Week 12 Begins

Looks like G's complaining about her heel was the cast rubbing on her heel. She was red when they took it off but not raw. That is also why she was tip toeing every so often during practice walking - well probably why.

Numbers looking very good. Have 5 to go on knee extended R1 and R2. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next week. And I'm getting all paranoid about it. I'm figuring, if things go as they have, that she'll have at most two weeks to get to the measurements. Because she has had one measurement change and not the other in the past. But they always move by the next week. Many times tho they have both moved the same week so that would mean one more week. So we're talking three to four weeks left in the casts.

Exercises have changed - I was doing one wrong and it affected her walk. Now we have to work harder on that part. Here are our four exercises for this week:

1. Right foot up with weight bearing on left. Lift right knee 10 times.
2. Right foot up with weight bearing on left. Lift right knee up and swivel hips to the left. (This is the one I was doing wrong.)
3. Left foot up with weight bearing on right. Lift left knee up and swivel hips to the right.
4. Right foot up with weight bearing on left. Bring hip straight out to left then circle hip to back and back to starting position.

Talked to Mary about kinesiotaping and she said she doesnt think it works on the large muscles. So forget that.

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Another successful nite

Grace made it through the night with the immobilizer on and never woke up. She did not complain of any pain when I took it off this morning. I hope that means she is gaining some range. I dont know why else her heel would hurt except for the stretch she gets when in it.

We are soooo close.

Her practice walking the last two times has not been so great. Had to really sit on her, so to speak.

Kinesio Taping?

I brought it up to Mary last week - that kinesio taping might help Gracie walk better. She jumped on it immediately and discounted the entire theory of kinesio taping. At first, she thought I thought it would tape Gracie into place. I hope she understands that I know it doesnt do it. Its more of a persuasive device. I've had it on me and it really does guide you into certain positions. In my case, Audrey taped my hand and it really made me feel like keeping my hand open.

I sent email to Audrey asking her what she thinks about taping Grace to get her to bring her hip forward. I want to bring it up to Mary again. Worse case, I'd like to get Mary over to RIC in February when Trish and Audrey do their taping class.

Waiting for Audrey's reply.

LONG Weekend

Well, with Gracie's birthday, Thanksgiving, and a family day out on Sunday, we missed three 20 minutes sessions. However, we did make up 50 minutes so we ended up 10 minutes short of a full week.

Normally we would go to Childrens today but Grace has a field trip today of a Junie B. Jones play so we switched to Wednesday at 10 a.m. That means both she and I will will miss school for that day. Unless we get out of there super early then she might make it. We would have to get out by 11 for me to make it.

Knee immobilizer worked out well last nite. No complaints and slept right through from 10 (I put it on when she is already asleep) to 7:30 this morning. Very good!

Still trouble with ...

the knee immobilizer. She wakes at nite saying her heel hurts her - a lot. I dont know how much is real or she just wants it off. But I'm leaning towards its real. I am going to have her wear it right before we go to bed or some time during the day to see if it hurts her then. Tho that is usually in smaller increments of time than what she wears at nite.

Happy 7th Birthday, Gracie!

who would have guessed, when you first entered our world, you would give us such a ride!

Week 11 Commences

R2s moved up but R1s remained stubbornly the same. But R2, according to Mary, show true range so that is good. She figures a couple more weeks. Next week we hope to get in on Wednesday so Grace can go to her field trip play on Monday. Mary says many people are finishing so it should be okay. I'm glad for that. Dont want her to miss it.

Once we finish this, we stop concentrating on range and work on gait. Range is only important in that it cannot change. That would be bad.

I was disappointed to hear that in all likelihood, given the extant of Gracie's involvement, she'll probably not yet be out of her braces a year from now. In fact, she wont even have started being weaned off of them. VERY disappointing.

Gracie wrapped and waiting for the plastering:


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Knee Immobilizer (again)

worked out fine last nite. She woke up once asking for it to be taken off. I took it off then put it back on after she fell asleep (within 30 minutes). She woke up this morning and asked for it to be taken off and I asked her to wait 5 minutes before taking it off. I undid two of the straps and waited. She fell asleep and that was that. So we got it in and she wasnt much disturbed.

Minor Problem

G woke up last nite with the knee immobilizer on complaining her heel hurt. I took it off immediately. Hope this doesnt mean a problem in gaining some more degrees this Monday. Logically, it seems that it will mean exactly that. Will try her again tonite.

Another week drawing to a close

We've made it this far without missing a single session. Knee immobilizer has been on as required. Fitting nice as far as I can tell. WIll bring it on Monday. Gracie is cooperating. No big problems at this point.

Knee Immobilizer Woes

The knee immobilizer worked in that it stayed in place last nite. First, when I tightened the straps more so than I usually do. But after a few hours she woke up and complained it was hurting her. So I took it off. THen I put it back on after an hour but less tight. It was still on, in place, this morning - around the time she calls me in the morning, but she woke up complaining that her knee hurt her because she could not bend it. And later she mentioned that her heel hurt her a little - "not like if something is wrong with the cast." So I think its probably the stretch.

I'm going to try again tonite then go to every other nite as Mary suggested a few weeks ago if she is waking up with it.

I remember now ...

I remember now that I pointed out to Brigid when she made that comment that if you followed the protocol you really shouldnt have a problem. She then said the problem is if your doc says to take off the day braces BEFORE the kid is truly ready. But since I ultimately decide if a brace comes off and I feel that Mary is really the one to tell me "when", it wont happen to Gracie.

Phew! Can relax now.

Question To Ask

How many of the kids that have kept the range are still in day braces after a year?

It Just Hit Me ...

