Baby Grant and Primary Children's Hospital

Grant got his Achilles tendons clipped recently, and while it was a very hard few days, he is doing well now. 
I want to document the day with pictures sent to me by his sweet mother, McKenna.

 
First, his casts were removed.
He looks like he is use to this procedure. 
He's been having it done every week.

McKenna is always near by to comfort him.
Then some numbing gel was put on his cute little legs.

They were told to just walk around the hospital for 45 minutes 
so the numbing would have time to take effect.

Daddy McKay has come to all his appts, too.

A stop by the pharmacy to get some pain meds for after the "surgery" 
(I hate to say 'tendon clipping' because that sounds so horrible.)

Grant's Daddy even had time for an apple fritter

The witch is about the same size as Grant!


And this is where the pictures stop.
Grant had the procedure while his parents waited outside the room this time. I guess it went well but he had some expected pain for a few days after.

His complete legs and feet were recast and then he will go back 3 weeks later to have the casts removed for good. As I understand it, Grant will be in a leg/foot brace round the clock for 3 months. And then he will just wear them at night for 3 years.

The Dr warned them that having him in braces will not be as easy as it sounds and some parents slack off. McKenna told me, "I let them clip my baby's tendons! (in other words they will definitely not be slacker parents !)





I thought these were very interesting statistics about Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah:


"Among the 1924 diagnoses: tumors, 2; harelip, 2; club feet, 2; heart, 1. 
In 1996: 1,444 neoplasms (tumors); 306 cleft lip and palate; 111 cases club feet. 
Approximately 1,500 children are diagnosed with heart conditions each year, and about 150 children are newly diagnosed with cancer at Primary Children's.
The 1924 diagnosis list included cases of tubercular bone, infantile paralysis and rickets, conditions rarely seen today.
In 1924, patients came from six states and Canada. In 1996, children from 43 states and seven foreign countries were treated.
In the 1930s, the average length of stay was 158 days. In 1996, the average was 5.58 days."

Can you imagine the average stay in the 1930s was 158 days?? What a horror it must have been to have a child admitted to the hospital. And I don't think they let the parents come visit but maybe once a week, if at all. That's what I've always heard anyway. 

The entire article about it here .



I grew up giving my "birthday pennies" to Primary Children's, 
and often praying for the children there when I was a little girl. Little did I know my baby grandson would be blessed 
by this facility all these years later.

And this is the very first I have seen of it:

8 comments:

cristie said...

he is absolutely adorable.

amazing help available to us. xox

Kris said...

Aahhhhhhh.... Those are such sweet photos! I love the way Grant is looking up at his daddy. It is so sweet!

Dad and Susan said...

So interesting Jill. Good to see that little Grant is in such good hands. Also, the video helped us to count our blessings that his little problem is so fixable. His parents will be vigilant I'm sure. Thanks for this update. Love, Dad and Susan

Susan Anderson said...

He clearly has a more involved problem than my two did, but it looks like he is coming along great!

And I know that those two will NOT be slackers.

=)

Lisa said...

These pics truly do say a 1000 words. McKenna is so beautiful & I loved seeing the pics & the whole fam together.

grandmapeg said...

This was quite interesting and I love the pictures of Grant and his parents! I love Primary Children's Hospital. Our family has benefited from it several times.

Karen Mortensen said...

That Grant is so adorable. I hope they come to CA soon so I can see him. I know this is weird but I would have liked to have seen pictures of them cutting the tendon. That would have been interesting to see how they did that.

threelittlebackseatdrivers.blogspot.com said...

He is such a doll! And he looks so patient and calm and content! :) Cute! Thanks for sharing...and thanks for the fun voicemail back. I never saw you called...but I noticed a vm on my phone a day later than when you left the message. Odd, huh? Great to hear from you too...my dad said it was fun seeing the wards...he went to Clovis 2nd and 3rd that day! And he took pictures of the YW Recognition boards... :)

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