1.22.2013

How He's Doing...

Will came out of surgery at 1:20 pm on Friday afternoon.  He then stayed out of it & asleep until 6pm when we forced him awake.  He did wake up once and kind of had almost a night terror and we realized he wasn't actually awake.  

 I spent all afternoon in bed cuddling my boy.

Once Will was awake, he wanted out of that hospital. 
Unfortunately, though his doctor had approved him to leave once he accomplished several goals, Will's body wasn't cooperating.
He vomited several times (yucky anesthesia!) and then would cry about how bad he wanted to leave.
Finally, by 11pm, he was able to keep down his meds and water and a few crackers.
We bolted and went to our hotel where we got a much better night's rest than we would have in a hospital.
The next morning, we slept in and took our time leaving town.
We began to really worry about Will as he pretty much had this look all the time:
he just wasn't talking much or eating and seemed to stare a lot and was just sad.
I think the reality of the cast began to hit him and he realized he was going to have some temporary limitations.
We tried to perk him up with a visit to Bass Pro Shop on the way home - it did serve as a good distraction and got him up and about which I think was good for him.

We came home to some fun pirate balloons from our sweet neighbors on our mailbox

And then our sweet neighbors came and played with Will - on our terms.
Will is not allowed to sweat or run for the next 4-6 weeks.  UGH!
Do you know how hard it is to tell an active five year old boy not to run!?!?   I have been supervising his play because I don't trust him not to forget and accidentally take off running!  This is the hardest thing for him right now.  
But - our neighbors have been awesome - playing new board games with him (one kiddo even taught him how to blow on the spinner since he couldn't flick it with his cast!)  I served as his "invisible arms" to move his game piece and this system worked well.  
Once he spent time on Saturday evening outside in the cool, fresh air with other kids we saw his mood improve significantly.

He loves having kids sign his cast - even Ellie did some coloring.  

Arrow has given him some cuddles.

Dr. O came by and drew a batman

Daddy found Will a remote control helicopter that he can operate using his left hand and feet - he has fun playing that outside with G-Dad & Daddy

"Super W Ninja Turtle" showed up on our front porch - hopefully he will have a better memory than our elf and come daily.

My boy is back - playing the non-running/no impact play version of Super Will

When he complains about his cast itching, we pull out our old faithful cast cooler - it's amazing.  Will was scared of it at first (it works with the vacuum cleaner) but he now asks for it several times a day.


He even tried coloring yesterday using his left hand and some velcro to hold a marker on.

Playing ninja turtles

Will still has some struggles.  He hates his cast.  We don't normally allow the use of the word "stupid" - especially at people.  But, we've been allowing him to use it in reference to his cast - it seems to be good venting for him.  He's uncomfortable in the cast and wants to straighten his arm.  He itches.  He hates sponge baths and washing his hair in the sink the other night was torture.  I guess it scared him?  And he struggles when basic tasks are impossible for him to do alone - he needs some help eating certain foods, he needs some help in the restroom and getting dressed and washing his hand.  And he can not wait to run again.  
But.  
He is doing so so so much better than I anticipated.  He has a lot more independence than we anticipated.  He is able to drink independently.  He is able to eat some things independently.  He is sleeping great.  He is able to play a lot of things independently - he's been holding back on us apparently with how much his little left hand can actually do when given an opportunity!
I'll try to post pictures soon of all Will can do with a cast.
Meanwhile - I became quite sick Sunday  and though I'm now on antibiotics and hopefully will be better soon - am off to rest.  Ellie has surgery next week and she can not get sick this week.
  

4 thoughts:

ywilbur said...

What a trooper. JK gets that serious/sad look when he is scared or nervous too. JK has gotten so many back to back colds lately but thankfully passed us by, hope you feel better quickly.

Claire said...

Here are soe fun easy games Ihope Will and Ellie can use them. http://www.fungooms.com/

These are very very simple, but Will will be able to use them on his own.

Claire said...

Also http://www.northerngrid.org/content/senswitcher/index.htm

Liz said...

Soooooooooo glad it's going smoother & easier than anticipated! The kids really enjoyed getting to talk to him on the iPad yesterday at church! We read the Will book & talked about how Will was getting better & would be back to church soon. Give him a hug for Rachel & I.

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