Brigid mentioned today that she hopes she keeps her range when in the braces. I hope I misunderstood her. Because I find that really upsetting. If we do the exercises and we went through all this, I was under the impression that she would keep her range intact. I'm going to ask Mary about it next week. But this is really upsetting considering what we are going thru - that we might just lose it the same as if we did botox. Sigh .... How aggravating.

Wish I had pursued this more in person but I got sidetracked. Now will have to wait a week. Hope I can forget about it until then.

Week 10: Halfway if we go the max

Well, today was disappointing in that she did not gain anything in her knee extended measurements. She did gain 5 for +10 and +15 in the knee bent measurements which is better than nothing and indicative of her soon getting a change in knee extended. I think part of the problem is the Knee Immobilizer. It might be too old or I'm not fastening it correctly. I'll make sure tonite that I strap it tight and see if it has slipped on her in the morning.

Changes in exercise are only in the practice walk. She is required to say "hip" for both left and right leg if she goes two steps without correctly moving her hips. Then she has to say it for five steps each leg.

The lakeside view (its a tiny slice on the horizon) from Room 4:


CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 11

Almost another week done

Havent missed any exercises and have been doing the 15 to 20 minutes of standing on her left leg while watching TV. She has stopped complaining about doing the work and is very cooperative. I remember going through a phase like this when she was around 4 where she didnt want to do the exercises and made a big scene. And, like this time, it cleared up. We now do all our exercises in the house.

In the pathetic catagory -
I'm starting to worry that she'll get stuck at these measurements rather than progressing as she has been at the 5 degrees each week rate. I'm getting too hung up on getting her done in two weeks. It just would make everything so much easier if it worked out that way even down to a real small thing like her getting to see a play with her class. I dont mention it to anyone but I think it!

Gracie as I took her for a walk with me and the dog tonite. She insisted on walking with this wrapped around her head - laughing all the way.

This Week's Exercises

We still need to do the knee up and down while weight-bearing on the left leg and the bow up and back while weight-bearing on the left leg. We are also to continue the 15 - 20 min of standing on her left leg with her right leg draped over mine and right hip higher than left.

We are to continue our practice walk but Mary does not like Gracie's timing with her hip movement and leg movement. So she has to say "hip" everytime she lifts her left foot as a reminder to bring her left hip forward. Believe it or not, this has changed her practice walking. We have to walk VERY slow to get it all coordinated. Which is good.

Beginning Week 9

Well, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope her numbers dont slow down as we reach our goals. Right now we are at 5/10 with knee bent and knee extended on the left. The aim is 15/20. So looks like maybe 2 more weeks if it continues to change at the same rate.

CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 10

Issac cutting off Gracie's casts:

YYYYEEEESSSSSS!

Okay. Bad week didnt make a difference. Grace moved up another 5. Will update the spreadsheet later but I was very happy to see her go to +5, +10 on knee extended and knee bent on the left side. Mary likes her walking - and her mid-calf measurement went up half a centimeter.

So will detail more later on but HOORAY! Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping we'll be out of the casting stage by mid Dec.

Worried about tomorrow

So I'm worried her numbers are not going to be very good due to her having pain problems over the week. Plus the recasting did not bring her to the same measurement as before due to her being in pain. So I'm assuming it will just be the same (hope not worse!) as last week's. Thats my best hope.

Now goign to finish up our exercise for the day. We missed all of the exercises on Halloween but there was simply no time between getting out from school and trick-or-treating. Then when she got home she was in pain. So skipped it.

Good so far ...

Gracie had some mild heel pain this morning but gave her Motrin and it went away.Now that the Motrin has worn off she says it does NOT hurt her anymore so that is good. Exercises going well. Nothing to report. I'm concerned her troubles this week will put her back re: her measurements. Though I'm not vocalizing this as I dont want to freak the little darlin' out.

All clear

The foot problem cleared up and we put in an uneventful full day's worth of exercises. Mary had us change the standing on one leg exercise to Gracie looping her right leg across mine (I'm sitting behind her) with her right hip higher than her left. This must have worked because Gracie became tired while doing this one. Prior to that she could do it all day long because she wasnt actively weight bearing.

Problem

Last night as Gracie was trick or treating - after about an hour - I noticed she had changed her gait in a BAD way. Up on the toes even tho she was casted. She told me it was because her feet were tired. So from that point on I carried her. When she woke up this morning she complained that her cast hurt her.

Well, the rule is to get it off if it hurts. So she missed school, went to traffic court for my son's ticket (accident - old story), and we headed down to Childrens leaving messages all the way.

We got a chilly reception from the front desk person who informed us we could have just got it cut off in the Emergency Room. I know this but I wanted it put back on. She also told me Mary wasnt in and Brigid was in clinic so apparently this was a problem. She paged Brigid who came up and asked us to return in an hour as she would be free from clinic then.

We had lunch down at Aloha Grill which was a nice fast food place with healthy choices (or not so healthy choices depending on your mood) and really nice staff. Then headed back. Issac cut her cast off and we did find a puffy red area near where she pointed out the pain. This was due to a combination of having reached neutral and the trick or treating. We were told to use Motrin to help the pain, still do the practice walking (which I am proud to say we got the entire hour in over a couple of sessions once we got home) and skip the strength ones for today.

Brigid recast her with Issac's assistance and we were out of there by 2:15.

Three lessons:
1. Trust your child's judgement until she/he teaches you differently.
2. Its better to be embarressed that you might have brought them in for no reason at all then it is to be embarressed that you didnt take care of the problem when you had a chance.
3. Dont let the front desk person affect you because she/he might have other issues going on and you just happen to be there at the time.



My snaggle-toothed wonder - recasted: