Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Isaiah's Determination - 1 ; His Ankle - 0

Just a week after taking his first unassisted steps, Isaiah had his first "mobility-related" trip to the E.R. last night. He had been cruising along the couch yesterday when he stopped to stand and watch TV. Suddenly he lost his balance. His body twisted and down he went ~ face first. His cry wasn't the usual, "I fell down, went boom, now baby me!" It was the sound of pure agony. I grabbed him up and examined his lips, teeth, nose, and head. I couldn't find any blood or obvious injuries. I cuddled him in my arms and after a time, he calmed down. In hindsight, I should have noticed that he didn't try to pull up on anything after that.

When James came home and went into his whole, "How's my little man?" routine with Isaiah, I told him about his tumble and how mellow he had been since then. He asked me if he had hurt himself and that's when it finally hit me. I asked James to try and stand him up. Isaiah absolutely could not put any weight on his left foot. James sat him down and attempted to rotate his foot around the ankle. Isaiah yelped out in pain. James removed his socks. Isaiah's left foot and ankle were not only swollen, but warm to the touch as well.

James didn't think anything was broken, but since Isaiah couldn't tell us exactly what was wrong, off to the E.R. we went. Four hours and 7 x-rays later we had the verdict: Isaiah sprained his ankle. In his fall, he had twisted his ankle and rolled over his left foot. The doctor asked us if we thought he would tolerate a brace. We told them about his orthopedic leg braces (AFOs) that he wears to school everyday. He said to try putting those on him and the follow-up team would call us to schedule another round of x-rays in a few days.

We decided to keep our weekly appointment with his physical therapist today (we usually go on Wednesdays, but this Wednesday is the practice's rescheduled holiday party). It was the best decision we could have made. By the end of the session, PT Larry had Isaiah successfully in his braces and adaptive sneakers. Ever so gingerly, Isaiah had even begun to bear the slightest weight on his left leg. PT Larry says he sees a lot of injuries like that in kids like Isaiah. (He even demonstrated how it probably happened). He says Isaiah will be just fine. That's exactly what I needed to hear. We'll keep him braced and Motrin-ed and he should be good-to-go before we know it.

At the moment, Isaiah is sitting in my lap happily kicking his right leg---as if to say: Rest up, Lefty. We have places to go.

3 comments:

Christy said...

OMG, how upsetting! I hate that "This is the real thing!" cry. Glad that PT Larry was able to get Isaiah back on his feet and I'm LOL at him sitting on your lap, swinging his right leg overtime to give the left one some motivation.

Sharon said...

LOL! He gets SO frustrated with that left one, Christy! He can't understand why it won't cooperate when clearly, he's ready to g-o!

Anonymous said...

Bless his precious heart. I'm glad he's going to be fine and I'm so happy to know he's taking unassited steps. That is awesome!!!
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!