We arrived home about 8:30 last night. I tried to update his website – but I was just too tired. I promise to have new pics on here next time, but I can’t wait to share some exciting news.
Dr. Ain told us to come back in 8 weeks and if everything looks good, he will take the halo off!!!!!! Yes – he will take it off! Tom and I were beside ourselves when he told us the news. He said that he is really pleased with the progress of the fusion. Now, there is a chance that he will not take it off. If he is not totally satisfied, we will leave it on. So, please pray that it will continue to heal completely. He did tell us that we are still to keep him at home unless completely necessary to travel with him, just not worth the risk. We have come this far…we are not taking any chances! Now, about his hip….
Dr.Ain took many different x-rays and the problem is not his right hip, but his left. Yes, the right hip does seem to be sticking out, but it is normal. If the left hip were healthy, it would feel the same way and we would not notice anything out of the norm. He can not explain the major growth spurt in the right leg, so we will wait and see what happens. His little left hip is really messed up, so the bad news from the trip is that he will have to do surgery to fix it, so we now know that James has at least 3 more major surgeries that he will face as a child. The plan is this…
Take off the halo September 9 (prayerfully), let his legs gain some strength and then he will do an orthogram (inject dye into his hip, he will be under sedation) to see exactly what the bone looks like. He will then know what he has to do and when he has to do it. After this he will also know more about what will need to be done to his leg and when. He will also be able to get better x-rays of his spine, so he will be able to make a plan about what to do and when. He said that only then will he be able to say which he will need to fix first.
He checked out his leg movement and said that while James is not moving his legs like he would like, he is definitely making progress. Dr. Ain pinched his legs and James pulled away from him.
James will be in a hard collar after the halo is off, but we will be able to take it off to bath him. They changed out the lambs’ wool on the front and I got to wipe his off little belly. We got to see his little belly button and boobies. Yes, I loved seeing his little boobies; I haven’t seen them in almost 3 months. Still as cute as ever! We tried to change the back side, but he was moving around too much to risk it.
James did great on the trip. After we were seated on the plane heading back to Atlanta, as people walked by to go to their seat, he would say “Hello girl” or “Hello Boy”. Needless to say, he was the hit of the airplane.
Judson lost his first tooth on Monday night. I was devastated that I missed it, but Aunt Shannon saved it, because the tooth fairy can only come when mommy and daddy are at home. Thanks Aunt Shannon!
I think I covered it all. Thank you for your prayers – we can see that God is hearing them!
Love,
Tom, Brandie, and the boys
