Well, today was the long, long awaited check-up day for Jon. Not unexpectedly, the x-rays look good, and Dr. Narayanan is very happy with how everything looks.
So Jon no longer has to wear the wedge during the day. But since we’ve done this before, we’ve been girding our loins for what were knew was coming—the announcement that he had weeks more of wearing it at night. Weeks more of heavily interrupted sleep for all.
Dr. Narayanan gave us the usual recommendation that he wear it as long as he can tolerate it, but then when he heard of the multiple wake-ups at night, he shook his head.
“We do these things to improve the quality of life. This kind of sleep deprivation is not improving quality of life for any of you.” We were able to counter-offer some wedge time during the day, for instance at video game or computer time, when Jon isn’t likely to notice much at all. So he’s wedge-free, tonight and all nights to come!
There is a lightness to the household that we haven’t felt in a while.
Now, at 10:55 in the evening, I can report that Jon is still awake, rolling around on his own in bed and cackling away, two hours after tuck-in. He’s still in his leg-length knee immoblizers, but they are nothing compared to the wedge, and he’s so happy—even full of a cold—that he just can’t sleep.
BEFORE
SURGERY
TODAY
Our bionic boy.
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Patti says:
May 11, 2007 at 11:04 pm (UTC 0)
Yeah!! Glad Jon finally has some freedom from the wedge and can get a real nights sleep. That goes for Mom and Dad too. Hope your nights are restful.
Peter says:
May 12, 2007 at 2:56 pm (UTC 0)
Nope. Jon’s cold rebounded from lack of sleep. It was a rough night. It will settle down in two or three nights :-).
David "Jon Booster" Barker says:
May 13, 2007 at 7:33 pm (UTC 0)
Go, Jon! Again!
catherine says:
May 17, 2007 at 8:05 am (UTC 0)
Does it still make your stomach drop a little when you look at Jon’s x-rays? I find that even the 4 incisions for Billy still make me a little queasy. The worst might be thinking about switching out rods and screws in the next couple years (can’t imagine placing and removing screws from someone’s bone).
But anyway, great to hear everyone is doing well!
Peter says:
May 24, 2007 at 7:21 pm (UTC 0)
Actually, being science-y and all, we’re kinda interested in it. Of course, just post-op, it’s another story, since we know well what was just done, and we’re in the zone for our poor little guy. But as the pain subsides, I am fascinated with how they do it: I can think of it in carpentry terms, but there’s no pulling out the skeleton, fixing it and popping it back in (which would be how I’d want to do it). They have to work around all the muscles and nerves and other stuff—and we know that when they say “insert” in orthopaedics, they mean somewhere between “tap in” and “whale on it with power tools”. So I’m fascinated in a “I never want to see it” kind of way.
Dr. Narayanan considered taking out last year’s hardware, since Jon was off his feet for 8 weeks, but decided that we’ll watch and see.