Rambling about Ryder: Casts for Ryder....

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Casts for Ryder....

Well today was the big day, Ryder got his first set of casts on. Tyler and I both had ourselves pretty worked up about it but like usual Ryder was amazing and took it like a champ! He got a little annoyed at the very end which is to be expected but there were no tears :) It helped that the technician doing it was super friendly and he played with Ryder's trains and "Choo-choo-ed" along with him. It took maybe twenty minutes to have both casts put on.

Since getting home he has been doing pretty good. Movement is definitely more complicated now but he is still getting around. He can still play on his knees which I am super happy about. I had a bit of a panic attack the other day thinking the casts would be above the knee but thank goodness they aren't!!! Crawling is a lot more work, he still tries but falls to his belly a lot more than he did. Standing and playing at the couch is a BIG no-no now :( The fiberglass on our floor is like a slippery skating rink. They gave us little walker shoes but he's still very uneasy standing with them. I think it's because he's not able to grip the floor with his little toes like he did before to give him some sort of stability.

They dont even phase him :)

His shirt says "for a small guy, I'm still a BIG DEAL!"

lol I thought it was rather appropriate :)

2 comments:

Megan B ♥September 23, 2011 at 5:22 AM
Those are the cutest little piggies peeking out of those casts! How long will he be in them and what exactly are they doing while they are on?
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DanaSeptember 23, 2011 at 6:37 AM
Sorry! I didn't even think of the important stuff!! lol So the casts were put on in hopes of giving Ryder full extension. As he is right now he cant get his leg straight even when being stretched. When standing he either has his knees slightly bent or he's up on his tip toes. His spastic muscles are extremely tight. We will go back every week and get new ones put on, stretching his muscles a little bit more each time. They think three weeks will be good enough but we wont know for sure until the time comes. Ryder will most likely need the castings done once a year or maybe more if he goes through a big growth spurt. Right now we are just doing everything we can to postpone any surgeries for as long as possible. :) Thanks Megan!!
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Ryder's Story

Ryder and Wyatt are our identical twin boys that were born 12 weeks premature. They suffered from a "rare" disease called Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). TTTS affects 10-15% of identical multiples sharing a single placenta. Basically what happens is there are crossed vessels in the placenta forcing one baby to have way too much blood, nutrients & oxygen and the other not enough. Left untreated this heartbreaking disease has a astonishing mortality rate of 90%. Unfortunately I was not diagnosed until I had already gone into labor at 24 weeks gestation so not much could be done. Thankfully the doctors were able to stop my labor and we all made it to 28 weeks. The boys entered their nicu fight together but sadly on their 24 day of life we had to say our goodbyes to sweet Wyatt. Our hearts broke in a million pieces but somehow we picked up a few and continued our fight for Ryder. Ryder stayed in the nicu for 67 long days and was finally able to come home 2 weeks before their anticipated due date. It was a bittersweet day for many. We were told by every doctor that Ryder was just a "normal" baby and not to worry. I never felt right about this and knew there was something more to come. When he was 11 months old he was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy. Our hearts broke once again and we were left to wonder what his future would hold. When we started this blog Ryder was 19 months old and still could not sit, crawl or walk unassisted. Since then he has made tremendous leaps but he still has a long way to go. He see's his physio therapist and occupational therapist twice a month and speech pathologist once a month. This is what our government will offer and we don't feel it's enough. He has so much determination and we know given the proper tools and therapy nothing will stop him. With your help we sent Ryder to Ability camp in January 2012 and there are many other treatments and alternative therapies we want to give him the opportunity to try. Thank you for supporting Ryder and following his journey!