The New Knee

As you know if you have read this blog in the past six months, Tru has been hospitalized twice for wheezing. He had started it again along with a congested cough that would not seem to go away so I took him to the pediatrician last Monday (not his usual doctor). She instantly heard the wheezing and just by looking at the rise and fall of his chest she could tell his lungs were working overtime. After discussing his history with wheezing and the hospital visits I told her that I had self-diagnosed Tru as having asthma. She quickly confirm my diagnosis and was disturbed that no other doctor had done so earlier and started him on the appropriate medications. Finally! So Tru left with an oral steroid as a quick start to recovery as well as an inhaler he will need to take twice a day for the next year. He is sounding much better now but is still congested. Little by little...

Last Thursday Tru had his follow-up at the Limb Deficiency Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute. That was the clinic is which Tru was seen (in January) and it was decided that it was in his best interest to have an amputation. This team of doctors includes the orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, occupational therapist and prosthesis just to name a few. It is a really great concept to have all of these medical professionals in the room together. It just makes sense! This visit was a follow-up to see how Tru was progressing. It did not take long to see that he was doing wonderfully. He was walking, sitting down and standing up without assistance, chattering away, pushing around a shopping cart throughout the nurses' station, etc. Basically everyone just stood around and watched him with a smile on their face. What else could we do?!

Here are some of the doctors that Tru saw at the Limb Deficiency Clinic. There were many toys there for Tru to play with so they could see him move around in a normal, play-like situation. After he discovered the electric, lighted drums he was not looking at the camera. So the doctors said "cheese" instead.

Also in attendance was Tru's pal, Jonathan. Jonathan is the photo journalist I spoke about previously. With his visit to the Limb Deficiency Clinic he has wrapped up the photo portion of his project. He is now writing the story.

The first time we met Jonathan he allowed Tru to push the button on his camera. From that point forward Tru and Jonathan were friends. Every time Tru made eye contact with Jonathan he would tell him "Hi!"

Another busy weekend. Saturday the kids had gymnastics and then after a breakfast snack we tackled a new adventure - swimming lessons. Lin-Ley was at one end of the pool with her class while Tru and I were at the deep end with the other parents and young children. Tru loves the water but once I put his face in the water the first time - he was done. He popped his head out of the water, screamed, wiped his face, looked around, and started yelling, "Bye-Bye!" Unfortunately there was still 26 minutes left of the 30 minute class.

Later that evening flowers were delivered to our house. The card read, "Happy Mother's Day! Love, Tru and Lin-Ley". Obviously the kids had some help with this surprise. Dallas later told me that Tru had given him a call earlier in the week to ask his dad to spot him some cash so they could buy me some flowers.On Sunday morning Dallas called and he and Lin-Ley spoke for a long while. Dallas asked Lin-Ley how I liked the flowers that she and Tru had given me. She told him, "We did not give Mommy those flowers. Some lady came here in a van and knocked on the door and she gave Mommy the flowers!"

My Mother's Day gifts.

Somebody is moody!

Tru received his new (totally functioning) knee yesterday. Up until this point Tru's prosthesis had a knee component that was locked. He has had a totally stiff leg. Obviously he has adapted very well so I was (and still am) anxious about challenging him with yet another change. It only took about 15 minutes for them to change the locked knee component for the functioning knee. Afterward, when Tru took the leg for a test walk the knee was not bending. I looked at Angie, the Prosthesis, and she said that he was so used to walking with a stiff leg that he was still swinging his leg out to the side rather than walking with his leg underneath his body. Eventually he will get the hang of it and he will become accustomed to the way his body movement will make the knee bend. The first time his knee bent was in the parking lot as we were leaving. Thank goodness I was holding his hand because he went down fast. I took him to school from there. Before I left his classroom he had wiped out again and had a busted lip. Poor little guy - he had the hang of it and we changed the game on him again!

With the new knee it was time to go back to physical therapy today. Tru is not into that scene anymore since he has become so independent with his walking. He does not want the therapist to try to help him in any way. Eventually Lisa was able to make an adjustment to Tru's knee so that it had more resistance.

"Enough with this physical therapy non-sense. I'm out of here!"

The best news is that other than normal check-ups and prosthesis maintenance Tru is done. He is there - he is walking. Walking was our goal and after nine months - it has finally happened. Seeing his never-ending smile is the ultimate reward. (Seeing that little red leg flying by gives me the never-ending smiles too!)