2 weeks post-op

We had our second post-op appointment with Dr. Woo on Tuesday and Eli got his cast off. I was extremely nervous to see his wound again and so Jered held him while he got the cast off. The nurse put these adorable little headphones on him to protect his ears from the noise of the saw, but we weren't allowed to take a picture due to HIPAA (boo to that). The nurse wrapped the leg up in gauze before I could even look and then we waited for Dr. Woo.

Dr. Woo was very pleased with how Eli is healing. He said basically that the wound looks just how it should for being 2 weeks post-op. One thing he said was that the heal pad (remember that they retain the heal pad and attach it to the end of the leg in a Symes amputation) looked very pink and that was a good thing. I was then asking him about how they attach the heal pad and he was explaining that they do an ultrasound in the OR to identify how they will attach all of the vessels. He said one of the potential complications for this procedure would be if the heal pad were to die after the surgery. He said this would be a catastrophe - ahh! Eli's looks good and so we don't have to worry about that, but thank God I wasn't fully aware of that prior to the surgery.

So now the plan is to keep the leg wrapped and go back in 2 weeks. Dr. Woo said that if the wound looks good in 2 weeks we could then go see Paul, the Prosthetist, and Eli could start wearing a shrinker sock. This helps to shrink the leg prior to getting fitted for the prosthesis. All in all Dr. Woo thinks it will take about 6 more weeks until Eli is healed.

I am very pleased with how Eli is healing and just so very thankful, but we are not back to "normal" by any means. It's really hard for me to see the wound. It's not that I am squeamish or anything, its just that it still looks bad and I don't want to hurt him. Jered and I are doing the baths together and getting more comfortable wrapping the leg. Also, Eli is still waking up multiple times in the night, and he never did this before surgery. I am just trying to take things day by day and remind myself that it has only been two weeks. Every day it gets a little better and I am so looking forward to his continued improvement.