The entire team met with Tom and Mike today, and conferenced me in as well.
The opinion of Tom's rehab team is that we should examine whether
surgery is an option.There has been good progress on a slow and steady
pace, with heavy emphasis on the word S-L-O-W.
In order to walk, you have to be able to have your foot at a neutral
position - when you stand your ankle starts at a 90 degree angle.
They have been able to improve the left ankle (it has improved from
bending only at a 45 degree angle to now bending at 70 degrees). But the
right ankle appears to be stuck at 55 degrees no matter what they try.
The Botox injections don't appear to have been particularly helpful.
Ironically, the left leg is the weaker leg, but has been responding better to treatment. Maybe because the muscles are weaker, they aren't fighting the process so hard? I don't know... They do say that the left leg might always need a brace or extra support, but that decision is well down the road.
The tendon and muscles of that right ankle are solid as rock and have
not reponded well at all. He does have the ability to rotate his ankle
and wiggle his toes, and put weight for limited periods of time on the
balls of his feet, but every little bit of progress has been slow and
painful going. They feel that even though there would need to be a
recovery period of 8 to 12 weeks where little or no rehab therapy could
be done on the leg that gets surgery, it would be worth the trade off
and move him further and faster down the road to recovery than if they
just continued as they are now.
If he has surgery on one leg, they will likely discharge him from the
inpatient setting and he will continue therapy on an outpatient basis on
the other leg.
Tom was seen by a specialist at Toronto Western Hospital today. He is
an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in the ankle and foot. His first
concern is whether or not Tom has good enough blood flow to the feet to
allow healing post surgery, so the next step is that they will arrange
for a test of blood flow and circulation. The test is called an "Arterial Doppler" test, it is essentially an ultrasound of your arteries.
He will also be referred to yet another orthopedic surgeon at Toronto Western who will take a look at the knee and hip contractures, and give an opinion as to whether any additional surgeries will be necessary at some point.
Acommodation update: Tom and Mike move into a furnished sublet apartment on December 1, in
Jeanine's building (I know, you all feel sorry for Jeanine right? But she says she is happy about it!) For a couple of weeks Mike will actually have to camp at Jeanine's, as we need to vacate RMH by mid November.
I found the apartment on Kijiji, of all things. No address was listed, but when I read the description, I was almost certain it was Jeanine's building - so I emailed for more information. It seemed almost like Fate or God stepping in when I saw the response! What a terrific blessing to have found downtown accommodation near the hospitals and near (VERY VERY near) Jeanine!
We have signed a
sublet for 3 months at a minimum, and then will renew on a month to
month basis. Toronto Rehab's musculoskeletal rehab proghram is moving
from Hillcrest (where he is now) to the downtown clinic on University
Avenue in Toronto in January. It is only a few blocks away from
Jeanine's apartment, so during the outpatient phase it would be nice and
handy.
The thinking is that once both legs are back at full strength they would
readmit him full time. Still unknown how many months it would be after
that point.
The doctors are very encouraging, they say his youth and motivation are
huge, huge factors in his recovery. Of course all these ideas depend on
what is physically possible.
(Please continue to pray with us that the doctors will be led to the
right answers for Tom, and that it will be possible for him to achieve
his dream of walking again.)
Naturally this news makes me a bit sad - I miss my boys - but it will
all be worthwhile if Tom can resume the life he ought to have. We hope
that's God's plan, too.
Love to you all, thanks for checking in,
Tom's Mom
