The Little Lion - Rory's Story

I didn't expect to be writing another blog post so soon after my previous, but we've just had a really detailed chat with Mr F about Rory's short term surgical plans, and I wanted to get this information written down before I forget the details.  As we learnt a few weeks ago, Rory is due more surgery to correct the angle of his limb.  After further discussion, we've learned the gritty details of that op; Mr F is going to cut Rory's bone in two places, realign, then hold them together with a pin. He will also remove the pin that's already in there. The new pin will stay in place for 12-18 months in theory, however Rory is a bit of a one off, so it might be ready to come out in 6 months, we won't know. Plenty of clinic appointments to keep an eye on things will be the norm over the next year.  We're looking at scheduling the operation for early June which allows both us and Mr F to get our May holidays out of the way - I do not want him wheelchair-bound fo...

Before jumping into the skin graft journey I feel it's a good time to look back at how much progress we've made over the last two months, despite the fact that reduced visits to Sheffield have meant things have been pretty quiet for us.  This photo was taken on 5th January, at 6 months old.    Looking pretty different to 5th November, 4 months old.  I'll run through the various points of note in the November image:  1) The big one is the Vac Dressing. That's the machine in the black bag which is attached to Rory's leg. Regular readers will recall that the vac was permanently attached to Rory for about two months, from when the dead skin had been debrided to once the skin graft was mostly healed. Its purpose was to keep the open wound clean and clear of infection, and also to encourage blood vessels to grow upwards and prevent a dip or crater in his leg as the graft healed. We were all glad to be rid of the vac! 2) Difficult to see on this image but behind the le...

It's safe to say that 2020 has been a pretty terrible year for a lot of people, us included.  Rory's arrival has been, for us, one shining light in the middle of chaos and gloom.  Since early November we've seen photos of Christmas decorations popping up across social media (again, us included), partly because during lockdown there's little else to do on a weekend, but more so because I think there's a shared feeling that the sooner we get Christmas over and done with, the sooner we can wave goodbye to 2020 and happily welcome in 2021. I'm certain that none of us actually believe that we'll wake up on the morning of the 1st January and Covid will have disappeared for good and the economy will have boomed overnight. But there's something about the ticking over of the date that inspires a level of optimism. "We made it through 2020. This year has got to be better." For our family, the turn of the year doesn't just signify a change in date but...

Disclaimer One:  I should start this and every post with a disclaimer that any of the medical facts I discuss are mine and Pete's interpretation of what we've been told by doctors and nurses. They may not necessarily be 100% accurate as we have been overwhelmed with information, but are our best attempts at understanding the extensive details of Rory's illness and recovery. Disclaimer Two:  This post contains some upsetting photos that up to now we haven't shared. Please be prepared to see some graphic images of Rory's leg injury.  Development of the Extravasation Wound In my last post I described how the Extravasation injury was caused (a leak from an IO line), and how we originally expected the long term damage to be some discolouration or scarring.  During Rory's stay on NSU he received regular visits from the Burns Nurses who came to redress his leg (as the skin was being handled in a similar way to an extreme burn), as well as the Plastic Surgery Team who w...

Disclaimer One:  I should start this and every post with a disclaimer that any of the medical facts I discuss are mine and Pete's interpretation of what we've been told by doctors and nurses. They may not necessarily be 100% accurate as we have been overwhelmed with information, but they are our best attempts at understanding the extensive details of Rory's illness and recovery. Disclaimer Two: This post contains some upsetting photos that up to now we haven't shared. Please be prepared to see some graphic images of Rory's leg injury and of him on ICU.  Rory's Story. The beginning.  The first nineteen days of Rory's life were wonderful. After an eventful but not overly traumatic birth we brought him home from hospital a couple of days later and, in the midst of the Covid quarantine, enjoyed daily life as a family of three in our cosy bubble. Rory met a handful of close friends and family through the window as per quarantine guidelines, and on a couple of occ...