I have to say, I'm actually feeling ok about next week's casting for Leah. At times I still get overwhelmed by the thought of it all, but that comes rarely now. The biggest emotion I have is sadness. I find myself feeling so sad that Leah has to go through this. I see other kids and feel a twinge of jealousy for my baby. Jealousy really is a terrible thing. I haven't felt jealous or the "why me, why Leah" feelings in awhile. I thought I had moved past that, but constraint is pulling those emotions out again. These feelings pass very quickly, when I stop and remember that Leah is fine, heck she's more then fine--she's amazing!
Anyway, I know I didn't just sound like I'm ok, but really I am. I'm ok, because I know my girl and I know she's going to be ok too! So, one week from Leah's first birthday she will get her first, and I'm sure not her last, cast. This first cast will be on for a very short period of time, it goes on Thursday and comes off on Monday. The therapist and casting specialist will then check to make sure the positioning of the cast, how it was placed on and just it's overall safety. Depending on our thoughts, we will decided then to either cast fully (which I'm definitely leaning towards) or to bi-valve and make it removable. Either way, we will only do it one week at a time, then after a week the cast will be removed. At first, I was leary of the schedule, but I'm thinking this will probably work better for Leah. Her PT has never worked with anyone casted this young and not walking--she is very concerned about Leah losing what she has. So, doing this slow of a pace we can see how she is going to react. I'm assuming once she is walking we will do an even more intense casting. That's our story! Another step on this journey!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
What Lies Ahead!
Posted by Amanda at 10:20 PM
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4 comments:
You said it best, "...I know my girl..." She will do fine because you know she can handle it. Don't worry about feeling jealous, its only natural and sometimes it can't be helped but there are people that are jealous of Leah and what she CAN do, I'm one of them! I'm proud of you and her and it will all work out and you both will be stronger for it!
It will work out great. We all will have those down times. I feel like I have dealt with "everything" but then I will just have a day where it all comes back. I think it is so natural to do that. I am not ever jealous really, because I have four kids that can do "everything". I just sometimes wish that Sammy could too. But like the above poster said we are so lucky. Our kids will walk, run, jump......just maybe not as gracefully as others. But then again who knows, Sammy (and Leah for you)have already proved me wrong so many times!!! Everytime I say he won't be able to do this or that, he does it and then it becomes pretty dang graceful if I do say so myself! You will be so happy with the constraint. I hope you blog about everything!!!
I often feel the jealousy or sadness too. Well, not often. But I thought once I got past it, it wouldn't come back. I guess it's just a normal cycle of emotions since this diagnosis really never ends. It's tough, but we have amazingly strong kiddos, so we have to keep focused on that. Leah's strong--she'll do fine with the casting. Can't wait to hear how it all goes!
Amanda - I just sent you the list of FAQs you asked and I posted it to Reichen's blog (http://ikehappens.blogspot.com/2008/09/constraint-faqs.html.) You all will do great.
As for losing the skills, Reichen did not regress. In fact, completing constraint facilitated new skills.
Our OT is actually presenting at a conference tomorrow to talk about completing constraint with a child as young as Reichen and Leah. She really feels that it is a positive experience
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