Peyton's Surgery

On February 17, 2009 Peyton had a major surgery at Shriner's in Philadelphia to correct several of his joint deformities. He had an open reduction of his left hip (it was previously dislocated), had his right elbow released, osteotomy of right wrist, and z-plasty of right thumb - along with bilateral heel cord release for his clubbed feet for the 3rd time. Two pins were placed in Peyton's wrist, and one in his thumb. After surgery he spent 3 days in the PICU and overnight on the main floor. We remained in Philadelphia for a few nights after discharge and then made the trip back home - ahead of schedule. Larry, Lynne, and Brady came up for the surgery and stayed with us the duration - I don't think we could have made it without their help! Brady was perfect the whole trip - I don't know if any other 3 year old could have been as good as he was.

So the surgery was a complete success thank the Lord!! Our baby gained up to 120 degrees flexion in his elbow, his wrist is now almost at neutral, and his thumb is out of his palm! Also, his hip placement ended up correcting most, if not all of his leg length discrepancy and his leg rotation is corrected. There is a risk of regression where his arm is concerned, however, that is where therapy plays a key role for the next few months. I can't say enough about his wonderful doctors, Dr. Kozin and Dr. van Bosse. We are so thankful to have them treating our son.

Peyton came out of surgery wearing a spica cast and a long arm cast. The arm cast was on for 3 weeks and the spica will remain for a grand total of 10 weeks. March 17, Melanie, Robin, and I made the trip back up with Peyton for arm cast and pin removal, and spica change under anesthesia. It was such a relief to get rid of that bulky arm cast!! I had a very emotional moment when we got his fingers in his mouth for the first time in his life. We are now drowning in therapy 5 times a day, and it's terribly miserable for the little guy! But it is absolutely necessary to maintain the range of motion we gained through the surgery. Peyton wears a splint on his arm and wrist about 20 hours a day. The exercises and splinting will taper down quite a bit in 3 months when healing is complete. His pain has been quite manageable. He was discharged on morphine and valium and we stopped using that within the first couple of weeks.

Those who know Peyton can guess how he is doing - FANTASTIC (with the exception of therapy). He has his moments but is recovering beautifully and figuring out how to play with his one arm. He still does not move his right arm actively very much yet, but we have been told this could take months to return. And he can even use his head and arch his back to scoot around in his cast a little.

One of our biggest obstacles following surgery was positioning/handling/transporting him. As you can somewhat tell in the photo, Peyton's legs are spread far apart making it impossible for him to fit in a normal stroller. We literally had no way to transport him. He was casted with very little hip flexion so he is unable to sit in anything - not even a carseat! He is no feather to carry around with that big spica cast which goes clear up to his shoulder blades in the back.

We were blessed by a couple of anonymous angels who ordered him this awesome adaptive stroller which he CAN fit into and believe me, we wear it out daily!! Even around the house we use it. I don't know what we would have done without it, honestly - and we could have never afforded it on our own. The best thing is that we can use it for quite some time since it accomodates children over 100 pounds. I could go on and on about this stroller, but what's most important is that we were able to overcome that obstacle thanks to this couple.

We are scheduled to return to Philadelphia May 8 for spica removal. The tunnel is long, but we see the light.

Please continue to pray for Peyton's recovery. Right now he (as well as daddy and I) is sick with a terrible cold.