry from the garage; he fell backwards. :(
I told him he needs to always keep his weight/body leaning forward and to push down on the walker, but he hopped forward, and started to lose balance. When he stood up, his weight took him backward. He was more afraid than hurt.
Falling is a real danger, though. I heard from a woman in the clubfeet group on Facebook that her son fell with the TSF on and broke his leg! With the pins through the bones like that, I'm sure it's easy to do if you fall a certain way.
Anyway, I hope it doesn't deter him from using it. It would be a lot easier on us (and our backs) if he could at least use the walker to get himself on and off the toilet.
Let's just say I'm really happy we live in a small one-story house right now!

Anyway, overall, things are going really well.
I think it's unrealistic to believe that it will be a completely smooth road, so I praise God in spite of the bumps!

July 11, 2011

Having his big toe pinned makes it really hard to wiggle any of them...
it makes Jo go crazy sometimes.

Kind of concerned about the bump forming on the outside of the foot (on the top, right in the foto).