Noah's 10th Surgery-2nd Lengthening

Originally posted December 27, 2010

Well, Noah's on his 10th surgery now, his 8th on his leg, and he makes sure he lets everyone know what number it is. We started his 2nd limb lengthening procedure on Dec. 8th. In some ways it has seemed a little better and a little easier than the first one, but in other ways it has been more difficult also. For one thing he only had to stay one night in the hospital this time instead of two, which was nice. The first few days after he came home when his leg was still all wrapped up he seemed to do a lot better than the last time and be in less pain. He slept well at night those days also. He even did well with getting up and moving around some on his walker. Once he went back to the doctor to have the bandages removed though, it suddenly got harder. Most of the problem though was not actually his leg, it was more his stomach from all the pain meds. The meds made him nauseous, gave him bad stomach aches at times, and constipated him as well. He has done so much better I think with the pin cleanings this time. It's been painful at times for him, but I definitely think he handled it a lot better than last time. Another thing that has made it a little harder on him this time is that while they were doing the surgery to put his external fixator on his leg they also had to go in and take out the screw and plate they put in his knee to correct his knee last December. His knee has been hurting him a lot because of that, and it's taking him a while to be able to bend it again. Sometimes his knee has actually been causing him more pain than his leg with all the pins in it. After they took the bandages off his leg the good full nights of sleep disappeared. He started having a lot of pain in his leg at night when he'd go to sleep, and it would wake him up every couple of hours. We started feeling like we had a newborn in the house again from all the lack of sleep. He is finally starting to sleep a little better though now, thank goodness. We were getting pretty exhausted, so it's nice to finally get a good night's sleep again. He's starting to get up and around pretty good again now, and can use his walker to walk all over the house without any pain. He's doing so well, and we are so proud of how brave he's been through all of this. The hard part should be over now, and it should just get better for him from here on out.

Hugging Anna goodbye before leaving for his surgery.

Trying to hug Gracie, but she was a bit squirmy.

Waiting for surgery.

Resting after surgery.

Painting Anna a picture in the children's playroom.

First time up day after surgery trying to get around a little.

Home from surgery.

Showing us how he can get around a little.

Looking at his get well cards from all the kids in my mom's group.

After the big bandage around his leg came off, showing off his pins and external fixator.

A little closer look.

Almost Christmas and exactly 2 weeks since surgery. Starting to feel better and get around better too.

I also want to mention how wonderful my mom's group has been through all of this. I'm so thankful I found this group. The day after Noah came home from the hospital they each took turns bringing meals over for us each night. They were all so yummy, and it helped so much just being able to warm something up that has already been prepared for us instead of spending so much time making dinner and then cleaning up afterwards. When Arron came home from work instead of making dinner I was able to help him with Noah since it took the both of us to do that and that was when we would give him his bath, clean his pins, and work on getting him moving around. All of the mom's have been such a blessing to us through this time.