Days at Home (For Real This Time)

We did eventually come home to our house- despite what our neighbors may have thought. It was nice, even if it was a little daunting. And it helped that my mom came up a few days later and stayed the week. It also helped that Ryan is no longer stinky.

We took him to the hospital for his Orthopedic check-up and the surgeon took one whiff of him and told us that the cast would have to come off. Oh bummer. :) Our Orthopedic Surgeon that we met at Primary Children's Hospital was actually a Doctor from Shriner's Hospital (also in Salt Lake)- so all of our follow-up will be and has been at Shriner's. Dr. Hennessey took a minute to sit and explain the newest X-Rays for us- which was so interesting! Because of how crazy things were when we were first admitted to Primary's- nobody really took the time to walk Shaun and I through some of Ryan's actual injuries- beyond the fact that he was in serious condition. So, to be in a more relaxed setting and have the opportunity to look at the new scans was really kind of nice.

She showed us that when the right side of the pelvis was crushed (and you could see all the breaks)- it actually moved the left side of his pelvis- almost twisting it. So while the right side was broken- we were actually waiting for the left side to straighten itself back out. And because of all of these things- Dr. Hennessey would not just cut the cast off and recast. She wanted him put under anesthesia so that she could get the cast on tightly in order to hold both sides the way they needed to be held. We arrived at Shriner's at 8:30 in the morning and didn't walk back into my mom's house until 9:00 that night. It took ALL day- which was good- it just meant that they did things the way they wanted to- and they wouldn't release him until he ate and peed.

When we got home we set Ryan up on the loveseat in the living room with plenty of pillows and blankets (and chocolate milk- he was a rotten eater throughout the weeks he was in the cast- so the fact that he would eat ANYTHING was so exciting). We had buckets of toys set up around the room and anything else we could think of that he might want. Ty was the best big brother ever though- anytime Ryan wanted a car or a coloring book- Ty was the first one running to him with the requested toys. Ty always made sure that Ryan had enough to drink and would sneak him packets of fruit snacks when we weren't looking.

After what happened with the last cast- I was a total freak when it came to keeping Ryan and his cast clean. And if any of you know me- know that this isn't a total surprise. I bathed Ryan in the kitchen sink- he liked soaking his toes (I think because he got some joy out of being able to splash me- maybe it was like a retaliation because I was making him wash his hair every day).
But like I said... he did NOT like having his hair washed. But wash it I did- every morning and he cussed me through every second of it. I kept telling him that I always win- but he didn't believe me.
For a change of scenery- once in a while we moved Ryan to Shaun and I's bed- where we would be immediately joined by Ty. They loved watching movies on the bed- our saving grace was Winnie the Pooh. Ryan has never been much of a movie/TV watcher and the fact that we found anything that he would sit still for was something you could almost kiss! Ryan's favorite is the "Super Sleuths" and we watched them over and over and over again.
As Ryan got stronger he also wanted to be more mobile (surprise surprise), so he also spent some time on the floor- where he kind of looked like a turtle laying on his back- his feet up in the air and the cast rocked him back and forth.
Anyway- we are excited for the cast to be off and life to move forward again. We are so grateful for what a trooper Ryan has been (even if he has been a grumpy little bear for the majority of the time) and even more grateful that it looks like things are going to heal the way they are supposed to.