Foot Drop

Vincristine, one of the chemoes Spencer takes, can cause foot drop. Foot drop is the inability or difficulty of moving the ankles and toes upward (dorsiflexion). It causes the leg to be lifted higher than normal to pick the foot up off of the ground. I have noticed that Spence has been floppy when he walks. His feet seem heavy and he cannot quite get them up like he used to. The doctors hadn't said anything about it until this last chemo stay. The test him by having him walk back and forth and then by walking on his heels. He is usually fine. This time he couldn't even walk on his heels at all. They had the physical therapist come in and check him out and she had the orthopedic specialist come in and they made molds of his feet and legs to prepare some braces for him. Because he will be taking Vincristine throughout the length of his treatment plan, they are worried about it becoming severe, so we are trying to help it now. He should be getting his new braces this week. He is less than thrilled but he is lucky we caught it early enough. Our last stay was very uneventful and fast. We had a visit from Moab, Jena, Nahvi, and Junie, and then Jackson, Laila, Tierney and Sloan. It is always so nice to see friends here at the hospital! I went running around the neighborhoods here in the early morning and it kicked my butt. The hospital is set on top of the mountain so it was treacherous to say the least. I also read my first books since Spencer was diagnosed. I am a reader. I have been reading since I was a young girl. It is one of the things that defines me. I love to read. When Spencer was diagnosed my whole everything was thrown off balance. I remember trying to read a book in the hospital right after his biopsy and it just didn't work. I could not focus. It has taken about 4.5 months to finally find that part of me again and it was great. I FINALLY read Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and let me tell you I am so glad i did! They were awesome. I made a rule that Spencer couldn't watch television the whole time and I promised that I would stay off of my computer. We played Battleship, Bingo, did an art project, lots of Mad Libs and we read. I let him play his DS for some of the time but it seemed much better not to have the television on. It was actually an enjoyable time. We were lucky enough to have our most favorite nurses and we even got to come home early!