Just back from an appointment with the orthotist.
After working with a physical therapist for the last several months and trying Leap Frog AFOs as well as TheraTogs, we hadn’t gotten far. LilBit still wobbles a lot. She cannot stand still in one place, constantly moving to maintain balance.
We’ve been seeing a new therapist since our move and she has been more proactive, which I have liked. She suggested a new brace. One unlike the ‘one for all’ Leap Frog variety she had been using. She was talking about a ‘just for her’ molded brace, similar to before we used the Leap Frogs (butterfly brace, remember that?).
Same company as before, but a different guy. Already, my ‘vibe’ of this guy has been better than the first guy. We have made it quite clear we will not work with him again. At all.
Anyway, so, we got in there today under the impression she was to be checked and fitted for a brace to correct her ‘c foot’ on the right. And again, once it came time for casting, two were mentioned. So we backed up and talked about that and the orthotist backed off and we settled on just one brace. Sooo….a little bit of ‘car salesman’ stuff going on there, in my opinion, but like I said, overall, this experience was better than before. (by all means, ask me in a couple of hours and again after a day or two…but I think this is a better experience this time)
LilBit will soon be sporting a purple orthotic. This will be a small one, similar to the LeapFrogs, but specific to her foot and needs. It will hopefully help stretch her foot out so that more surface comes into contact with the floor when walking, rather than catching just the side of her foot, due to that high arch/c-shape.
Again, she wasn’t thrilled with the whole process. But then again, strangers! She’s having another phase of ‘stranger anxiety’ here lately. I mean, all of my kids have been on the shy side, but, I think this is just that ‘stranger anxiety’ thing and hopefully will fade again shortly. But for now, it’s making things rather difficult and she wasn’t too eager about her appointment today.
However, we managed. As we came down the hall to our room, the orthotist caught us in the hall so he was able to take those few moments to see her in action and make an initial assessment. Good thing, because she wasn’t overly cooperative once back in that room. She didn’t improve with the therapist came in and *sure* didn’t improve once the orthotist came in. But anyway, we managed. She played her games on my phone while he did the casting, stopping only briefly to glance down at what he was doing as he had to change positions to cut it off when finished.
He was able to get her foot rather straight for the casting, so, I’m really hopeful that will help LilBit. Now…let’s hope she doesn’t resist wearing it. In the end, she does what we make her do. But, I don’t want for her to whine and fuss when I say it’s time to get her brace and shoes on, ya know? I’d rather it just be common place again “Let’s get ready to go” and she brings socks, brace and shoes.
And hopefully this isn’t too much of a change to cause her to get frustrated and shut down. I highly doubt that will happen, but still, once someone mentions it, you can’t help but think it from time to time.
I’ll try to remember to post pics of the PURPLEness once it gets here.
Then begins the shoe shopping challenge, again. She’s been in need of shoes for a while (due to wear, mind you, not because her foot has grown any :-p) but I’ve been putting it off because I wasn’t sure what we were doing about bracing needs…with clinic coming up in February…I didn’t want to wait THAT long, but, ya know.
So, that’s where we are today.
Lil Bit's Journey 