Sore and Sleepy

Over the weekend Noah has been very sore. At first I was stressing that the cast wasn't done properly, but now I'm pretty sure that it's because his leg spasms all the time, which is causing pain. Even without a broken leg, Noah's legs constantly spasm. Kids with CP often experience 'clonus' which is an involuntary spasm of the muscle. Usually if we grab hold of his leg when he is spasming and bend his leg at the knee it stops. It isn't usually painful, but when you have a broken leg it is VERY painful. The worst thing is that it's hard to stop the spasming now, because his leg is in the cast so we can't bend it.

The last two nights he has woken up around the same time as he usually does - about 3.30am. This is usually the time I turn him over in bed to make him more comfortable. Now when he wakes up, instead of rolling him over I just adjust the head of the bed as he is sleeping on his back rather than his side. I'm so grateful that we have a hospital bed which makes it quick and easy to adjust the position. so he can at least be moved a little. It was actually given to us from some friends Jan and Brian. Their little grandaughter Courtney passed away a few years ago and was a little bit older than Noah. We got to know her through lots of hospital stays together and we used to tease Noah that she was his girlfriend. When she passed away Jan and Brian gave a lot of her equipment to Noah which we were so grateful for.

The last couple of nights Noah's leg starts spasming as soon as he wakes up, which makes him cry for about half an hour. I have been jumping out of bed as soon as I hear him waking to try to stop the spasming by holding onto the bottom of his foot. After about half an hour of holding and giving some neurofen, things start to settle down.

The boys have been worried about him and asking me if his leg is okay. Last night Harri was talking on the phone to Chrish and says 'Noah's got a broken foot, Chrish!'. As soon as Di arrived today he told her that Noah's leg was broken. Jay has been great at keeping Kobe away from Noah so he doesn't knock his sore leg.

The hardest thing has been lifting him and moving him. One of us carries him, while the other one holds his leg as still as possible. We have had to just let him lay in the same position all day as it's the most comfortable for his leg. Aaron stayed home from school today to help me out as just changing his nappy is really hard, as moving his leg really hurts him at the moment. Today the lovely OT from St Giles came around today with a few different slings for us to try with the hoist. We never use the hoist, but I think I may have to use it now to make it easier to get him in and out of his chair as the cast is so heavy.

The Dr at the hospital said that the pain should settle once the cast was put on. I was surprised when he said that, so having Noah crying in pain all weekend has made me wonder whether everything was okay. I then realised that it was the spasming that was causing the pain as it was making the leg move. Any other person wouldn't usually have to put up with a broken bone, plus their leg spasming at the same time. I emailed my hydran support group on the net about Noah's leg and lots of them have emailed me back telling me to not feel so bad as all of their kids had a break or two as well. One lady told me that their daughter's break was sore for a week before things settled down. I didn't think it was fair for Noah to be in so much pain for that long as the neurofen and panadol just really wasn't settling things down very much, so I decided to ring his GP.

He was great and straight away said that it will take at least a week for the pain to settle down and that Noah shouldn't have to put up with it and said he needed something. I expected him to prescribe him panadeine forte or something similar, but straight away he said 'let's give him some morphine'. I was so glad as I knew it would really help settle things down for him and let him relax a little while it heals. The GP told me he had some in his office and to come down and grab it. When I went to pick it up he told me it was actually from a palliative care patient who had passed away and was just going to be thrown out, so he grabbed it. I'm glad he did now, as it has made Noah a lot more settled today.

He got a lovely card in the mail from Patrick and Lauren. The morphine has made him so settled that he hasn't even seen it yet! Thanks Kylie for being so thoughtful.

Hopefully now we have a stronger painkiller it will let Noah relax more so his leg can heal quickly.