Always a new challenge

As the boys grow their joints become more unstable and painful.  Last Sunday Josh woke up with a dislocated shoulder.  I had a lot of difficulty reducing it completely and it continued to dislocate over 30 times that day.  Of course the shoulder that dislocated is the left one and he is left handed.

Just to keep life interesting on Tuesday morning Josh twisted his right ankle.  He had some swelling and a lot of discomfort.  He also vommitted a few times but that may have been due to pain.  He had a day of bedrest and RICE.  Wednesday morning when I re-evaluated the ankle it was rolling in about 30 degrees.  Based on my past experience I knew that the ankle needed a lot of support.  Unfortunately the ankle could still roll in the AFO so Josh is now in an aircast. 

Now this is where life gets interesting because Josh doesn't have the shoulder stability to use his walker or crutches so he is in the wheelchair full time.  We had enjoyed a nice break from full time wheelchairs.   Wednesday morning before leaving for work I had to go through the house and re-arrange things to make sure that Josh could get everywhere he needed to in the wheelchair.  Now i just need to figure out what to do with the palm tree in the bathroom before Josh hits it and dumps it everywhere.

Andrew's wrist (the right one of course!) started causing him problems yesterday.  The two bones in his forarm are rolling and crossing and then getting stuck.  This means that he is back in a clam shell splint to hold everything together.  Unfortunately, the latex free tensor and clips never stay on place at night. So this morning I added adhesive velcro on the outer sides of the splint and cut vellofoam to hold it.

Andrew is getting reaquainted with Maplesoft so that he can do his math work on the computer without having to dictate.  I really need to find someone who can do some tutoring for us so that the boys can get the most out of the program.  If you want to find out more about it check out:  http://www.maplesoft.com/

Today I am hoping that our physical therapist will arrive and work some of her magic so that the boys are more comfortable.

I would be really happy if we could go a day without any new medical excitement.