Updating Owen's Progress

Hey all, I have been too lax this year with the blog. Life has a way of sneaking up on me and leaving me with no time to write. But I did want to do some Owen updating. In April, we had his right club foot corrected and his right knee released. The knee is spectacular. We went from basically a 90 degree bend to a 5 degree bend. He has some wicked scarring from the Z-plasty, but his leg is in great shape. The club foot correction was probably moderately successful. Initially, we thought it was great too, but now that it is the end of August, it's recurring again a bit and my guess is that while Owen could and probably will learn to walk on this foot, we have some additional surgeries ahead of us to achieve a flatter foot. In May, we had his left vertical tallus corrected and his left knee released. Same outcome with the leg as the right. Awesome knees and legs. We could not be more pleased. The vertical tallus still looks like a vertical tallus. Dr. Feldman thinks he will eventually have to remove the tallus. Owen can learn to walk on this foot, but it will also need further work. Post-surgery we have just been working on Owen gaining the strength he needs to stand. I thought (mistakenly) that Owen was going to be able to get up and walk after surgery was done. I have no idea why I thought that. I am smarter than that, but I guess I got so excited about it that I just figured we would get from A-Z in a heartbeat. Ha. Walking will take a year or more. Now that I know that we need to visit each letter between A-Z and for some significant amount of time, I am much more realistic in my expectations. For example, Owen was cleared for weight bearing in June. We are told he can stand on his joints, however, Owen doesn't know how to stand and his hips are dislocated so the amount of stretching and exercise it takes to get Owen to stand somewhat straight takes so much time and then he can "stand" strapped into his stander for about 20 mins at a time. But I assure you, Owen will walk. If it were up to Owen, he'd run. As a matter of fact, when I take off Owen's braces to give him a break, he says to me, "Ma, I need to go for a run"! Soon enough O! On August 14, 2012, we had a left VEPTR expansion and a right VEPTR revision. Owen gained an inch on the table. But, right now one of his wounds is looking a little like it may be infected, so please if you read this, say a prayer or think good thoughts. We already had our turn with hospital infections and we aren't due again until the end of eternity and not a moment sooner! Caleb is awesome. Caleb had to be evaluated because he seems to have a little issue with his speech. His hearing tests came back inconclusive because he is 2 and he doesn't have the attention span to listen for beeps in his ear for an extended period of time. Early intervention came and he is fine. They wouldn't give him speech for the few things he isn't articulating correctly. Not to mention, cognitively, he is well beyond that of a 28 month old. I am thrilled to not need another appointment weekly. Gavin is also great. At our recent family vacation to North Carolina, Gavin discovered his love of the Ocean and was basically a fish for a week. He has also taken to doing elaborate jumps into my parents pool. He is a very talented jumper. All in all, it's been an eventful summer but also a good one. Thanks for reading!