No pains, No gains

Since pretty much day one of Morgan's life this has been our saying to Morgan. Everytime she would fuss about stretching or doing therapy we would whisper this to her and give her a kiss. Morgan is probably one of the toughest kids you will ever meet and she has developed a pretty high tolerance for pain. I mean how could she not after all she has been through: 15 pairs of serial casts, two surgeries on her feet, another pair of casts, AFOs, hip surgery and the lovely spica cast, and then hardware removal surgery not to mention the hand splinting, neck brace, back brace, and knesio taping we have tried. Her tolerance for pain is so good that just hours after coming out of her last surgery in March when they removed the hardware from her femurs Morgan was not wanting any medication. With all the cords still attached in the hospital bed she was begging to get up and play. We could hardly believe it. But this latest round of casting seems totally different. I am not sure if it is because it has been a year and a half since she last wore casts, if its because she is so frustrated because she can't do much in the casts, or if it just is really that painful. She seems to be in more pain now than even after her hip surgery. Thankfully the pain does not last. It just keeps reoccurring with each cast change. On Fridays she is in an enormous amount of pain and flying doesn't help the situation. She has a rough night sleeping Friday night, takes it easy on Saturday while we keep up the pain meds and by Sunday she is almost back to normal. By Monday she is usually in a good mood (as good as it can be when the only thing you can do is sit) which will last through Friday morning when it all starts again.

Last week for Morgan's cast change she went with David. He did a wonderful job taking care of Morgan and the whole trip went very smoothly. She came home last week with another pair of red casts (they were out of purple which she was hoping for) and a lot more bend. David could not recall though the exact degree of bend. So this week Morgan got a special treat and flew to Philly with both her grandparents (David's parents, Donna and Charley). She was so excited to fly with her grandparents. Again the trip went very smoothly and the casting continues to be successful. This week Morgan chose blue casts. They now have her right leg casted at 100 degrees and her left leg is at 90 degrees. Immediately after casting Donna gave Morgan a dose of valium and then began alternating the Tylenol and Motrin to try to help with the pain. Despite the pain Morgan was a good girl on the plane and was adored by everyone. Donna and Charley said they were amazed at how kind and helpful everyone was around them on the plane. I guess it is hard not to love an adorable 2 1/2 year old who is being carried on a pillow like a princess with two huge blue casts on. They made it home around 8 last night and Morgan was still in a lot of pain. Before bed we gave her another does of valium and continued the Tylenol and Motrin. We all had a really rough night of sleep again last night (the usual Friday routine right now). Morgan moaned all night long. I think the longest any of us slept solid was maybe 2 hours. She has now been up since about 4:30am and is on her second movie of the day. We will take it easy today watching lots of movies and reading lots of books and hopefully by tomorrow she will be up for playing again.... that is until Thursday when Morgan and I take off for Philly. This next trip though should be our last cast!!!!! Morgan will have this last pair on for two weeks as we take a break for Thanksgiving. We are then scheduled on December 3rd to get the last pair removed and her braces (KAFOs: knee, ankle, foot orthotics) fitted. In the meantime we have the continuing challenge of trying to figure out how to position Morgan to play, eat, sleep, and ride in the car with the increasing amount of bend in her knees. The good ole bean bag chair that she lived in for 6 weeks during the spica cast may soon become her saving grace again.

We will continue to keep you all updated on the amazing progress Morgan is making.

Morgan and her Grandpa at the airport.

Morgan in between cast changes.

Morgan watching Elmo as she awaits the next pair of casts.