David Has Definitely Got This!

Well it has been quite a summer here so far. Someone posted on facebook the other day that there was only about five or six weeks left before school starts and I couldn't help but wonder where the summer had gone. Then I remembered! This summer has been ALL about the Incredible Mr. David!

Sunday was Davids first time swimming in his new pool and getting into it from his new deck. This project has been a labor of love by many people from both behind the scenes and hands on. For the entire summer in the evenings and on weekends when weather and work schedules permitted, my backyard has been transformed from a broken down pool, falling down deck and uneven back yard with drainage problems, to new pool, new deck and a level playing field to promote a fun place to hang out with good drainage.

With the pool being completed, there is just finishing touches left on the deck, the moving of the electrical power to the pool and one more go around with the tractor to ensure my yard is as even as possible. After that my devoted workers who have volunteered their summer to this project will get to hang up their tool belts and actually get to spend quality time with their own families again. Still, there is much left to be done to truly make this "David's" as well as the families space. I hope to complete our simple yet amazing fire pit and patio by the weekend as well as Saturday afternoon family and friends will be coming over to make individual paver stones dedicated to and for David, that will go from the patio to the deck steps. I am also putting together a movie screen made from pvc pipe and a sheet so that David can watch his favorite movies in the evenings while we hang outdoors as a family with a movie projector that was given to us by someone who no longer used it.  As you can well imagine....David has many family and friends who can't wait to come hang out with him.

David's first day in the big pool was amazing. The pool has already proved to be great therapy as he kicked

his legs and paddled all over the pool for nearly three hours. His para Niki and I worked and manipulated his legs and made his kicking a game in the pool. He worked beautifully and we were both impressed with his accomplishments thus far in his post surgery recovery.

Outside the pool we have been working on David's regular PT workouts such as up down's where he sits in a chair and holds onto his walker using the strength of his legs to stand and sit over and over. He also spends about an hour per day in his stander which promotes the strengthening and straightening of his legs. He continues to also walk in our limited first floor space with his walker as part of the therapy. He seems to be progressing nicely although his left hip has proven to be a growing concern for me as I have watched him continue to hike his hip both when he sits and stands. It has caused a change in his posture and given me reason for many a sleepless night.

It was because of the hip issue that Dr. Schoenecker, David's Shriners doctor didn't want just a telemed visit this time, but a full on St. Louis trip. He wanted to see David in person and gauge his progress and the severity of his hip issue in person. I have lived in a bit of fear of this trip, not sure what we would find out and hoping that surgery was not going to be necessary again. We missed our first scheduled appointment due to a summer stomach bug, so it was rescheduled for yesterday. As much as I am not a fan of the 6.5 to 7 hour one way trip, I knew we needed answers to make sure we were headed in the right direction with David's post surgery healing and I truly needed some peace of mind, so yesterday morning at 4 a.m. we headed out for an 11:30 a.m. appointment at Shriners Hospital in St. Louis. May I just say at this point that I am so in love with the Google Maps app on my phone and I now consider Siri a close personal friend as she guided me every step of the way and we got there with half an hour to spare?! Thank you Siri!!!!

The appointment went like clockwork as we first headed in for x-rays and then we were seen by the nurse, resident, PT and then Dr. S. When the resident came in, he wanted to see David walk. David immediately stood up, turned his walker around and with minimal help took off down a long corridor of the clinic. He caught me off guard as he doesn't really have that kind of space at home and he is never really in show off mode when it is just me and his para Niki. He was in rare form yesterday though and both his agility at the task at hand and his speed were amazing. The resident seemed rather shocked as I don't think he was expecting that kind of progress either.....especially with the added down time and recovery of his broken leg. Through his walking, the resident got to see the hip issue first hand and once we took off Davids braces and socks he also go to see his circulation issue (his feet turn purplish/black when he sits or his legs are down for too long).

When the PT walked in, she had a pretty red headed PT student with her. David's love of pretty women kicked in and he proceeded to do something that I had not seen him do since he was still in his baby crib. As a baby with a huge personality, David used to pull himself up to a standing position in his crib and when music played, he would dance by doing sort of a marching move. He knew he was funny and he loved it when we would say...."Dance David! Dance!" Well yesterday, David revised his dance moves with his walker. I know that it was strictly for the purpose of once again....showing off, but this time it was for the reaction of the pretty red head....and he got it. He stood and danced for a good two minutes as I stood with my mouth open and my eyes wide. Again.....he surprised me while entertaining all who were present for his dance. Leave it to David to multitask.

So after all of this and another set of x-rays (this time on his spine), the news was all-in-all....very positive. They think that David's hip pulling is possibly caused because he favors his right leg (the one he broke post surgery). They don't necessarily think it is a pain issue but more a comfort issue. He has screws going up that entire thigh and it may just feel weird to him. However, his pulling of the hip is causing his posture to get bad and a little more curving of his spine. To fix this, or at least attempt to fix this....David is being fit with a posture stabilizing vest. In other words, a modern day version of the old metal scoliosis back braces. Spine surgery is likely in his future to prevent future curvature, but I will cross that bridge when this current recovery is behind us and my nerves are a little less fragile.  Along with the brace, Dr. S has cleared David for intense out patient physical therapy which he would like David to do at the Wesley PT clinic. He wants him in the pool as much as possible and him getting his leg muscles strengthened every chance we get. By doing all of this, it will also help with his circulation issues and we should see his feet more pink than purple. With all of this, Dr. S seemed very pleased with his progress and he wrote his vest Rx so that we can get it done in Wichita thus preventing another trip to St. Louis in five to six weeks. He also put us back on the telemed schedule so that we can see him through Dr. K in Wichita. The best part though, was after all of that.....we were walking out Shriners front door at 2:30 p.m. ready to head back home. The trip home had every possibility of being a bit treacherous as storms were predicted, the sky was black, St. Louis was under a severe thunderstorm warning and radar showed storms all the way west on I-70. However...all we hit weres some sprinkles. Thanks to the cooperation of the weather and my new BFF Siri, we were home by 10 p.m.

It was a long day but my mind is feeling much more peaceful. David is moving in the right direction and with the added extensive therapy and his pool time, I have every hope that the next five to six weeks are going to produce amazing results. So today I make appointments and I prepared for much work on all our parts. It is nothing we can't handle and I know after what I saw yesterday.....David's has definitely...got this!