So much progress in the couple of days since we left the hospital! Rather than lying on the couch or sitting in a chair propped up by pillows, Oscar’s moving around a lot more. He walks loops around Grandmary’s house before and after each meal, and whenever else we can convince him. Last night he, Susan and I started putting together a giraffe puzzle on the coffee table, all of us sitting on the floor. Today the three of us played his favorite game, Dragonwood, at the kitchen table. He even started on his school math packet. But the biggest news is that he walked the neighborhood circle, a whopping 2/3 of a mile both yesterday and today in frigid temps. He didn’t think he could do it but we bundled him up and he had no trouble.

His belly pain has nearly resolved. We realized once we were home that one of the medications was causing more trouble than it was resolving so we axed it and we think that helped. Our first night home he was pacing the floor in the middle of the night to ease the pain but the last two nights he’s slept peacefully.

The only thing slowing him down right now is fatigue and his “side pain”. His left side is sore from the incisions but also from all the interior rearranging that went on during surgery. As I mentioned he’s really only taking Tylenol for pain but it’s keeping him at a manageable “4” on the pain scale. The more he moves the more it hurts but he knows that movement leads to speedier healing so he’s sucking it up. Still, we’re realizing it’s going to take a fair amount of physical therapy until he’s walking straight. Right now he’s a bit like the Leaning Tower of Pisa moving around the house with right shoulder up and his left hand clutching his hip, trying to support that sore side. We know he will continue to straighten as he grows but he also needs to undo many years’ worth of compensatory strategies he developed when he was so crooked.

Oscar doesn’t complain unless it’s real. I’m so proud of this guy and his determination as always.