Whew!

This last Friday, we left for our last trip to the Valley for Sawyer's treatments. It was sad to leave such gorgeous weather!

Usually, Sawyer's appointments are on Fridays so I'd pack up while Mike was at school in Show Low and then meet him there and we'd go on to the Valley together. This time, Sawyer's appointment was on Monday so we had a full weekend in Mesa.

I got a new calling in The Young Women's program in our ward and we were able to go to the Phoenix Temple open house with the youth on Saturday. It was so beautiful and awesome that we got go tour it as a little family. To say it felt very "eternal" is the best way I can describe it! I love these four people so much! I'm also so excited about my new calling! I love being around the girls in our Young Women's! They strengthen my testimony so much!

This time Sawyer's appointment was on a Monday because he had to get a tenotomy, or "heel cord lengthening" on his Achille's tendons (Caution: don't watch the video in the link if you have a weak stomach!). Here's Dr. Bethur removing Sawyer's casts before they took him to the OR.

Mel was once again generous enough to watch Grant and Rems so Mike and I could go together. We're confident they had a much better time with their cousins than they'd have had with us!

She even watched Grant for an extra few hours so Mike and I could take a nap with Remi and Sawyer. We're sure glad Brian talked her into joining our family somehow!

Although the tenotomy is a pretty low risk procedure, I was really nervous to have my baby go under anesthesia! I did feel much better after the anesthesiologist came and explained to us how it was going to go. He said he'd put him under by having him breathe through a mask, and then give him what was similar to an epidural to numb the bottom half of his body. That way, he could have pain relief without having to administer narcotics through his IV. The  whole "going under" thing was still scary, but hooray for no narcotics in his bloodstream!

Mike and Brian gave him a blessing the night before, and I know we had a lot of people praying for us because I felt very at peace that next morning when we got to the hospital. It seemed like Mike and I had barely gotten a chance to eat breakfast and start up a conversation when they called and said he was out!

I thought he was going to be pretty lethargic afterward but he was pretty active and seemed to just be angry! The nurse reassured us that he wasn't in any pain but suggested we give him demerol to help calm him down.  This made no sense to me! Up until now, I've always kind of let healthcare professionals do what they think/say is best but I feel like I learned a lesson in making informed decisions and being an advocate on this trip. Why, after taking precautions to NOT have to give him drugs IV and after preparing us so much that he might be irritated coming out of the anesthesia, would we add MORE drugs to the mix? And a narcotic to boot!

So we said "no thank-you" to the demerol. And wouldn't ya know, all he needed was a big burp and he fell asleep in my arms a few minutes later. 

Sawyer 's castings and tenotomy are done! Woohoo! Now he's in one final pair of casts that will stay on until mid-November when he'll get his brace.

Standing at the beginning of his "adventure" was super overwhelming, but as the weeks went by and we were able to check each appointment off, it seemed to get easier. Now I'm just looking at the piles of things that have been stacking up in the last 6 weeks, hoping taking babysteps toward them will show results just as quickly!

Progress

This little guy has had quite the drama with his feet!

After the 8th cast with our podiatrist in Show Low (he was only supposed to have 6), we were told that Sawyer still wasn't making much progress and that they wanted us to do a consult with the orthopedist on the mountain.

I'd had some doubts and uneasy feelings early on in the casting wih the podiatrist because the casts didn't look anything like the ones I saw when I would research club feet. After the 8 casts with little progress, I was REALLY feeling uneasy and unsure about what we should do. Sawyer was supposed to have surgery the next week, but it seemed obvious that he wasn't ready!

After a lot more research, I decided after my walk with Sawyer one morning that he needed to be doing the Ponseti method of treatment. It's only come about in the past 10 years and there are apparently very few doctors who've been correctly trained in it. I came across a story of a family with a similar story as ours. They had done several casts with a doctor without much progress, and off of a whim they decided to email Dr. Ponsetti himself. Surprisingly, they got personal response from Dr. Ponseti telling them to fly to from California to Iowa to do treatment with him.

That day when I got home from my walk I told Mike about it and we said a prayer to try to find out what we should do. Up to this point we had talked about praying for direction but put it off and never actually said the prayer and asked. After we prayed about it I told him maybe I should just call Phoenix Children's Hospital and see what they recommended. I explained the situation to the front desk of the pediatric orthopedic department and he recommended that we schedule an appointment with their club foot specialist. The problem was, the soonest they could squeeze us in was in two months. I told him how grateful I was that they were squeezing us in but asked what we should do in the meantime. Sawyer was still wearing casts from the previous doctor. Should we let him take the casts off and go without casts for two months or should we let them go ahead with the surgery and keep doing castings? The receptionist put me on hold and went to the back to talk to the doctor. He came back and asked "can you come tomorrow?" I quickly said yes, we would cancel whatever we had going on and we made the trip.

The good news we found out was that no harm had been done with the casts he was already wearing. The bad news was we'd have to start from scratch. Sawyer's legs were a little irritated from being in the casts for so long, plus they didn't really have appointments since they'd just squeezed us in in the first place, so he went without casts until we could be seen again after three weeks.

This is what his feet looked like right before the first appointment at Phoenix Children's:

And this is what they looked like after this last cast was taken off:

Here he is in the full leg casts he's been sporting now.


We're going back to the Valley for one final casting this weekend, then he'll have surgery to release his Achilles' tendon the next week. After that, he'll wear a final cast for three weeks, then a brace for up to four months full time, and then just at night for up to four years.

Driving to the Valley every week after he'd already been in casts for two months and waiting over two hours at every single appointment has been rough. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes at the doctor in Show Low and he treated Sawyer like he was his own son. However, I think now that there's just something to be said for specialists! Our new doctor is so methodical in the casting and seems to know club feet inside and out! He even trained with Dr. Ponsetti personally! I'm so glad we feel on the right track and I can so easily imagine Sawyer running and keeping up with his brother and sister!

One leg down, one to go!

There's also something to be said for having such great friends and family! The amount of support we've gotten from so many of them is overwhelming! We'd talked at one point about doing the castings in Flagstaff since it's a little closer. I'm so glad we didn't! Our friends Adam and Melissa let us stay with them every weekend for almost a month, Heidi and Jake let us stay in their new house without supervision all last weekend and have provided much needed emotional support and entertainment. Brian and Mel usually feed us at least one meal on every trip we make and Mel's been watching the kids so Mike and I can both go be with Sawyer (keep in mind, I said we've never waited less than 2 hours to see the doctor. Then there's casting time and driving time...last time, we dropped the kids off with Mel at 3:00 and didn't get back until after 7:00!). And my parents have been giving us a discount on rent to help pay for gas. I have no idea how to even begin to thank everyone for their help! So far, Blue Bell's been about all we can come up with!

Other than that, we've been trying to make the most of our trips down there and the kids have enjoyed swimming, riding the carousels at the malls, playing with their cousins and friends and Mike and I've been trying to make up for years of no places to shop or get things done! We still come up with a full to-do list for every trip!

Remi wouldn't ride the carousel. Grant never wanted to stop!

Our kids are acquiring a talent for making themselves at home when we're not at home. Here they are at IKEA.

Getting ready for a swim at Adam's. Remi doesn't swim though...one of her only fears!

It's been an adventure, that's for sure! Luckily, our kids travel well and are excited to go. I'm also so happy that the trips have kind become a time for Mike and I to get to catch up after busy weeks and that after talking the whole way, it really doesn't seem like four hours.