Update - Slow Recovery, Some Improvement

Thankfully Travis' signature smile and laugh started returning over the weekend, especially after playing in his Miracle League baseball game on Saturday. This recovery has been harder as the surgery was longer and more involved. Travis was discharged from the hospital on Tues, Mar 17th and we all were ready to be home.

Travis home from the hospital
Mar 17th

Travis enjoying a nap at home
Mar 18th

Over the course of the first days at home, Travis' pain level decreased and we all adjusted to his return of needing assistance around the house. Many times we noticed him visibly frustrated at his new slower speed and not being able to get around like he had before. No one can blame him. On Thurs, Mar 19th we stopped by his school so he could see his classmates and we could start to figure out what assistance he would need around the school. Seeing his friends lifted his spirits.

The first few weeks he made improvements in getting around the house using the walker, but other areas he remained about the same, really pale and tired out quickly. :( T's pediatrician ordered bloodwork to check T's red blood cell counts. The results indicated really low red blood counts, slightly improved from the hospital, but he was really anemic. His hemoglobin was 8.8 and his hematocrit was 26.2. Per the pediatrician's recommendation, we started T on over the counter iron pills twice a day. While not his favorite thing, he takes them and enjoys the M&Ms we add into the pill taking.

Travis felt good enough to attend school a few hours 2 days the week of March 23rd, his last week before Spring Break. He had a few appointments that week and the time out of the house would wear him out. One of the appointments adjusted the height on T's shoe lift down to ~1.5 cm. He was upset that he didn't have room to put stickers on his shoe anymore. We told him that it would make it easier for him to walk and he wouldn't roll his right ankle, he seemed happy about that. While at Shriners for the lift adjustment, we saw T's ortho guy in the lobby. He knew of the fracture and the repair surgery and was amazed at T's new leg lengths.

T's new, shorter lift

Surgery follow-up appt
Mar 27th

Notice the bend in the rod
Mar 27th

Travis saw Dr. Jones (orthopedic surgeon for both femur repairs) on Fri, Mar 27th for a surgery follow-up. Travis' leg looked great on the x-ray images, nothing moved since surgery. T's incision looked great, all good news. We spoke about the low red blood cell count and all paleness and fatigue that goes along with low counts. He looked at T's new leg length and lower lift and stood quietly in amazement at what he fixed during surgery. The rod he inserted during surgery may be able to remain in Travis without replacement, only time will tell. Without words, we understood we are in uncharted territory in regards to Travis' healing and what the future brings regarding this surgery. We remain optimistic that this fracture will heal like the last time. Travis returns to see Dr. Jones in May, and if anything arises between now and then we just give him a call. Good news from the tumor biopsy, normal/happy plexiform tumor.

Zoo fun during Spring Break

During Spring Break we balanced activities out of the house fun for Travis (and all of us) with ensuring he gets his needed rest for recovery. When we looked over the past few weeks, we could see some improvements in Travis. *Whew*

Many thanks for all the well-wishes, prayers, thoughts, cards, gifts for Travis as he recovers from this femur fracture. Emilee, the driver from Compass360 Racing that joined us at the NIH, sent his a wonderful sprinkled donut pillow (and M&Ms), he loved both. One of our track photographer friends came up with the idea to print a poster of one of his pictures and have T's racing friends sign the poster with well-wishes. This truly fits T, thank you Halston!

T loving his donut pillow

T with his signed picture/get well wishes

School resumed Mon, Apr 6th and Travis returned to class knowing he may not make it the entire school day. Travis presently surprised us with staying most of the day at school on Mon, Tue, and Wed...I would have guessed he would have called earlier in the day. Travis' first complete day at school was Thurs, Apr 9th...not a coincidence it was the day we repeated his labs.

T after his 1st full day back at school - Apr 9th

Good news...the iron pills helped increase Travis' red blood cell counts, they increased at the typical rate. His hemoglobin increased to 9.5 and his hematocrit improved to 29.0. We are headed in the right direction. Again, the looking at the broader time scale, his coloring improved too.

Travis' Miracle League baseball season started up on Sat, Apr 11th, he loved being back on the field. The first time at bat he chose to use the tee; however, that quickly changed his next 2 at bats and he hit the ball great. I love seeing his smile and hearing his laugh again. I hadn't realized how much we had been missing those until they returned.

T batting at his Miracle League baseball game - Apr 11th

I spoke with Travis' geneticist regarding the samples obtained for research. Although he described the procedure for obtaining the samples several times, someone missed the memo and put the samples in the freezer. This destroyed anything they could have obtained from live tissues. All is not lost as there is still much they can be learned from what they collected.

For now we pray for bone healing and tumor happiness, just as before. Next week Travis returns to physical therapy and sees the ortho guy at Shriners for his routine exam. Those should be interesting appointments on so many levels. Thank you for the love and support for T and our family.