Wednesday 9 February 2011

Tough to watch - Day 19 - Wednesday February 9th

Today started with a real treat for Evan - he got to Skype his classmates as well as Mrs Smith, Mrs Oswald and Mr Nutall. He was a little nervous at the beginning and said he had had his op tomorrow and then said, sort of off-camera to me, that "oops, I messed that up..." but then got into the swing of things and took a q+a session. Even shouting "who's next" at some points and saying, "come on, let's have Josh next". It was really great to see all of his schoolfriends wanting to speak to him, and the look on his face throughout. (Thanks to Nigel for fixing this....)

We had a 1pm PT session so we managed to do some homework and have some lunch before we headed over to Children's. He had been in lots of discomfort overnight and woke a number of times, and was clearly in pain as we were in the shuttle bus (despite the little bit of pain medication I had been able to get down him). Every bounce or lurch of the bus was accompanied with a heart-wrenching grimace on Ev's face. 

The session with Erica (from America) was purely to try and stretch out his muscles and it is always a difficult session for all of the kids who have this op. The first part was to move from sitting on a chair to standing and he was clearly not happy with the prospect of just standing up, and couldnt manage it fully. However, he did improve a little bit during the session. What I didnt realise is that his back is linked to his hamstrings, so when I was leaning him forward to put on his coat, or get him into his chair or the shuttle, that all of this would pull on his legs and hurt him. It was tough to watch, real tough and when he says "no more" you take a look at yourself and ask why you have done this, but it's only fleeting as you know what lies at the end of this journey.    So you say, "come on, one more time" and try and help find a way to make it easier to endure but still to be done. 

He then did a slot on the total gym and was able to stretch his legs fully (very much supported by Erica) but you could see that slight improvement since the beginning of the hour. 

In fact, as I write this we have just completed the "homework" of 5 sit-to-stands and he seemed not too bad. Only mild grimacing this time. So much for him to put up with, but he is so determined he puts most people to shame. Definitely me. 






2 comments:

  1. Ohh! Just want to hug him. A tough little chap though. xx

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  2. My goodness, what a strong determined lad you have there Andy and Lynda. I have to say, yesterday while in the playground, Ev's classmates were all so excited to be Skyping him, they couldn't wait and this morning in the playground, they were all hoping they would get to speak to him again despite parents telling their child not to get too excited in case they couldn't. A passer-by even stopped me to ask if I knew how Evan was, I didn't know her from Adam. We certainly have a little superhero here in Silsden. We're all routing for you Ev!! xxx

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