Sympathy Pain

Tony is a scooting fool. He is not really crawling on his knees yet, but man he can make tracks in the military crawl. He especially likes the dogs water dish. It’s been dumped a couple times.

He’s standing pretty well if helped and has pulled up a few times. It’s kinda cool to see him climbing up his brother or one of the dogs.

Which brings us back to the lucky foot. He has an appointment with the pediatric orthopedist in September. We’ll see then what straightening his bones have done. It’s kind of scary…ok, it’s really scary. We have this light hearted approach around the house about it, but it really does worry us for him. I had glasses, and was about the only kid in my class who wore them. I thought that was bad. But Tony will have, at the very best, a limp. I really don’t know what he’s in for…but I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as I would like it to be…or have been trying to reassure Sarah that it will be. I guess I don’t want us to stress about the what ifs, until we know what those are.

So I leave you with an example of the lightheartedness. Sarah was with friends discussing the Olympics and what Tony could compete in to make us famous. Swimming was the conclusion.

“I mean, his foot is kinda flipper like already.”

“But he’d have to do synchronized, because with that foot, he’d swim in circles.”

I took Tony and his bent up foot self to the Doctor today. We got there around 8:45…appointment at 9:00 saw the doctor at 9:20. Tony was none too happy about the wait…but then fell asleep about 3 minutes before the doc rolled in. He was smiley happy baby then. The doctor said his foot was looking fine, gave me the same info he gave me the first visit, said come back in 6 month, and charged me.

He did say if Tony wasn’t standing or walking on that foot correctly, we may have to put it in a brace to keep it in the correct orientation.

Now Tony has his own idea of what is fun, so when the doctor was manipulating his foot and stretching it out, Tony was guffawing. It was awesome. The doctor thought he was pretty darn cute. I like it that my baby made the doctor want to spend a little time playing with him, instead of running off to the next bent up body part. I laugh in doctors offices and hospitals myself. He comes by it naturally.

I know I kid a lot about his foot. I am worried that he’ll go through some issues, both physical and mental, because of this. But, I have seen what others are going through with their little one, rather it be behavioral or health issues, and we are truly blessed. Tony is an amazing little guy. I hope that his parents attitude about his foot goes along way in the healing…either that or it will damage him for life and our flesh will burn in the lowest level of hell, while we scream for a moment’s reprive, for all eternity. Well…as long as their are naps, that’s ok.

Tony went to the pediatrician last week. 2 month check up. I use the same group and had to go in for a injury. Fell and sprained my wrist. Thanks for asking. Tony’s doctor said he seemed to be doing great…and his foot looked much better…

I really don’t think about it much. It use to really bother me. I use to worry about how he Now it’s just part of him. We stretch his foot regularly. I do it anytime I feed him or bath him. Just simple stretching. He seems to be holding the foot more normally now. I told Sarah some of it because he had chunky baby legs now, and it can’t flip back like it used too…I think it offended her mommy senses. Belly time also seems to be straightening it. He is pushing off on it more than he use to. It seems to be letting him manage it more.

We take him back to the orthopedic doctor on the 14th. It does look better, but the bone is still severely bowed. If nothing changed with it, there would be no way he could walk on it. I’m curious to hear what the doc has to say.

Until then, we will just keep playing with that lucky foot and looking forward to the day he plays Tiny Tim…What? not PC? well, he’s my son…so there. Actually, it is easier for me to laugh about it than to worry. We trust his doctor, and that really all we can do.

Not a cowgirl name. It’s a description of our day…

We went to the pediatric orthopedist. He was very optimistic about Tony’s leg. He diagnosed it as “Posteromedial Bowing of the Tibia”…um yeah. It is believed to be caused by the crossing of one leg over the other, cause one to actually form around the other, deforming the bones in one leg. He believes that with stretching exercises, the bones will straighten themselves. If their is not significant straightening before he begins to try to walk, the doctor will begin more aggressive treatment. However, because he will continue growing over the next 2 decades of his life, there is really no reason to get too aggressive until his teen years. He believes the worse case will be that leg being shorter by a few inches than the other. This would need a lengthening in his teens. He might need nothing more than time.

So there’s the straight leg part, on to the McBad Boob. Sarah has an infected milk duct. Doesn’t that seem like a crappy trick of nature? Sure, you can feed your child, and that’s the best method for him, but it’s going to hurt like passing a stone through your nipple and make you freakin sick. She woke up from a nap with a 101 degree temperature, shivering uncontrollably. So we called the OB/GYN and they called in some antibiotic. She’s taken a couple really hot showers and tried the hot compress. She can’t feed Tony though. The pain almost makes her pass out. So she’s been pumping to try to clear the duct up and provide him some milk. I know she feels bad about not being able to feed him directly, but passing out on him would suck.

So, that was a glimpse at a portion of our day. We won’t go into the broken radiator hose on my car, tires being low on the good car, getting new glasses, Jack asking if Santa Claus is real, or my oldest cat beginning to look like she needs medical assistance. Good night America.

Posteromedial Bowing of the Tibia, infected milk duct

So I am an evil person. I have a tendency to find humor in the misfortune of others. Schadenfreude. It will always come back.

When I first started working at my current place of employment, we were at a different location. We could look out our loading dock door and see the parking lot of the establishment next door. We’d have those times in the day were we would stand at the counter and watch the world outside.

Now, my partner and I had a tendency to have the humor of a prepubescent boy. We would tell fart jokes and such. Man, a good sexual innuendo would cause hours of amusement. Not that I’m always proud of this, but it’s how we are wired. And again, this was years ago, and maybe I’ve matured slightly…maybe.

To the point, next door, there was a woman who had a bone deformity in her arm. It actually curved about halfway between the elbo and the wrist. We…uh, by we I mean I…came up with a not to attractive nick name for her…”Ol reach around”.

So, please enjoy the karmatic smack down that is the x-ray of my son’s leg. We call it his lucky foot. You can see a pic if you follow the link to my Flickr page. We go to a specialist tomorrow to see what we need to do to start the straightening process. Lesson learned, great Karma…you bitch.

baby, foot deformity