Today we met with Serena, the OT that the Physiatrist recommended, to talk about casting Leah. I was fortunate today that Avi was able to come with me, I was happy to have him there to see what we do at OT. After all of us talking, Serena, Lisa (OT), Avi and myself--we decided that we are not ready for Leah to be casted.
She is doing a nice job right now in her gross motors, that if we cast her too early she may "forget" how to do the things she is doing. For example, Leah just learned to transition to sitting if we were to cast her she would have no way of transitioning and could possibly loose what she has already! That alone was reason enough for us to decide against casting now. We will look into casting again in about 2 months, when Leah is 11 months old. For now, Serena and Lisa have some wonderful ideas of how we can get Leah to be more aware of lefty and about how to cast without really casting! We will be utilizing Leah's immobilizer much more now and we will even put socks over the immobilizer so she can't grab things with righty. She also was very impressed with Leah's movements. She said that her army crawling was good because 95% of the time she was able to get lefty out from underneath her. She also loved that Leah was activly pushing up on all fours!
I'm still all for casting and I am really looking forward to it. I think it will be great for Leah, just in a few months! As the Physiatrist said with every casting the hope is for them to improve mobility by 20%! That's awesome!
I feel confident that waiting to cast is is the right decision for us.
Monday, June 30, 2008
OT meeting and Casting talk...
Posted by Amanda at 7:29 PM
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6 comments:
That is great that you all feel comfortable with your decision. I know right now would not be a good time for Sammy to be casted, he is focusing so much on his gross motor skills. That is great that the therapist were so encouraging! That is wonderful!
I hope that this comes across correctly. I hesitated to write it, but decided I would want someone to say it if they read something in my blog that they were concerned about.
It sounds like you guys have a good handle on Leah and when to do constraint. Like you, we initially had planned on doing it when Reichen was younger and then decided to wait until he turned 1 year because he was doing so many things on his own. It turned out to be a great decision (as I am sure it will be for Leah!) I know how hard it is to figure out timing, I wish that there was the crystal ball that gave us all of the answers on timing :)
What concerned me about your post was the comment -- "For example, Leah just learned to transition to sitting if we were to cast her she would have no way of transitioning." Reichen learned to transition when he had the cast on and I have heard of other kids who learned to walk while they had casts on (not a hemi-kid, but a kid who needed an arm cast due to surgery around 1 year of age). I really struggle when I am told that there is "no way" that our kids can do something. As we have all seen, they are incredibly intelligent and have ways of getting around obstacles in their way -- which will serve them well.
As I said, it sounds like you are making the right decision for Leah and that you have a good team involved. I would just make sure to question research when people say that there is "no way!"
Thanks Keira. I do appreciate feedback.
I understand exactly what your are saying. I think I may have miss wrote what I was trying to get across. No one ever told me that there was "no way" she would beable to transition. I guess it was just my way of assuming that at this point she would not be able too. Of course, I know that she could always surprise me--which I'm sure she would end up doing!! I think it was more along the lines of I don't want her forgetting what she knows right now, which is why we are not going to cast her now.
I think it's amazing that Reichen learned to transition with the cast on and I have complete faith that Leah will learn that also, but at a later date. I just see that at this point, she doesn't have the strengh in her left arm that she needs. Which is what we are working on, in order to get her ready to get to that point.
I'm sorry that my post came off like I thought there was no way she would be able to do it. Thanks for bringing it too my attention!
Hi Amanda - Makes perfect sense! Like I said, we opted to postpone Reichen's casting the first time for exactly the same reason why you are postponing Leah's! The timing question was really the hardest part. In fact, up until the evening before the cast was on, my hubby was still debating if it was the right time :) If you figure out the magic period where it is the perfect time, let us know LOL!
I love seeing all of the cool things that Leah is doing. She is progressing at an amazing rate and she is so adorable! You must be so proud!
Thanks Keira!
I wish I knew the magic time period! I guess we all need to do when it is right for us and our little ones! I'm hoping in a few months we will all be ready for it. I loved watching Reichen's progress, it really inspired us to look deeply into CIMT.
Will you guys be doing it again? If yes, do you know when?
I am sure that we will do it again, it just gets into the timing question - LOL! I really liked the May/June timeframe since we did not have to worry about bulky clothes, but it did not get in the way of swimming and other outdoor activities.
For us it is so dependent on what other activities going on. Just like you are seeing with Leah, there are so many things that are interconnected. The earliest we would do it would be next year and then we will need to balance it with other activities.
We saw such amazing results from it and it really was low stress on him.
I cannot wait to read about Leah's journey! You guys will know when the time is right :)
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