Between Facebook and Instagram, most of you probably saw that Drake hurt his leg pretty bad a couple of weeks ago. This was kind of a big event in his life so I want to make sure to record the details here for his and our memory.
You can pass right over the long story if you aren't interested. :)
On the night of Thursday, July 25th, Drake was outside jumping on the tramp. Rob was sitting in a chair playing on the iPad right next to him. Drake wasn't messing around or anything just jumping straight up and down when he started screaming and fell down saying, "I broke my leg! I broke my leg!" Rob picked him up and brought him straight inside. Drake was extremely upset and bawling. He wouldn't move it or let us touch it. Thinking he had probably just landed funny on it or sprained it, we put ice on it, gave him some Ibuprofen and he fell asleep from crying at about 7:30pm on the couch.
The next morning, he called for us to get him out of bed. He wouldn't stand up or walk on it and still said it hurt. He wanted to just lay on the couch and watch movies and we thought that was a good idea. We did ice and Ibuprofen and let him rest on the couch most of the day to see if it would heal with rest. The few times I moved him to take him to the bathroom, he would cry if I came near it and he wouldn't move it at all. When Rob got home at 5:00 that evening, we started to get a little worried that it was still hurting him so bad. We tried getting him to let us move it and bend it and he was freaking out about it. At about 6pm we decided to call the doctor and get an appointment for the next morning (Saturday). After talking to a nurse and ER doctor on the phone, we found out they were both much more worried than we thought they would be. With it having been over 24 hours and him still so sensitive about the pain and moving it, they wanted us to come into the Emergency Room right away. Rob and I did NOT want to have to go to the emergency room and of course, we had the regretful thought that we should have taken him into the doctor during office hours on Friday (dang it), but hindsight is different and we didn't want to go against an ER doctors orders or put Drake at risk so into the ER we headed Friday evening.
At the ER, they examined him, took X-rays, etc. They found lots of swelling all around his knee. The radiologist couldn't see a fracture, but the swelling looked like what you would see with a fracture or with tendon or ligament damage, so after consulting with an orthopedic doctor, they decided he needed a splint for the weekend and we'd follow up at the orthopedist on Monday. He wasn't allowed to put any weight on it. Good thing it was the weekend so Rob could be home to carry him around as I was (and still am) very pregnant. He got to choose a red cover for it and we called it his Iron Man leg! :)
On Monday, we took him into the orthopedist in the afternoon with the thought and plan in mind that he was either going to get it off and be able to walk normal on it or he was going to get a cast (so he still would be able to at least walk). Well the doctor didn't go so well. When they took the splint off, Drake flipped out. He was really tired and really emotional and would hardly move it. Mostly he just seemed scared. They did several stretches with him and he would finally let them move it a little bit, but he couldn't lift it up by himself and do some of the things they wanted to see. Then he'd just cry. It was so frustrating. The orthopedist finally said that he wanted him in ANOTHER splint for a week and that we'd come back in a week to see how it was doing. That's when I had a total emotional breakdown. Drake had hated the splint the whole weekend long and I just could not lift him like I needed to. I was feeling so yucky and pregnant and the thought of him being immobile for a whole week was too much. It's a very good thing Rob was there to calm me down and to let the doctor know that I wasn't completely crazy just very hormonal. So, poor Drake cried for a bit about having to have another splint, but then Rob made it fun for him and he got a brand new splint put on.
That week really wasn't very fun, but we made it work. Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Bob sent some money for us to go buy some fun new inside toys for Drake- things we could do with him sitting (so thankful to them!). We got creative and found ways to keep ourselves entertained and I was so thankful for all the help we received from friends. On Wednesday and Thursday night of that week, Drake was up a lot crying saying that his leg hurt. Thursday he was up almost every 30 minutes crying. The next morning we called the doctor and he thought maybe Drake was having circulation problems with it. He gave us permission to take it off (we could cut the front because it wasn't hard there) as needed and rub it and then put it back on. So between Friday-Sunday, we took it off a few times a day and rubbed his leg. We also started doing a few stretches with him while it was off. We didn't think he would just go into the office Monday and immediately walk on it- we were worried he'd be terrified again and refuse to move it. They had told us that if he still couldn't move it at that Monday appointment that we'd move forward with an MRI and if something really was wrong, he would need surgery. What!? Anyways, we wanted to avoid an MRI if possible and felt good about taking the splint off a few times a day and stretching his leg. On Saturday, we had it off and he was doing the exact stretches and movement that he couldn't/wouldn't do in the office the previous Monday so we were happy with that! The only concern we had was that he still wouldn't walk on it. We had him try to put weight on it on Saturday and he flipped out and screamed that it hurt. So I was starting to get worried that something really was wrong.
We asked our family to pray and fast with us on Sunday being that it was Fast Sunday. Sunday, I had such a feeling of peace and comfort and I know that that came from the prayers on our behalf.
On Monday, I took Drake for a walk in the stroller with a friend trying to start some labor. He was in his jammies and barefoot because we went before I had time to get him dressed. He had his splint off because he'd slept with it off the night before. We didn't plan on stopping at a park, but decided we would and I just told Drake sorry that he couldn't play, but he could crawl around if he wanted or I'd push him on the swing. After pushing him on the swing, he wanted to get down. He grabbed my hands and just STARTED WALKING. I looked at my friend Laura with wide eyes and seriously was holding my breath because I didn't want Drake to notice what he was doing. (He'd been so scared about even trying to move it the last several days). He crawled up the playground, went down the slide, and used the playground to steady himself as he walked back around to the stairs. Before long, he was walking all over the place. I was so stunned! It was actually a little bit of an emotional experience for me. I did feel like everything was going to be okay with his leg, but where I really felt prayers answered, was that Drake had the courage to dare to move it and try to walk on it.
He kept walking on it the rest of the day (I did make him rest on the couch a few times) and then we went to his appointment in the afternoon where he was all cleared. They were fine with us having done some stretches and let him walk on it and were just happy to see that he was doing better- that he had both healed and that he had the courage to move it and walk on it.
We feel like we really did experience a little miracle with him and we know that it was through the hand of our Heavenly Father. In many ways, things could have been so much worse, but for us it was a really big deal and a hard thing to go through especially at a time when we're about to have a baby. It was such a testimony builder for us on fasting and prayer and we are just very thankful it wasn't worse.
This week, he is still limping on it a bit, but it's mostly due to laziness. We are working with him everyday.
We feel very blessed. We know prayer and fasting work and we thank you all for your prayers. We made sure to take the time to explain to Drake why his leg was working now and who had made that possible. And something so cute- in every prayer that he says, he'll say "Thank you that my leg is better and thank you that people prayed for me." And we ditto that entirely!
Here's the little guy with that darn heavy thing he had to wear for a week. This was right before we tossed it in the garbage- Hallelujah!
A few videos for family.
Crawling with his splint made us laugh so hard-
Walking with splint on-
When he started walking at the park!
Yay Drake!
2 comments:
poor drakey! what a neat story though! i reactivated my fb for just a minute so i could check on you and see if you had your baby! ha ha! she is BEAUTIFUL!!! congrats!:) hope you are all doing good!
What a neat story!
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