Haze’s Feet -Dallas/ Fort Worth Photographer
Read Haze’s Story:
Haze is my second son, he is 7 years old and has had chronic foot pain since he was 4.
It’s like it happened over night but it took me a couple weeks to find out what was going on. It was only at night he would complain about his feet, needing foot rubs and had tears, taking motrin to sleep. If you knew Haze you might have thought this was a stall tactic to not sleeping but after a week I knew it was more so I took him to our regular doctor who said he just needed better shoes. Another week went by and Haze was still upset so I made an appointment with a pediatric podiatrist Dr. Jeff Taylor. This is when x-rays were taken and we found out Haze had bones growing out, one was at 40% and the other at 50%. He told us this was pretty severe at 4 but we would try orthotics for a couple years and hope they would get better but did warn us about our future. Sure enough through the years they didn’t even stay at 40 and 50% but kept getting worse. So at age 7 they are at 70% out and his toes are hurting now because of a tendon tightening as well. Dr. Jeff told us we needed to consider surgery while Haze still has bone growth until he was 13.
Surgery will be breaking a bone in the foot to make it go back to normal, sticking a disolvable spring in where the new bone growth will go the right way, and cutting a tendon in the back that has tightened with each foot. Needless to say we spent the summer getting 2nd and 3rd opinions. But over the summer the pain was getting worse and all the opinions led us back to surgery.
He is doing both feet at the same time and will be in a wheel chair with cast on both feet for a couple weeks then physical therapy, supposed to be a 9 week recovery.
So here we are, surgery is scheduled for this Friday and we are all a bundle or nerves and hoping the term kids are resilient proves true in Haze’s case.
Here is Haze waiting at the doctors office for one of the opinions this summer.
Haze is amazing. He is extremely active, loves being outside, jumping, running, and climbing.
Haze hurts. We are all hoping that this will be the answer.
Please send happy thoughts and prayers his way for Friday morning and a speedy recovery.
We love you Haze!
October 14th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Oh, poor little guy. I just said a prayer and will continue to do so until I hear that it went well. These pictures are beautiful and tell a sad story. :( I didn’t know that he was going through this. His feet are beautiful, by the way.
October 14th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Dear Kristina,
I love your story. It brings tears to my eyes. Tears of joy for our beautiful Haze Michael. Tears of joy for his jumping and running and playing with all his might, even with feet that hurt. Tears of hope for a successful surgery, recovery and future!
It sounds very positive, the doctors know what they are doing and it is being done at the right time in his life.
I feel sad that I can’t be there to help take care of Haze and to support you. The miles keep us apart, but my thoughts and prayers will be with you daily.
Please give Haze hugs and kisses from me!
Tell him Uncle Miller is recovering too…they can get better at the same time!
Love,
Nana
October 14th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Awesome documentation Kristina. Beautiful pictures too. Kids ARE resilient for sure. He is blessed to have you guys as parents because he will be getting the best care possible and so much love, and he obviously needs this help NOW, not later when it works for you guys. Medical science is an amazing thing and while it does sometimes cause more pain, it will so soon be feeling better, and gosh, what an amazing thing that will be. Keep us “posted”!!!
October 14th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Joel/Kristina,
The writing brings tears to my eyes and reminds me of an accident that almost took my wife and son’s life. As a parent you’re doing what you should be doing. The good news is that Kids recover fast.
Haze will be in our prayers and wish you all the best.
Samaresh
October 14th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Bless his little heart! As an adult there isn’t much worse than chronic foot pain. Thankfully Haze is so young and resilient. God bless him and you during this trying time. You are all in our prayers.
Love,
Uncle Larry and Aunt Shelly
October 14th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Aw. Sniff. Hugs.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
We will be hoping and praying for a great outcome on Friday. Just glad you guys are doing all this for
Haze while he is so young and strong.
Love
Uncle Bill and Gail
October 14th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Kristy,
Haze and all of you will be in our thoughts and prayers. Your mom had said Haze had some kind of foot problems, but I never understood it all. You explained it beautifully. Your pictures are awesome.
