Guess what?!!

Just gonna come out and say it.......CONNOR IS BRACE-FREE!!!! Finally, the moment where I can watch my son walk without metal, plastic, or leather assisting his walking. Of course while I cried tears of joy, he displayed that incredible smile of his!! This has been an amazing month. I feel as though every week there has been huge milestones accomplished. Dr. Standard was extremely happy with Connor's X-rays today. In fact, I think his exact words were, "These X-rays are an out-of-the-ballpark home run!" More bone growth and shape of the new bone growing in is "beautiful". Connor's femur bone is healed enough to start strengthening exercises in PT. With all of this said, the day time brace is no longer. However, Connor will continue to wear the brace during the night for another month or 2. The tough part now is to keep Connor from over doing it. He feels so good and wants to just take off. His activity is still very limited for another 4 weeks until our next appt. Here is a picture of Connor with the incredible Dr. Standard! 

Wow! What a Day!

Connor enjoyed his first week of walking without crutches. He seemed to adjust quickly. He learned some new exercises this week which involved some movement of his 'stubborn' knee. A few yoga moves were also added to his daily regimen of exercises. Even though he has not been "cleared" yet to start hard core exercises with his knee, over time his knee continues to improve. Today, Friday, March 21st is the day before we see Dr. Standard. Therefore, updated measurements of hip and knee needed to be taken. Personal gains were made by his measurements today. Connor's Hip Flexion (pulling leg up towards head) is 100 degrees. Hip Abduction (making snow angel movements) is 40 degrees. I was told a "normal" hip is 45. His knee made a jump to 75 degrees!!!!!! We continue to be so proud of our little guy! We can't thank the PT ladies and gentlemen enough at Sinai who assisted in every step (literally) of the way with Connor. The pictures are Connor demonstrating his yoga moves. 

Another Milestone

Another milestone along this Perthes journey today. Click here to see the video! Connor was introduced to walking on his own without crutches. He still wears his brace at all times. Pt was extremely happy with his ability to walk without support. Of course, I had the happy tears flowing today when I saw him walking. It truly is amazing to think back to what this little boy has had to endure in the last 8 months. I want his strength. I want his courage. I want his perspective. This little boy will never know how much he has taught me. He also had some great success with the ROM in his knee today. With some minimal assistance, the ROM in his knee was 72 degrees. We continue to visit Baltimore 3x a week for 2 more weeks, then transfer to Hershey in April. Although, Baltimore hasn't been an easy task. We feel Connor wouldn't be where he is and doing so well without the experienced PT staff at Sinai. Absolutely no regrets! Way to go, Connor!