Update on 3-Year-Old Boy in Missouri - Colton's first day of school

Talk to you when we get back,
Michelle

May 16, 2009
Here the pictures from our trip to Shriner's yesterday. Hopefully you get them. He got fitted for his new "feet." They will be ready in 2-3 weeks!! He screamed and cried during the first leg, but not the second since by then he realized it wasn;'t going to hurt! The guy who did the fitting also had a prostetic leg from a lawn mower when he was 3 1/2 so he and Colton had quite a talk about that. He will have two different designs of John Deere - one on each leg! Surprise, surprise!! When his legs are finished they said we will need to be over there for about 2 days for therapy and then, with the acitveness and coordination he already has, they don't anticipate he will need any more therapy. Just ahve to wait and see!

Talk to you all soon!
Michelle

March 4, 2009
Colton went to surgery this morning at 7:25 and he was in recovery at 8:27 We were on our way home by 945.? His surgery went well and we go back to the clinic next Thursday.? His leg is splinted to restrict movement, so he is kind of upset about that.? But everything went well.? They did not have to do another skin graft.? They 0just made an incision and pulled the skin and stitched it back together. I'll let you know on Thursday how it looks.
Michelle Feburary 20, 2009Colton's clinic appointment. went well today. Doc says everything looks good. He is controlling most of his bowel movements now. He is also scheduled for a Zplasty to extend the skin graft on 3-2. Hopefully it won't be an overnight stay unless he has to do an actual skin graft and then we will have to stay. Doc won't know until he gets in there. Then it is just a matter of healing up so we can go to St. Louis!

I'll keep you informed,
Michelle

January 20, 2009
Well, Colton survived his first trip to Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis last week. It was a long drive for him, but he rode amazingly well with little complaining. He survived the hotel stay with only one fall out of the bed. But, none of us got much sleep since we are all used to having our own quiet sleeping quarters - alone!

The hospital visit went well. It wasn't as easy going as Mercy's appointments but I wrote that off as not knowing the people. Colton knows pretty much everybody in every clinic and ward we have been to. It was also a lot more "business-like" that the staff came in the room, did what they needed and left. No chit-chat. That was hard for Colton since everytime someone came in they wanted his socks off and wanted to look at his legs and touch them. He doesn't like it for anyone to touch his legs but me. And sometimes he doesn't even like that! But, we saw the nurse, nurse practitioner, physical therapist, prostetist, chief of the ortho department, x-ray and photography.

Colton did not get fitted for his new legs. The prostetist (Brian) said the scabs on his knees needed to be healed (they are scabs because he is a VERY active four year old - not from the accident) and he wants the skin graft on the back of Colton's left leg to be extended to allow for larger range of motion. He cannot fully extend or bend the left knee right now. The physical therapist thinks it is partly due to the skin not having enough stretch in it. She wants Dr. Sharp to look at it while Colton is asleep during his colostomy surgery Friday to see if it will move better when he isn't aware of it. Then we will know if it doesn't move because Colton chooses it to not move or if there is another problem - maybe froze up still from such a long period of not using it?? So, Friday we will talk to Dr. Sharp to see when he can do that surgery. Shriner's offered for us to talk to their plastic surgeon to do the surgery, but I am more comfortable letting Dr. Sharp do it since he has done all of the grafts thus far. So, once all the "wounds" are healed up we can call Brian and get started.

Once Colton is fitted, it will be approx. 2-3 weeks to get the legs made (depending on the case load Brian has at that point in time). Then we go back and try them on. He will want us to stay for 2-3 days so he and the PT can observe Colton and do some therapy. Then we can go home and get therapy a couple days a week in KC. We will then have to return for a follow up after 4 weeks, unless there is a problem. Then, we go back when he wears out the legs he has or when he has a growth spurt. I figure it will be because he wears them out - and Brian said that is what he wants to see - wore out legs! He was very easy to talk to and explained thing well. He was also very nice when I brought up "CM said they can do this . . . can you?" He said we would have to discuss the "kind" of legs and feet when we came to get fitted. He didn't know yet what would be best for Colton. I liked that he didn't give me any "fluff" answers. I also like that he has prostetics himself. So he knows.

So, now we are just trying to keep Colton from beating his knees up any more and getting ready to go to the hospital on Thursday. The sooner he poops, the sooner we come home.

Well, I best get on to my nightly to do list.

Talk to you after we get home from the hospital.
Michelle

January 8, 2009
I can't remember if I told you guys Colton was walking on his knees now. He doesn't do it all the time, it is faster to crawl, but he can walk all the way across the living room - holding toys!

But what I am really excited to tell you is that last week when it was kind of warm out I took the boys out to play on the jungle gym. If you haven't seen our wooden one, it has a rock wall to climb in order to get up the the clubhouse to go down the slide. It is a wooden incline with plastic "rocks" screwed into it to use to climb. Well, as you can already guess, Colton climbed up the rock wall all by himself . . . 3 times . . . and went down the slide!! Someone had to catch him at the bottom because the slide it really fast, but he had a ball!! I was really nervous about his knees since the rocks hve some pretty hard edges on them (for gripping your hands on) but he used his upper body strength to pull and braced himself with his knees. There are 8 rocks to get to the top!

When we get back from Shriners, I'll let you know how it went. We go next week.

