Amazon Shipping

Monday, November 10, 2014

Following J's surgery

J's surgery went well.
He had a little trouble with slow wake up after the anesthesia and vomiting from the anesthesia. But overall the surgery went well, the bone in his leg has been cut and re-positioned with a plate and screws, the hamstrings and hip abductors on both legs were cut and lengthened.

He is now dealing with his cast (from armpits to toes) by playing with various electronics, such as the new DS handheld game that his aunt got for him, the wii, the computer (I cannibalized two old, ailing laptops to make one working one for him).  Goign to the bathroom is difficult for him, we use a handheld urinal for urine, and the hospital sent us home with a bedside commode for him to use.  He is uncomfortable, but here we are 12 days since surgery and he has not had heavy duty pain meds for 3 days, and only ibuprofen at night as that is when his discomfort is highest.  The itchy skin as started, and he has a small rash on the bum where the cast edge is (they leave the privates area open so that he be toileted).

Overall, though he is doing well and just waiting for the special reclining wheelchair that he needs in order to return to school (thankfully he goes to a special school and they can handle his needs while in the cast).  They said it would take a week, but alas, it is taking longer than expected to arrive.  he will be happy to return to his friends and get out of the house!

Even if the wheelchair were here, we would not be able to take him out as the handicap accessible van that we were blessed with (and the blessing of all the donations that helped fund the repairs for the van) had a major problem on the way to the surgery.  The transmission died!!  So, we have it in a shop thanks to two friends who came out to Syracuse with a car trailer and they took it up to a friend of their who is a transmission specialist.  To replace it with a new transmission would be about $2500.  To find and replace with a used transmission would be around $1100.  And to rebuild the transmission is a steal at about $600.  So they are in the process of rebuilding the transmission.  And we are trying to come up with the funds for that.  Over all though, the van is a great gift in that buying a used one would have been over $15,000.  And so far we have put only about $1500 into the van, so another $600 to rebuild the transmission so we can have a way to transport Josiah and his chair (both the rented reclining one while in the cast and his motorized one after the cast comes off) is really a good deal. If you would like to donate to the repair the van fund, please feel free to check out the story of the van here.


No comments: