We were up and at it around 5:15 this morning. We got on the road about 6:00, and arrived at the clinic at 6:15. We got here a little early so we sat in the car and rehearsed the plan if the doctors bring out the needles.. dads job: grab Harris like a football and run out of the building.. moms job: tell the doctors no way, you are not poking my Harris with any of those needles! 

We got checked in and brought back to our room, changed Harris, washed his foot, and talked with the team. The plan is still the same, tendon transfer  with hopefully some scar tissue release. 

7:30 they came and got the boys to head to the OR. Clinton got to go back with Harris to put him to sleep. When Clinton returned he fell apart. My heart was broken for him. He said Harris was tearing up and but laughing bc he was scared but was trying to be a tough dude. It took 4 of people to hold him down to get him to sleep. Clinton said the anesthesiologist brought in his tray of stuff and laid it on the end of the bed before Harris was asleep and so it freaked him out, hence the 4 people holding him down. 😢 surgery should last about 1.5 to 2 hours. 

9:45 - had an AWESOME surprise visit from Dr Horrigan (the doctor who we have always seen and put Harris’ foot back together). He came and found us in the waiting room. He said Dr Anderson called and told him we were here and he took time out of his clinic day to come find us! He’s truly the best. He did say he checked in on surgery and things seem to be going well, his foot is straight and Dr Anderson is finishing connecting the tendon to the cuboid bone. Uff, so happy to see him! 🧡 so for now, we will continue to wait…

10:20 - we just spoke with Dr. Anderson. She said surgery went well. She showed me some pictures and his foot looks straight 🙌🏼 I knew he was going to have incisions but the one incision was longer than I anticipated, it’s okay, though. Then he has one smaller incision where they had to reattach the tendon. So the SPLATT was successful, she was even able to stretch the tendon a little bit more to connect to the outer bone, which will allow for more stability. She also mentioned that everything was extremely tight in there, so she stretched/lengthened his Achilles’ tendon as well as two other tendons on the inside of his ankle/foot/leg. We discussed prior to surgery about possibly removing some scar tissue and she was able to remove some and pull the tissue off the bone. Hopefully, this will help with mobility. So, for now, he’s in a mini cast and no weight bearing on left foot. If he does put weight on it, it will be okay for going to try our best not to. 

Plan of action: Monday get a new cast he can walk in, then 8 weeks of cast, returning on Nov 1 to take out stitches and get another new cast. Unsure if we will have to return again for a final cast change or if Nov 1 is the last cast change. After the cast he will get a new AFO (brace) for roughly 3 months and the goal will be to not have to wear that anymore. 

Obviously, there’s always a possibility of things not working and she brought up in 1-2 years if he still walks on the side of his foot there is a surgery where the can clip his heel bone and rotate it, we clearly don’t want that to happen, but we will cross that bridge when the time comes. 

1:15- we are home now and resting. We got one med filled and now I’m on a hunt to find a pharmacy that can fill the other. He’s resting comfortably and requested to watch The Addams Family 2 (cartoon). 

Thank you everyone for the positive vibes, love and prayers. Here’s to healing up with no problems over the next 8 weeks! 

Love Always,

The Olafson’s