Michelle

January 6, 2009
Dear Friends,People often tell us what a miracle Colton is. This may be quite true, but it took a lot of help and prayers from strangers and friends alike to keep our little miracle with us.As we look back at the last year, especially the chaos of the past four months, we wanted to try and thank all of you that played a role in helping us through the storm. We would like to be able to thank everyone personally, but the amount of support we have gotten is unbelievable. People we have never met in places we have never visited joined those we know to help us through this difficult time in our lives. Our family has been truly blessed.The first responders were our guardian angels. They kept their composure, got Colton stabilized and on his way. Without their strength, things could have been much worse. The incredible staff at Children’s Mercy Hospital made this tragedy a little more bearable and started Colton on the road to recovery. Thank you. Next, thanks literally to the masses. At one point I think it would be safe to say that Colton was a topic on every prayer chain i n the tri-state area as well as all across the United States. Whether on the lips of those who knew us or had simply heard the story, prayers were sent to the Lord each night. Those prayers did not go unanswered. Thank you.Then when we returned home businesses and organizations, some we didn’t even know, had fund raisers. That support helped us to face the financial burden that often goes unseen in these tragedies, for that we are thankful. As the initial weeks passed the cards, letters, gifts, and help with things at home continued to pour in from our family and "extended" family, because now we consider you all part of our family. Thank you.It has been a hard road, but you all have helped to soften our steps. To each and every one of you, regardless of the role you played, you have helped pull us through this. Thank you.In January Colton takes the next step to recovery with his first visit to Shiner’s Hospital in St. Louis to begin the process of getting his prosthetics. He will also be facing another surgery at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Your continued prayers would be greatly appreciated.Colton continues to amaze us with his ability to remain for the most part unchanged by this. He is still same little boy who loves his John Deere tractors and playing outside. He truly is our little miracle, thank you all for your support and prayers.
The Newman Family

December 18, 2008 1st, I am having problems with my email - so please let me know that you got this email. 2nd, Colton had an ortho appt. yesterday and everything looked good. We don't have to go back unless there are problems. Then we had a surgery clinic appt. today. Dr. Sharp changed his mind about the anoplasty surgery and cancelled it. We are going on January 22nd to prep his bowels for colostomy reversal on the 23rd!!! YEAH! That will require a several night stay at the hospital to make sure everything gets working correctly again, but it will be worth it. His skin grafts are looking good. So, our journey back to "normal" just look a big short cut!

At both of the appts, the doctors and nurses all commented on how well adjusted and "happy" he seems to be for all he has gone through. They are so right. He is doing great and this hasn't changed his presonality any.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

Michelle
<div>November 21, 2008 forgot to tell you guys last night that Colton won the "Hero of the month award" for November at Children's Mercy. Our child life specialist (they work with the kids on activities and prep/entertain them during procedures and stuff) nominated him and he won the award for the whole hospital for November!! He got a t-shirt, a medal, a certificate and a very large gift card from Walmart! We are pretty proud of him! Talk to you soon,MichelleNovember 20, 2008We went to the burn clinic today. His donor sites look good. VERY itchy, but good. His right leg has only a stretchy sock thing on it and his left leg has 3 spots which took a total of 1 inch square of silver padding stuff to cover wounds and then the stretchy sock over that. No more bangages!! We will see the rehab people in December to get fitted for his stump shrinker garment things to get the stumps shaped the way they need to be for the prostetics and then later in December he will be fitted for some form of compression garment to cover the remaining graft areas on his butt. We have an appointment with pain management in January to begin weaning his meds and we also have an appointment with Shriner's in January. And we have an appointment for outpatient surgery to do a little bit of work on his rectum (anoplasty is what they are calling it) and then about 2 months later they will work at reversing the colostomy. So, our calendar is full! But, Colton is crawling around great and getting where he wants to go on his knees. Not much is stopping him these days. He and Carter do a lot of wrestling and fighting like all brothers do!

But, while we were at the hospital today we met with another family that I would like you to keep in your prayers. Over the weekend, the mother backed over the boy (Jordan - who will be 5 this spring) with the riding mower. His injuries are much less severe, but he has a large cut on one foot, a cut on his thigh and he lost part or all of a couple fingers (I think his dad said 3 fingers, but I don't remember for sure). I know that Colton is where he is right now because of your prayers, and I know we can do the same for Jordan. Please pray he has a speedy recovery like Colton has.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe weekend.\
Talk to you soon,
Michelle

November 12, 2008I talked to Shriner's today. Colton's first appointment with the Limb Deficiency Clinic is January 16th. The clinic is only the 3rd Friday of the month - so that is the first time we think he will be ready to go. He has to be healed so they can get a good idea on his knees and what they are dealing with.

We took him yesterday to Union Station to see the miniature train display set up for the holidays. He LOVED it!! I would send pics but my camera has finally bit the dust so I am on the search for a new one. Yuck! I guess the 2000+ pictures it has taken the last few years has been too much!!

Colton is getting around pretty good these days. I have been having to change his bandages a lot more than I am supposed to. But, apparently I have not been wrapping them tight enough because he wiggles out of them!! Then I have to bandage all over again and he really dislikes that! Our home health care nurse comes tomorrow, so I will know more then regarding the healing on his knees. I think they are looking pretty good, but we'll see what Bana has to say tomorrow.

Talk to everyone soon,
Michelle

November 5, 2008
</div> <div>Colton had an ortho clinic appointment today. Things looked really good. The right knee is almost totally healed up. The left knee looked really good. The stitches were healing well (from where he shaved the bone) and the new graft area looked good. The donor site on his left thigh is only about 1 inch by 3 inches and is healing well. We have orders for home health nurse only once a week. I can change them during the week if I want to give him a quick bath. We are scheduled for ortho clinic and surgery clinic (for the bottom) in mid December. We don't have any other appointments before that! Colton is pretty amazing!!

Well, that is all I know for today. Things are progressing quite nicely and things are kind of settling down around here. I'll update you when I have new news or just to let you know how we are doing.