Doctor Day Update

 Tuesday morning, after our gas smell in the house scare (plumber came over and never could fine a source but smell went away and we have been back in our home and are fine... better safe than sorry.), Ellie & I headed to Dallas for some appointments.

Sweet girl was so happy to be facing forward at last in her car seat.

My kiddos are such great travelers - I am so blessed!

 But when we got to her first appointment, things took a turn downhill.

Poor baby.  I guess the recent blood work and cath was a little too fresh on her mind.

She was not having those splints.

 In fact, she was so resistant that the PT finally decided to just make on splint and then sent us to orthotics.

It's our first time in orthotics.

(Though we frequent the prosthetics dept with Will.)

 We had thought that around age 2, she would become resistant and we would switch from splints to orthotics.

Clearly, she's advanced.

 For the casting at orthotics, she was not a happy girl either.

This is a different type of casting than what we do with Will for prosthetics.  It is not a plaster cast nor is it very messy.  The orthotist allowed Ellie to sit on my lap the entire time which helped.  

Also, songs on my iphone helped to calm her too.

The great things about orthotics are that hopefully they will last a little longer for Ellie and also, ideally, I won't have to tape any more.

Can we please pause for a moment of silence?

And can we cheer out loud and do a happy dance?!?!

I have loved taping her and being a part of her splinting experience in a very tangible way...

but I can't imagine life without taping!

What will I do with all that free time?!?!

I'm especially hopeful that she doesn't need tape under her orthotics (depends on the fit as to whether or not I'll tape her) because we swim a lot in the summer.  And we go to the beach.

And it was difficult last year - I felt like I lost some spontaneity because even just a "quick evening swim" for 20 minutes in our neighborhood pool meant calculating taping time for Ellie and turned that 20 minutes into an hour - hour and a half of time.

And she loves baths and if we don't have to tape as much, she can take a lot more baths!

And I won't have to worry about making sure I have taping supplies if we go swim with friends or want to go to dinner or something after a swim.

Glorious.

Praying we get a break from taping and that orthotics will work for her.

Regardless, our goal is walking so I'm willing to keep taping if necessary.

(Frankly, I'm willing to cut off my legs and donate them if it meant she could walk.)

 I mentioned to the physical therapist in the splinting room that when I tape Ellie, she often tries to "help" me by putting spare tape strips onto her own legs or on her baby doll.

That sweet PT "borrowed" baby while we were in orthotics and then surprised Ellie with this:

 I daresay, baby looks better with splints to match Ellie!!

(And Ellie has noticed them too and likes them!)

Finally, I was able to feed her and grab a very fast lunch with our friend Claire before our doctor appointment.

Things began to look up.

 When we walked into the exam room for the doctor, she immediately became fearful and upset so I nursed her.

Sweet girl was exhausted & grabbed a power nap while waiting for the doctor.

(Is it just me or does it seem like when kids are practically bouncing off the walls with energy that it takes forever to see a doctor but when they are exhausted and sleeping in our arms that the doctor is right on time?!)

 The doctor's appointment went well.  She may need another surgery but it is contingent on some other potential surgeries so really it was very vague and I'm sort of confused at the moment.

Meanwhile, Ellie was wiped out & slept hard on the way home.

Cuddling her newly splinted baby, of course.