Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Jack update

Sorry I haven't mentioned Jack's leg in so long.  To be honest I am sick of his leg.  Sick of posting gross pictures, sick of cleaning it, sick of worrying about it, sick of Jack missing school.  Last night I was reminded by Jack that I really need to do an update on his leg.  So I will.  Jack is doing great most of the time.  He has been back to school for a week, although he hasn't gone all day everyday he is going.  This week so far he is doing better then last week.  He needs to keep his leg elevated "at all times!"  He does pretty good with that because he gets sore if he doesn't.  He is an 11 year old boy though so it is pretty hard to keep him down.  My neighbor just informed me that Jack was climbing her tree the other day.  He has also been seen riding a bike and trying to do tricks, hopping over a fence and wrestling with his sister.  Like I said it is hard to keep him down.  He has been bumped or kicked or jumped on a few times and that has brought on a surge of pain that causes him to be more careful.  Today I am letting him ride the bus home from school and he is excited about that, it has been so long that he forgot he hates it.  Jack also is in charge of all of his own wound care at this point and does great.  He can shower again, although he doesn't like to.  The doctor said he will probably be able to swim before the summer is up, play football in the fall, and never go in the sun again.  He is still being a good sport about the whole thing.   Now time for a photo tour:
First time changing bandage after debridement.  Chris tried to take the worst picture possible to gross out all of our fans.  It was nasty though and very painful.
Looking much better but still very tender and raw.  Jack was obviously not doing the best job getting clean since you can see his initials on his leg.  We thought that was funny.  Jack says "don't debride the wrong leg, the other one could be mistaken as a 3rd degree burn"
Notice that the little circle burn is healed over!  Mary lovingly refers to that as a meth hole.  
It is looking better every day.
If you enlarge the photos you can really see the little buds of new flesh growing and it is quite awesome.  This picture was actually taken several days ago and it looks even better now.  
I will try to put a new photo on in a few days so you can see the change.  Sorry about the beginning rant, I do take care of Jack don't worry!  Also if you have any good ideas to share on how to keep his leg dry so he can go in the lake in a few weeks I'd love to hear them!

4 comments:

Liz said...

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that Jack is back in school. I'll bet he was missing it! It looks like he's doing much better. As far as keeping it dry....I wonder if 'Glad Press and Seal' would work?? He may just have to wear a wet suit!

Anonymous said...

i hope you were kidding about the never being able to go in the sun again....
love the update.

cant wait to see you

love you, nichole rose

MARCIE said...

This post totally makes me and Dad sick. (The pictures that is) But it sounds like Jack is doing great!

Patch Family said...

so glad to hear he is doing better.