Here We Go Again! Shriners Hospital Room 2

Rhett has made a lot of progress since I last posted. But earlier this year, during the summertime, he began to backslide. He quit trying to walk and seemed weaker. We were all perplexed, but after looking at x-rays, we realized his left hip was broken. It never healed right after that last big surgery, so after much wear and tear, the metal plate that was holding it in place broke. That explained his sudden loss of strength and mobility.
Thursday, Rhett underwent his 6th major surgery. Two orthopedic surgeons worked on him simulaneously for about 5 hours. This procedure included reconstructing the left hip (removing old metal, correcting the angle of the hip and then fastening a new, stronger plate). While he was sleeping, they also removed the old metal plate from the right hip, which healed fine. In addition, they addressed his severe pronation of his ankles. Currently, he's been walking on the instep of his feet. They screwed into his growth plate on the interior side of his feet to stop the growth and then lengthened bones on the exterior side of the feet. Now they should be more even and we should be able to see Rhett use the bottom of his feet when walking. Wouldn't that be something? :) Maybe we wouldn't have to buy him new shoes every week!

Here's a pic of the metal we took out Thursday, from his surgery last year. Guess we'll throw this in the tool box.

We will definitely keep posting how he is doing! Thanks everyone for your support.