5 more days.

That’s how many days until Elijah’s next follow up with the doctor. It’s at that appointment they should be able to give us the go-ahead to start his physical therapy. That should hopefully open the door to some other changes as well.

One being that he can hopefully stop using his wedge. It’s been in place to keep him from crossing his legs while he’s recovering, but hopefully there will be enough healing that he shouldn’t need to continue wearing it. I’m not 100% certain about that, but I’m hoping. At a minimum we should be able to go without it for longer periods of time.

We’re also hoping that we can change his wheelchair. Although he’ll be starting to walk again, he’ll likely need his wheelchair for a lot longer while he builds up the strength to walk. We’re hoping we’ll be able to exchange his current wheelchair for one like his original. That one was much smaller, lighter, easier to transport, and easier for him to maneuver. Using that one would give him more independent mobility, and would just be easier to use all around.

And obviously the biggest change will be the ability to put weight on his legs. Technically the plates in his legs are strong enough to support him, and he could put full weight just on the plates themselves. That’s really not the best method for healing, though, so they like the kids to stay off their legs as much as possible for a while. It’s unlikely that by his appointment his bones will be fully healed, but again, they should be good enough that he’ll be able to start his physical therapy. Then, we’ll see how much he’ll want to walk or move around on his own at home. He’s already started moving himself from his wheelchair into another chair, with his wedge on and everything, so I’m sure he’ll want to move a lot more once it’s gone and he knows he can use his legs.

We’re really excited about this new chapter, though trying not to get our expectations too high as it’s not certain it will happen just yet. Still, we are praying for the best, and we ask you to do the same as we know you’ve been doing.

I know it won’t be easy, or comfortable, but it will be good, and he’ll be better off because of it!