On Friday I sent Atticus to school all dressed up, but with a light spray of black on his hair this time. His pre-school celebrated Halloween with a costume parade. Unfortunately, Atticus came home with a fever. He walked in the door looking so vacant that I cuddled him close and he was asleep in minutes. He napped for three hours. So, the short of it is that he got sick, then Samuel got sick, and we stayed in for the rest of the weekend. Good thing these two are too young to know they missed Halloween.
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(3) Tue Nov 02 2004 21:12 Halloween Bummer:
Well, I thought I should at least mention Halloween, though it was somewhat of a disappointment. I sewed two black wizzard robes for Atticus and Samuel; Atticus has known for weeks and weeks that he wanted to be Harry Potter for Halloween. I figured Samuel could dress as Ron Weasley, so we bought spray on hair dye, black for Atticus and orange for Samuel. On Thursday we went to a little mom's group Halloween party during the day, so the boys dressed. I drew a lightning bolt on Atticus' forehead and he wore special Harry Potter glasses. Both boys wore their robes, and with their "hair spray," the costumes were complete. We did a heavy hair coloring on Atticus, and he absolutely LOVED his transformation. The down side was when he came home looking more like a chimney sweep than Harry Potter. The other drawback was the ring in the bathtub when we washed his hair out.
(8) Tue Nov 02 2004 21:25 Surgery Revision:
After meeting with our surgeon today, we are feeling a lot better about our decision to go with the heel cord transfer. Dr. Anderson described the procedure in detail, so I thought I'd pass the information on to give you all a better understanding of what we're dealing with. Apparently, the routine is to drill a canal through the calcaneus (heel bone). Then, when the Achilles tendon is detached, Dr. Anderson will sew a suture to the end of the tendon. He will then thread the suture through the opening in the calcaneus, poke the end through the tissue and skin of his foot, and tie the end to a "button" that will anchor the suture from the outside of his foot. The tendon will, over time, attach itself to the new insertion in his calcaneus, and as the bone and muscle heal, Atticus will have much better range in his lower left leg. Atticus is most excited to have a cast; I pointed out a boy in the waiting room today who had a blue cast. As per his request, Dr. Anderson promised a blue cast, so Atticus is anxious to go and get it as soon as possible. He is also waiting with anticipation until he gets to spend the night in his special hospital room. I'm really surprised that he is looking forward to this so much.