He has had a great month!

Braiden's hip has been great the last month!  He has hardly had to use his wheelchair.  The doctor did say he could go through periods of bad irritation and periods of little to no irritation.  He still has a bit of a limp, it does get worse if his hip is hurting.  But ala in all it's been a good month for him :o)

4th of July

We all had a blast over the weekend.  I decided to give Braiden some freedom at the cabin.  I gave ibuprofen every 6 hours to allow him to walk and play, otherwise he would have been miserable.  He had lots of fun jumping off the boat into the lake.  And jumping off the end of the dock. I was quite impressed!  The weekend went by without any leg pain.....this is only something I'll do for special occasions. 

The Doctor said it would be a frustrating journey......he was right

It is so very hard to tell your 4 year old that he can't be walking and running and jumping and playing.........
Been trying to give him a little bit more walking time and it just isn't happening he has been in so much pain the last week.   I have pretty much completely restricted him to his wheelchair again with a little walking time here and there for things like playing in the sprinkler or going swimming, but that's it.  I know no matter how frustrated I get that it is way harder on Braiden.....which in turn makes me more frustrated.  I know things happen for a reason, but, God has yet to reveal that reason to us.  Praying for strength to get through this, it's only been a few months and I'm exhausted.

Update

Had an appointment today.  Update is in "The Plan" page and new X-Rays are in the "X-Rays" page.
Check them out.  If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.  I don't mind being asked about it.

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks.  Braiden is still having a hard time staying off his leg, his range of motion is not as good as it was at his last Doctor visit.  This is because the hip is irritated from all the use it's been getting :o(  He has also been complaining about his left leg hurting.  Tonight he said that it was hurting really bad.  I'm praying it is only sore muscles from over compensating.  Next appointment is Thursday June 30th, he will be getting x-rays.  I am concerned the Doctor might decide to put him in a Petrie cast. A Petrie cast is done by casting both legs from thigh to ankle with a bar holding the legs apart...sounds fun huh?  I hope this is not what happens.

Calm Before the Storm.......

As I had predicted, unfortunately, the calm before the storm is now coming to a screeching halt.  It is getting increasingly difficult to keep Braiden resting his leg.  We try to give him wheelchair free time in an attempt to combat the restlessness he must feel.  We have found more success with giving him a large chunk of "free" time  than trying to give him a little "free" time here and there throughout the day. But still, he is a 4 year old boy, and takes a mile when given and inch.  A seriously defiant attitude has emerged this last week or so....  I am trying to keep in mind the newly acquired attitude is in response to the lack of control and freedom he feels. He has for the first time used his leg as an excuse to get out of cleaning, then when big brother did all the cleaning and went outside, Braiden was suddenly just fine....hhmmm seems fishy to me.  Gramma Robin is a smart bird and called his bluff,  insisting that Braiden needed to rest his leg some more. God give us the strength to handle this with grace.

Brisk Swim

Yesterday, we went to go swimming at my dad's apartment and we found that the indoor pool was closed for maintainance...."but the outdoor pool is up and going and it's pretty warm."   Sooooo...we decided to brave it.  Granted the pool was certainly warmer than the wind, it was still a bit chilly and then you add the wind to it.........who needs coffee to wake up in the morning ;o)  Despite the chilliness of our swim we had fun and Braiden got some exercise and was quite thrilled when he realized he was tall enough to stand at the shallow end and still just barely have his nose and eyes above water.