This is Ben right after surgery.  October 13, 2005

October brought yet another surgery to Ben's history. (sigh....)  Dr. Moen is Ben's orthopedic doctor and when we went for our annual visit in August, she decided that the time had come for Ben to have some release and lengthening done on his muscles because they had become so contracted.  We actually tried botox first, but it never really worked for Ben.  As you can see above, Ben's legs were placed in removable casts so that we could watch his skin carefully.  (he has very sensitive skin)  His feet were actually casted from his knees down.  Ben spent a total of four days in the PICU where he recovered marginally.  He had his usual post-operative respiratory issues but other than that he did fine.  They had him weaned down from morphine for the pain to just tylenol.  The doctor had us do a few trial hours of getting him out of bed and into his chair to make sure the pain wasn't too bad.  He passed with flying colors. 

Aunt Suzanne sent this dog for Ben to snuggle with during his recovery.

The road to recovery was a hard one for Ben.  I found out that Ben's pain was managed very well in the hospital because he wasn't being moved around very much and even when he spent time in his chair, he was moved only once.  Going home was a different story.  There was a lot of transitions for him to make before even getting in the door at home - like bed to wheelchair, wheelchair to carseat - long, bumpy ride home, carseat to house.  And once inside there were three anxious siblings to see him and hold him.  By the end of the night he was miserable.  Thankfully the doctor sent home a prescription for oxycodone which we filled the next day.  The first two weeks there were a lot of sleepless nights for both Ben and I.  My heart broke to see him in so much pain.  After the two weeks passed we saw significant improvement except for his poor little heels.  When we took his casts off we discovered that his heels had developed some pretty nasty pressure sores.  (see pictures on journal page)  It would take a good three weeks for them to heal.  The best part of surgery was being able to open Ben's legs up during his diaper changes and to straighten his legs without too much trouble.  YEAH!!! 

Going home!!!  October 16, 2005

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