Lucas Prosthetic

Ned has been working really hard with Lucas to help him walk with his prosthetic.  This particular prosthetic has a joint so that it bends more like a normal leg, well as normal as it can be.  Anyway, Lucas hates when the leg bends so for the last 6 months instead of fighting with him I have just left it as a straight prosthetic.  Ned and I finally decided it was time for him to learn so we threw away the Velcro that kept it from bending and Lucas is doing really good.  We are very proud of him.


Untitled from Melisssa Resch on Vimeo.

inspirational story

My brother-in-law, Mike, sent me this article and I thought I would pass it along. I always love reading stories about children that overcome limb differences. I figured since you all love Lucas you would also want to see how successful Lucas can and will be despite the his physical limitations.

http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/420950.html

Lucas's Prosthetic

Some have not had a chance to see Lucas's actual prosthetic so here are some pictures.  He is doing pretty well with it although he is not the biggest fan.  Today he kept his hand in the way so I could not put it on.  We are usually able to put him in it for about an hour a day.  He is starting to be able to walk around the furniture, and he can walk while he pushes his walker.  He also just started to pull himself to stand with it on so we are very proud of his progress.  

Lucas is starting to get mad.

He has to wear the sock and his heel rests on the ledge and then it closes and velcroes closed.  Notice the lining inside the cover, that is added to extend the life of the prosthetic once it gets too tight they will remove the lining.

Lucas getting his prosthetic

This just shows the process that we have gone through to get Lucas's prosthetic. First we went to Shriner's to get the Okay from the doctor to get the prosthetic. This was pretty great because on Friday at Shriner's it is the "Prosthetic workshop" so we were able to meet and talk with other families that have and are going through the same thing. The best part was that the mothers I talked to put me at ease because I have had a ton of apprehensions with the whole prospect of the prosthetic. We saw children in all stages of there lives with prosthetics and it was great to see that they are no different from any other child.
Next we went to the prosthetic shop which is Scheck and Siress in which we met with the person that will be making his prosthetic. They took a cast of it in which they will use to make a plastic prosthetic. After two weeks we went back and Lucas was fitted with the plastic prosthetic. At this visit they would fit the prosthetic and then leave make some adjustments and come back. This was a particularly long day and Lucas was having nothing to do with that prosthetic. Then today we went back to have one final fitting before they make the final product. This time he did not mind the prosthetic he even took a step the moment I put him on the floor with the prosthetic which was a relief. That was however his last step because he spent the rest of his time standing on his prosthetic leg and using his good leg to try and kick off his prosthetic. I think that it will take a little getting use to. Finally, we took Lucas and the prosthetic back to Shriner's to get the doctors okay. We also met with the physical therapist which took me through the exercises and what we need to do daily to get him use to it. She seemed pretty impressed with what he was already doing with it on so she was pretty confident that it will take not time for him to get up and going. On Wed we are going to pick up the final product. Here are the pictures of the whole process.

The patients rooms at Scheck and Siress. Isn't Lucas strong!!

Another picture of the room.

Lucas had to wear girlie tights how embarrassing

Making the cast

Cutting the cast off

I am pretty sure that Lucas had a lot of fun.

Shriner's Hospital waiting room.

Lucas with the prosthetic on, and as you can see nothing can stop him.

Cute picture and please reference the previous blog before you pass judgement about his hair

When we get the actual prosthetic we won't have to use tape :)

First trip to the hospital

Today was our first trip to the Shriner's Hospital. It is a really cute little hospital that is strictly ortho and for children. It is all about the children in the waiting area there is a ton of games and toys and even video games. Anyway we first met with the nurse that measured and weighed Lucas and he is barely 13 lbs. She also had us put Lucas in a hospital gown which was adorable. After that we met with the resident and he did the physical exam and then we had another xray. We were also able to see the xray and there was a little femur showing which is different from our last xray which just showed gray area. Finally, we met with the doctor-Dr. Ackman and he basically told us what we already knew. Lucas's case of PFFD is classified as a "D" on a scale from A-D with A less severe and D as most severe. We have three options:
1-hook a prosthetic to his foot and have him function that way.
2- For cosmetic purposes amputate his foot and at that point he would be considered an above knee amputee which may look a little better, but a little less stability for the prosthetic.
3- The surgery to rotate his leg in which the ankle becomes the knee joint and the knee joint the hip. This surgery would not take place until he is at least 4 years old.


For right now we will move forward with the prosthetic and we have an appointment in March for Lucas to be fitted for his prosthetic.

After we met with the doctor we met with a social worker. She was just there to let us know what resources are available and make sure that we are okay with the information that we received. She gave us information on a support group called FAIM (families and amputees in motion), and they have other resources at Shriner's like a dietitian for children.

So basically Lucas looked adorable in his hospital gown, he will get a prosthetic in March, and we will figure out a more permanent course of action later.