Four Months already!!

(Connor lost his first tooth while at PT a week ago!) 

So tomorrow, Aug 2, will mark 4 long yet short months being in the Fixator. Since last update there has been a lot of ups and downs and "I'm bored!" 

It has been a good summer but Macie and Brenden are missing Connor and myself an aweful lot. They go 3 days a week to either GiGis or mawmaws while Connor and I head off to PT. Connor has 'graduated' from the wheelchair to walker to crutches to NOTHING! Yes that's right Connor is walking unassisted! He has been working so hard gaining muscle strength back and relearning how to walk without support. 

So 3 weeks ago Connor had a dr appointment which went very well. The dr started the process of getting him prepard for getting the frame off by removing 1 of 3 support rods that replaced the struts we were turning. He removed the inside bar and the last 3 weeks Connor has been walking around putting so much weight on his leg. 

I had a little mom getaway with my mom and sister at my aunts lake house and dad was home with the kiddos. Andy had the kids doing all sorts of fun things and totally forgot to so his stretches that weekend. It's been a little difficult getting those muscles loose again but nonetheless Connor is getting them stronger everyday. I'm just so glad the kids got good quality time with daddy! 

We have done some fun things and even did some cake hunting like I promised! We have spent at least one day a week swimming and have been trying to enjoy the beautiful summer weather we have been getting here in STL. 

Summer is winding down for the boys. They got their school papers in the mail last week and got all their school supplies. Brenden is going into 3rd Grade and Connor into 1st!! It's surreal how fast they are growing up. I spent last week speaking with the buses to get Connor set up and will speak with his teachers next week to figure out when the best time of the day is to take him to PT. I had to wait to speak with Dr Gordon today so we know how Connors leg was looking.

So today was dr visit with Dr Gordon. We did X-rays and PT. Dr is thrilled with how well Connor is doing so he took out bar 2 of 3 to help get Connor ready for when the Fixator comes off on August 20th! YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT THE FIXATOR IS COMING OFF AUGIST 20TH!!! We are so amazed by Connor and so is dr Gordon. He surpassed his expectations!! We will still be doing PT 3x a week but the bone is healed and the dr is ready to have it removed once Connor walks for a few weeks with just the 1 support bar. This is because dr doesn't want to go from 100% support on the leg to nothing that is why they are weaning him from the 3 bars down to the 1 next with the Fixator removal!! As difficult as this has been on all of us it's been pretty smooth sailing. We were diligent with pin site care and only needed to do antibiotics for "iffy" looking sites 2 times. The extra break is something dr Gordon said he won't address until his final femur lengthening unless something else arises with it so we are talking a good few years from now on that. 

(The pic above is the last 2 X-rays, on the left is from July 7, and on the right is today's! Notice how strong the bone is today from just 3 weeks ago!)

I am so blown away by all this! Connors strength and determination and being totally taken off guard when dr said let's set a date for 3 weeks to take it off!! Connor still has a long road ahead with PT but he did it!! I  am so proud of him!!