Getting Rid of the Pain

Turkey has always had an awkward gait, so much so that we call his running "the shuffle".

A few years ago, how many I couldn't say exactly, maybe since he could really talk; he's complained about his legs hurting.  We chalked it up to growing pains.  He often complained of "growing pains", while out on hikes, walking the mall, bowling, the list goes on.

Thankfully, he isn't the athletic type. He's more the "kid sitting in the middle of the soccer field picking flowers" type; which he did do during the one season of soccer her played.

Then a few months ago, while getting a new pair of sneakers, the women assisting us in the store remarked how flat his feet were.

It was like a light bulb going off in my head.  I was angry at myself, embarrassed; and felt guilty.  How could I have missed this?  How did it take so long for me to notice?  The correlation could not be any clearer, his flat feet was causing some leg pain for him.  Major.  MAJOR.  Mom Guilt Moment.  Ugh.

I called his doctor, and she referee us to Shriner's Children's Hospital (SCH).

Today we went to SCH.  They were amazing (aside from them loosing our chart and taking an hour to initially see us, but with my luck lately that is on-par).

Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and speedy (maybe waiting that hour helped, they felt so bad).

Turkey had his first x-ray today; and I got the pleasure of explaining (granted not the right explanation) of telling him why they couldn't x-ray his boy parts.  I told him "we don't need a picture boy parts).  OK, maybe pleasure wasn't the right word.

He joked about them seeing food in his legs, as we often tease him that he must have a hollow leg since he eats so much some days.

They checked his range of motion, and had him run and jump and all this fun stuff.  Not to mention the awesome volunteers in the waiting room who played games with him, including Left-Right-Center; which was so much we bought it today as well.

In the end we left with a knee x-ray to be further reviewed and gotten back to us on; as well as a pair of blue tie-dye orthodics for his shoes.  We go back in 3 months to see how they are working.

After a test drive walking the mall today, I think they are going to work out great.

It is SO nice to see my boy walking around and not complaining.  Again, kicking myself for not seeing it sooner... ugh.  Some days I would think he just complained a lot; other days I would think he just needed to exercise more; and even some days I just thought he was being lazy (for this I feel most guilty over).

But we are on the road, the road to pain free walking for the boy.