Where the Crutches Disappear
- jgrom6
- Aug 22
- 2 min read
It’s been almost a year since Jack’s Perthes journey began.
It started with limping when he walked, then an X-ray and MRI, diagnosis, and a first and second opinion, ultimately deciding on casting and bracing as the best option.
Most of the time when someone sees Jack using his crutches and comments, they ask what happened, likely expecting that he broke his leg or had some other relatively common injury.
If Heather or I are around, he just turns to us and asks us to explain, but I’m sure he’s been asked when we are not around.
Since we and pretty much everyone we talk to have never heard of Perthes, it’s hard to understand.
He’s been diligently wearing his braces at night, doing his PT, and using his crutches with no weight on his right leg.
We were hoping and praying that at his appointment this month, he would be able to drop the crutches in time for his first day of 6th grade.
During the appointment, we heard the message of three more months of crutches, but we were all prepared for the possibility and focused on the fact that his hip was healing and his diligence is paying off. The doctor was genuinely impressed with his dedication.
He can now put 25% weight on his leg and can drop two nights a week of the braces. It’s progress that is slower than we would like, but progress nonetheless.
Jack said on the way home that on the bright side, he will get to play his Oculus more in the coming months. He really gets into it, a VR headset where he plays a lot of HeroXHero, with kids around the country and world, including a boy from New York and Scotland who regularly trade their mythic heroes and fight the bosses.
He asked me if I wanted to watch him play, and I took him up on it, amazed by how quickly he navigated menus, traded heroes, and traversed this virtual world.
No restrictions in his movement or crutches there.
I know there’s a lot of talk about too much screen time, but I have to admit that I liked video games, including Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation, back in the day, and I think I turned out okay.
Jack is making the best of the current situation, exploring new worlds while he diligently works every day towards a day when he can walk and run outside again.
Learning every virtual and crutch-aided step of the way.
Learn in the flow of life
Jason
What’s something you’ve learned lately from simply making the best of the situation you were given?
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