A Little Something Extra

Monday, May 16, 2011

Three weeks down...

Sorry for the lack of updates.  It's a bit crazy around here.

Micah saw his orthopedic surgeon last Monday (5/9) for x-rays and checkup.  I'm no expert, but the bone still looked very broken to me (I should have taken a photo).  With a fracture like his and his age, the surgeon had to "reduce" the bone length by about 1cm because it is going to grow faster than the other bone with all of the blood flowing there to heal the bone.  I trust the surgeon (he's the pediatric lower-extremity expert here in the Cities), but it still looked yucky to me.

Micah's sleeping took a turn for the worse after my last post.  He was waking up about 8 times each night for a while.  Ugh.  It was difficult to know the cause, so I asked his pediatrician for a Rx for reflux.  It seems to be helping.  Micah now has most of his sleep issues before midnight and then sleeps until 5:30ish before needing some more help to get back to sleep again.  It's much better.  So maybe it was reflux after all.  Or maybe he is finally getting used to not rolling over at night.

My dad was here visiting this past weekend and we had a nice time.  But to go on an outing as a family, we had to take two cars because Micah takes up so much room in the car.  We have him laid out in the second row of the minivan.  He has a harness that goes around him (with seven adjustments) and we run two seatbelts through that.  He has a pillow under his head and one under his legs.  He's fallen asleep there a few times, as evidenced below.
We have very much appreciated the love and support we are receiving from family and friends.  We sadly had to say goodbye (just for the summer!) to our wonderful babysitter/PCA last Friday.  We have two other PCA's for the summer, one of whom started today.  He's great!  I hope this hasn't been too crazy for him!  He'll be working with us for 3 weeks.  After that, we have a recently-minted master's in SLP who will be spending the summer working with Micah.  Yay!

Micah is continuing to go to therapy (except PT, but more on that in a minute).  Here's a pic of him with one of his SLP's, Lindsay.
Micah is going to speech/feeding twice a week and OT once a week.  We had dropped PT.  But... at Micah's last speech session, his therapists asked me how long he had been biting his arms and hands.  Um... I don't know.  It's new, I think.  The day before, I had seen what I thought was a red spotty rash on Micah's arms and wrote it off to heat rash (yeah, right, I live in MN, but it was 86 degrees one day... nevermind it was 40 a couple of days later).  Anyway, they feel that Micah is providing himself with sensory stimulation since he's missing out on all of his mobility.  I am so sad about that.  My child is biting himself.  Any thoughts?  We're adding PT back to give him some more stimulation.  And hopefully by having a PCA here almost all day, he will be too occuppied to bite anymore.

But just to show that he's not horribly depressed or something, here's a pic of Micah with his cheese face:
Oh, I forgot to mention... Micah's cast will come off on June 8th.  He will be in a leg immobilizer brace for a few weeks.  He will be able to bear weight and bend at the waist.  But it will be a few weeks before he's allowed to bend that leg.  Maybe it will be better that way because he will HAVE to walk because he won't be able to crawl.

On a separate note... say something like this happened in your family.  And maybe prior to this happening, your family was considering a decision on a separate topic.  Would you view Micah's injury as a reason NOT to proceed with that decision because it was a sign from God that your life is a bit too crazy right now?  Or would you view Micah's injury as confirmation that you were headed in the right direction because the "opposition" (devil) didn't want you to make that decision?  Please discuss. :-)

7 comments:

Michelle Z said...

So glad he's on the road to recovery (and getting some more sleep!!)


Accidents happen ... I don't think they're put there for roadblocks.

paige said...

i agree with michelle.
- i'm reading the best biography right now of George Muller (the one who built all those orphanages in Britain in the mid 1800's) - i think part of what weighed into his decisions was that he *knew* already that God wanted him to help the orphans, he just needed God to give him guidance to know *how* to proceed.
Another thought is that our culture often weighs decisions by what *we* think we can handle... God sees things differently than us. He often times things differently than we would - or sends us more than we think we can bear - the trick is to give it all back.

Ami said...

Glad to see happy, smiley Micah in the pics! On the sensory stuff, do you mind if I ask a friend? She just went through a training on sensory processing and some of the recent research and stuff... It's an interesting thought, though, that he's "missing some input" from walking and being independently mobile. If you don't mind, I'll mention it to said friend, and get back to you if she has any thoughts/suggestions.

As to your other question, I agree with Michelle and Paige. Does God sometimes use accidents (that happen, and are not meant as deterrents) as a method of helping us see something? Yes. BUT, sometimes what He wants us to see is that we're moving in the right direction and need to be fully trusting in Him as we are making those big decisions. I think that, if you're asking the question here, you already know what you're supposed to do, and God will carry you (as He has so many times) when you're feeling overwhelmed. I had a recent e-mail conversation with a pastor and friend and he said at one point, "You're never as free as when you're fully in God's will. Even though it isn't always easy, when you're fully there, you're allowing Him to be fully in charge." Don't know if that applies or helps, but it has been helpful to me recently.

CJ said...

I agree with Michelle....accidents are never roadblocks. They just make life more, uh, interesting!

my family said...

I totally agree with the other ladies we must put all of our trust in Him and follow the path He leads us on.

Sweet little guy I know this is a difficult time for you all

keeping everyone in my prayers {{hugs}}

Jaynespace said...

Hi, I'm a lurker, (and a friend of Amy Jarchow). I have an autistic three year old, and I have NO idea if it's the same kind of thing, but, per Kurt's OT, when he needs a little extra stimulation to keep from doing self harming stuff, gizmos like these have done wonders:
http://www.amazon.com/Meteor-Storm-Changing-Pattern-Spinner/dp/B001IMEHH6/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1306726003&sr=1-2

They spin, they light up, they vibrate and they're cheap. Good luck! I hope your little guy is feeling better soon.

alexandrea said...

something weird is going on with your vlog, i think it has been hijacked and attached to something called the death of cool, please check you blog asap please, i wntto read about micha not that other garbage!! Hope he is doing well and getting out of his cast soon.