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| The kid's (or teachers) at St. Matt's keep doing crafts for Blaise while he's gone |
Quick Catch Up
The cast is gone!
And as soon as it came off, Blaise asked to have it put back on...
Kristoff got his cast off too...
So now we have a 4 year old that is no longer burdened by a cast, but he is supposed to stay immobile. That might be the hardest thing to do. Trying to keep Blaise from not walking/climbing/rolling/kneeling (really anything that puts pressure up his bone) is next to impossible. But I think he has started to figure out he cannot use his left foot yet. He is sick of us telling him that for sure! He is scooting across the floor, faster than you could imagine, and surprisingly willing to use his walker too. But he has fallen a few times with that. He is absolutely more independent than you would have thought, its way better than anything I imagined back in February. It's really cool to watch! He can go to the bathroom, get his own food, go up and down stairs, really anything. And I would say just about the whole time he is very cautious of his left leg!
Now what I describes is probably not what the doctors want to hear, but its reality so we live with it. We do our best to protect him, and help when necessary. Even this morning Lucy offered to pick him up and bring to the basement to play.
We were given this brace for him to use, and his orthopedic surgeon told us, "Its Velcro, he is going to learn to take it off. The brace is about educating him to be cautious and not use his leg." Well, Blaise learns quickly, Because when we got home from the hospital that day we put the brace on for bed...
Not 10 minutes later I heard the straps come off, and I went in to check on him. He looked up at me, with the biggest smile on and said, "I'm busting out of here!" And the brace was off...
So we try, and we use it as much as possible, but he is smart and he does not like it. So it comes off. We find it on the floor in his room at night or during his nap. We tried to use the much smaller boot only brace, but that comes off just as easily. We keep trying, and he keeps telling us what he wants.
The ortho follow up was real good. We have x-rays but they look identical to the ones I showed right after surgery. So no need to share them. Some really good early signs of healing though, which I was not expecting, but a huge plus. I was curious about how his leg will grow, and I have expressed that before. So basically, your bones grow from the ends, that's where your growth plates are located. The top of your femur is responsible for about 70% of growth and the bottom for the other 30%. So while Blaise's whole femur has a steel plate on it now, that will become significantly smaller as he grows. The plate does not shrink, the bone grows!
Another interesting note, and one I was not fully aware of is his scare. It looks great and there are no staples, so just a straight solid line. But the size is amazing. I said to the doctor, "It's his whole leg!" He responded with, "Come on, there are 3 inched by his knee with nothing." Its huge, but great and no maintenance, except for his mother's crazy magic lotion and tape she puts on it.
Where have we been?
The long and short of it is, we've been at the beach!
We went to the rides, the zoo and the beach. Just chilling out max and relaxing all cool! Pretty funny story about the zoo. A better word is ironic! We're at the zoo and there is this big LIVESTRONG display outside the Tiger Cage. Turns out the cat at the Cape May Zoo has some form of a sarcoma and is undergoing treatment for it at the same time as Blaise!
We did not see Rocky, Annie figured his counts were low so the Zoo Keepers had him hooked up to fluids watching Daniel Tiger or Sid the Science Kid.
We explored a bit more around the zoo and saw some antelopes. And another huge display about some medical anomaly going on at the Cape May Zoo. Turns out one of the antelopes had his femur fixed with a steel plate and his leg looks just like Blaises'.
We had a few cool sightings down the shore too. I think you saw we had dinner with Mickey and Minnie. We also met Santa, he came to dinner on a boat! But the best sighting was non-other than Fr. Kevin Quinn, S.J. president of our beloved University of Scranton.
The University put on a great event in Stone Harbor so Annie, Claire and I along with Annie's colleague went over to check it out. Fr. Quinn was a great host. The real fun was texting back to our brother (who works directly for Fr. Quinn) what we were talking about. I am sure he is going to be in trouble when Father returns to campus! Good luck to him.
Two huge events in September to let everyone know about.
First is the 4th Annual WiffleFall Classic. This event was started by none other than Joe "The Colonel" Kerins. I have been to 2 of the 3 so far. I missed the first event because I was at the hospital all night with Blaise as he was battling a nasty episode of croup. I would take that fight any day now! But we play wiffleball and have a blast. Last year, the weather was not great but the event was amazing none the less. To top it all off, Joe has changed his charity of choice this year. Joe is a financial planner, and does good work. He has all my money! He works with many families that have children with Down Syndrome, so this tournament has typically benefited the T 21 Club of the Delaware Valley. But this year, Joe is helping us out with the tournament and all the proceeds will go to Blaise! So please come out, get a team together and come have fun. The park where it is held is awesome, tons of space and playground equipment! It really is a blast.
The other event is the very next weekend. This is a culmination of the training and hard work Annie and I have been putting into our fitness. We have started a team for the CHOP Parkway Run. It's 5K down at the Art Museum. Our team is Beat It Blaise, and so far its just me and our friend Cindy. Judging by her picture she appears to be a serious runner. So I am encouraging all bad runners, and walkers to come out so I can beat somebody in this race! An added bonus is that the Eagles play at 4:00 that afternoon so I can get my post run nap in and still watch the game!
Parting Shots
We're heading into the hospital tomorrow for what is most likely going to end up as a blood transfusion. No big deal, but I say that because he only has 3 cycles left. He has done so very well through all this. We can see the end, but its not any easier. He has his bad days, but they seem to not be as bad anymore. He still gets sick, but even he is better with it now. He has been, and continues to be, inspiring. So keep praying, keep thinking about him and keep asking us about him. There is nothing better than talking about my kids!
I also would be remiss if I did not wish congratulation to our friends.
First off, Tara got married to her Matt the day after Blaise's cast came off. It was a great night, and a better party!
This past weekend, Flannery married Fino. It was really cool to see some guys I have not seen in a long time and catch up. Another good night. Thank God for Uber!
Also, we have not forgotten about it, but planning a Beef & Beer is a lot. We're trying to figure it out, and celebrate Blaise one night later this fall! Any help would be greatly appreciated, just email us!
Also, the t-shirts are awesome, but if you still have not gotten yours please do! Let's get them out of my house! Just send me your address and I'll deliver it ASAP. And we're looking into another order, so if you did not get one and still want one, let us know so we can get a count for it!
That's all I got. Thanks for reading and hopefully it was not too bad without Annie's proofreading!
One more thing, Lucy's birthday is Friday! She'll be 2! So say a special prayer for her too! She needs prayers, she thinks Blaise's needle disposal bin is a pillow!
