The last big hurdle before we could take off cruising.
Our family has had more than the average allotment of medical issues. This was Eli’s last big medical thing he had to get out of the way before we could sell everything and take off cruising. Because achondroplasia is a bone-growth disorder, the ability of his skeleton to support the normal weight of his body was not quite up to the task. As soon as achon toddlers start walking, their previously straight lower legs begin to bow and sometimes twist. It’s normal and something that Eli lived with fairly easily for many years. FYI: bracing doesn’t help, because the rate of bow is faster than the rate of growth.
Eli could have had his legs surgically straightened years before, but opted to take a break from surgeries that didn’t absolutely have to be done right now because if you don’t you’re gonna die or lose function or possibly the world would end. I might be paraphrasing Eli’s exact words a bit there, but you get the gist of it. Unfortunately, by the time he medically had to have it done, because the extreme bowing was causing permanent damage to his knee/ankle joints and impairing blood circulation/nerve function, by the time it was TIME…I was in a wheelchair and needed my husband’s help to do every little thing, including wiping my own ass.
Steve honestly couldn’t do all of the financial providing; all of the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and driving; all of the running me back and forth to useless doctors and doing everything, literally everything for me….all of that, and then add another human who was going to be largely physically dependent for what turned out to be nearly half a year. He couldn’t manage two wheelchairs at once. Who could? Steve didn’t have any help, any respite, any nursing assistance. Nope, he just did the best he could and it was amazing. Because that’s the kind of guy he is.
One of the things that most motivated me to keep pushing my physical recovery (even when the jerkhole doctors sent me to mandatory head shrinking for the sole purpose of brainwashing me into giving up hope of recovery, to literally make me shut up about options and therapies that might help me get out of the wheelchair), was the knowledge that every day I was in my wheelchair was a day Eli got closer to losing his ability to walk. Permanently.
As soon as I got to the point where I was out of a wheelchair and not only able to care for myself, but able to help care for Eli, we put him in a wheelchair. The surgeon cut through both bones of both lower legs, used the external hardware you see to line everything up the way he wanted and then tightened it all down. This picture was one of the first times Eli started using a walker. At first it was just standing. Then he was taking steps. Eventually, he graduated to a cane.
When this picture was taken, our family still had major health issues. We were financially screwed. We felt beaten down. And still, we started looking for boats. Figuring that the right one would come along at the right time. She did, and her name is Landfall. She needed so much work, but then, so did we. We kind of brought each other back to life and then, against all odds, we actually did it. We sailed away.
#throwbackthursday #awesomehusbands #dwarfkidsrock #cruisingwithdisability