Love,
Margaret & Larry
October 14th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Sorry Joel and Kristina…this message is for Haze…(don’t worry yours is next)
Hey there Haze…you haven’t met me in person yet but, I’m your Aunt Tiffany’s best friend ok well her faraway best friend even though we haven’t seen each other in a long time….that’s going to change soon. I have a son named Nikolas he just turned 6…and let me tell you…WE ARE SUPER COOL!…just ask your Aunt Tiff and your mom…it’s true….I promise! Anyway…Niki wanted me to tell you to be brave…he had surgery when he was 3 and again this past summer…not on his feet but, his nose…when he was born it was hard for him to breath and he couldn’t speak right. It sounded like…if you put your hand over your mouth when you talk…it was all muffled…so the Doctors waited to see if it would get better…it didn’t so he had to get these Adnoid thingy’s and a huge King Kong set of tonsils out. He was scared at first (just between you and me…I didn’t tell ya that part…ok?) but, the anestese…anestesiaologist (OK…I’ve worked in medicine for four years and still don’t know how to spell that word.) and the Dr. talked to him and explained what they were gonna do…and they told him he wouldn’t talk like Rocky Balboa anymore…yeah he didn’t know who that was either. Anyway…it all worked out…although he does sound like one of the chipmunks every now and then…just kidding!! So…we just want you to know that we…(THE SUPER COOL people) will be thinking about you all day and night on Friday…and we also wanted to SAY:…YOU ROCK…HAZE!!!
October 14th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Ok Joel and Kristina…your turn…As a parent…I so know how this feels…and it was hard but, I made it fun…how? well…as a CNA…hhmmhum…I’m guessing that Haze will be NPO after midnight which means he won’t be allowed to eat/drink anything the night/morning before the proceedure. So what I did for Niki was…I made a hospital bingo game…on the computer the night before. I copied pictures of like stuff you’d see in the hospital but, (NO FOOD)…so once we got there we started to play…if we saw it say a wheelchair, Dr., Nurse, Cart, T.V., Stethoscope, ETC. we could make a mark on our card. Well I know you’re saying what was the prize! Now this was the tricky part…because he couldn’t eat anything and this was suppose to keep his mind off the surgery…one of the nurses smuggled me in some brand new tounge depressors! SCORE! So for each Bingo we won…niki (3) Mommy (0) we got a stick and that stick was for a special prize after the surgery…guess what it was? (I called the doctor a couple days before the surgery) knowing that Niki would be put on a clear liquid diet after surgery…I asked him if I could have someone bring up a box of popsicles
scribblers I think they were called. He said after surgery no problem they would let him have ice chips first to see if he kept them down. I don’t know if this will work for Haze but, it worked for Niki and he didn’t mention anything about the surgery even when the guy came to make him sleep…he was so happy the guy had a stethoscope around his neck because that clinched his final win. YEAH! (4) -(0)….poor mommy. I didn’t tell him what the prize was going to be just that it was something he liked alot! Anyway…We’ll be thinking about you and Haze and sorry I rambled on…the way I do… :) But, it’s only cuz I loves ya and I hope all goes well…((HUGS))…Sandy
October 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Beautiful! What a trooper :)
October 14th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Be strong Haze, show us your muscles :]
We have you guys in our hearts and in our prayers.
Love Always Cousins
October 14th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Sending prayers to you all, wishing Haze a very speedy recovery! Hugs to you all!
October 15th, 2009 at 5:57 am
Beautiful pics, Kristina! I never knew the whole story. Thank you for sharing. We are keeping you all in our prayers, and wishing Haze a non-eventful surgery and a quick recovery.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Hoping all goes well for Haze – I’m sure it will. We’ll be thinking about him on Friday!
October 15th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Definitley praying Kristina … Thank you so much for sharing what is happening so that we do have the opportunity to stand with you in prayer : ) Bless you
October 16th, 2009 at 8:28 am
kristina, I have tears in my eyes for sweet Haze. I knew you all had surgery planned, but did not know what it was for. I am praying that the doctors will help fix his feet and he will be back to running and jumping before you know it. This time, without the pain. Let me know if I can help with anything!
October 16th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Dear Haze,
So now your surgery is over and you are on the mend. I wish a speedy recovery for you so that you can run and do cartwheels to your hearts content. You are brave. So keep up the good work. I know you don’t know me but I work at the same place your Grandma works here at Alcon.
Haze stay strong and get well soon!
October 16th, 2009 at 10:12 am
We have been thinking about you since we woke up…you are a brave little boy. We will be over soon to “bling” up your wheelchair and take you for a spin around the neighborhood. We love you very much, Hazey! :)