Update on Dakota

Yesterday Friday, March 4th Dakota had another doctor's appointment to have x-rays done and have his hip checked out.  I wish I could say I have good news, but alas....I don't.

So instead of progressively moving forward and strengthening his hip, we are moving in reverse.  It's getting stiffer and tighter as the days go by.  He is just as weak as he was when he had surgery almost 5 months ago.  He has been in physical therapy twice a week for the last two months and still, no improvement.

He was required to do his physical therapy exercises at home three times a week.  When Dakota was out of surgery and able to move around and the physical therapy started (however many months ago that was - I am loosing track) I didn't have to fight with him to do his exercises at home and I didn't have to continually say, "Dakota do your exercises." over and over and over and over.

Lately, about the last two months to be exact, he gives the physical therapist a hard time and down right gets nasty with me about having to do them.  Him and I have both ended up in tears over these silly (but not-so-silly) exercises.  I would threaten to take things away and then when he still wouldn't do them, I would follow through and take away whatever it was that I said I was going to take.  It didn't seem to matter the next time he was required to either do his physical therapy at home or with the therapist he would fight.  It has become a viscous cycle and still no progress has come out of my constant nagging.

The problem with this is that the leg muscles in his right leg (abductor muscles) are extremely tight and therefore it pulls the femur inward which moves the ball joint further out of the socket (see right picture).  If it continues to do this, the ball joint will be so far out of the socket again they will probably have to do surgery again.  That socket protection is the only thing keeping the ball joint from collapsing.  So you can see the importance of not letting it get this far.

The doctor has given Dakota two weeks to turn his attitude around.  The doctor said that it is not "your mommy's fault" that this happened to you and that you have to do your exercises.  "She loves you and is only trying to help" (maybe if Dakota hears it from someone else he'll believe it cause he sure doesn't believe me when I say it).  He is required to do his exercises EVER DAY for the next two week no matter what and if he gives me any trouble then I am to call the doctor.

**If** I have to call the doctor in two weeks the doctor will order the physical therapist to inject a muscle relaxer in his abductor muscle and then put him in this cast called an A-brace (see left picture) and stick him back in a wheel chair for three weeks.

**If** his attitude changes and he does the exercises here at home when I say to and doesn't give me any grief about it then we can continue the physical therapy sessions twice a week and also every other day at home until our follow up appointment in two months.
 

Dakota will also start going to a child psychologist starting this week due to the loads of emotional stress he has been through.  I hope it will help to release or at least figure out a way to cope with some of the anger of not being able to be a "normal" kid!  I know it has to be hard for him :(

I will continue to work with him for the next two weeks and we will see how it goes from there.  Hopefully I will NOT have to make a phone call to Dr. Sundberg and we won't have to go down the wheelchair road again, but if we do, I am sure God will give me and Dakota the strength to get through it together.