The Power of Prayer!

 For the last two days Jake could barely move without wincing in pain and he definitely couldn't walk because his hip was hurting him so bad… well through the power of prayer and Gods grace,  Dr. Paley was able to remove one pin from Jake's hip that was very loose, he also performed a peroneal nerve decompression which will help with his nerve pain in his leg and foot from the lengthening process. Jake is resting comfortably at home and was even able to walk around tonight and play with his brothers. 

  

 Jake is so happy to be feeling better and also to hear that so many friends and family are praying for him and thinking of him during this process! Thanks again for all the support... I really can't say thank you enough!

 Also today we received a new lower shoe lift!! Jake is thrilled to see all his progress!! 

Amazing right!!  What an awesome answer to prayer! Jake is currently has 51-53mm of new bone growth at this time.  Our next x-ray is on August 1st and he should be at 63mm which puts us at our goal length of 8cm by the end of August.  Please continue to pray that we have no complications and Jake gets the maximum growth with minimal muscle and nerve pain.  

With Love, 

The Petraske's

Jake Update 7/16

First the good news... Jake had an x-ray yesterday and we saw 51mm of new bone growth!!! 

Now the not so good news;

We found out today that Jake needs to go back in for surgery. He started to have increased pain last night and today in his hip area and was complaining about his pins hurting him (severe burning, bee-sting like pain).  Dr. Paley's physicians assistant, John saw that the pins in his hip (pelvis) and shin (tibia) are loose and need to be changed out.  This is a somewhat common complication that happens around this time in the lengthening process. Dr. Paley and his team will have to assess the condition of Jake’s fixator and pins and make adjustments as needed.  We are told that this is an outpatient procedure which means Jake will most likely be able to recover at home after the surgery and hopefully have only a small amount of additional pain from the procedure. 

Please keep Jake in your prayers, pray for Jake's comfort, for the surgery to be successful and for the medical staff and Dr. Dror Paley to have the wisdom to correct the issue and for  Jake to be in a lot less pain. 
Surgery is scheduled for this Friday 7/18

Thanks again for everyone's love and support for Jake during this time.  We appreciate all of the thoughts, prayers and the cards and donations!!  The pic above was taken after the boys opened a big box of toys that our neighborhood (The Estates of Halfmoon) sent us, Thanks so much for all the love!!! 

Jake Update

Hello from Florida!!  Hope everyone had a great 4th of July, as of today its been almost 8 weeks since surgery and we have been lengthening for almost 7 weeks or 46 days which is 46mm. 
We are more than halfway there!! 

We have had two more appointments since our last post. 
On June 16th we had our second post op visit we saw that Jakes lengthening is going well, we had 28mm of new bone growth ;-)

 



 

Also on June 16 Jake received his new shoe with a smaller shoe lift!!

 

 

Our third appointment was on July 1st, Jake has 41 mm of new bone growth!!

 

 

 

Our appointment was with one of  Dr. Paley's physicians assistant (PA) Servando, he assured us that Jakes new bone growth looks great and he is also happy with Jakes physical therapy progress.  He has an 85 degree knee bend and he is able to get to 0 degree extension, both important for the muscle and joint integrity as the bone and leg lengthen.

 

 

Some other highlights:

Jake lost his first tooth.. (and about 3 weeks later his second ;)

 

Luke turned 4!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Please continue to keep Jake in your prayers, he is having a lot of pain with his muscles and nerves in his right leg.  His knee stretches and pin cleanings are becoming much more difficult and it takes a lot out of him to deal with the intense pain. My heart breaks when he cries and asks us why this has to happen to him. :-(

He is my hero and so very brave and strong and I tell him that 10 times everyday.   Thank you so much for all of your support, prayers, concern and love! It means so much to our whole family to be surrounded by so much love and well wishes.  We are truly blessed!!