Perhaps you’ll recall that today Namine had an appointment to have casts put back on her legs, as her feet (particularly her right foot) are starting to curl noticeably. The appointment was attended, but the casts were not put back on. It’s both good new and bad news.
Even the very idea of putting the casts back on Namine’s feet gave her a panic attack. Now, from the planet I’m from, panic attacks are bad. Namine throws up when she has them, so we try to avoid them. The trick is to maintain Namine’s feet in the correct position, and the makeshift braces weren’t doing that. But instead of putting the casts back on, ortho has given us a week to try something else.
Namine’s braces, which she will receive sometime around Christmas, are called AFOs – ankle foot orthotics. That means they’re ankle braces, and as such, they will allow her knees movement, something that the casts didn’t do. What Namine received today are called KFOs – knee foot orthotics. They’re basically molded to the shape of her legs, like casts, but they’re made of a thinner, plastic material. The molds go on the back of her legs, and strap on with velcro.
Namine can move about in them quite a bit easier than with the casts, even the half-cast braces. The downside to this alternative is that they still will not hold her feet in place as firmly as casts would. Consequently, we need to work daily on stretching her feet into the correct position. This is at the very least uncomfortable for Namine, as her feet have indicated a strong desire to regress to their former position. We need to do this about three times every hour.
If Namine’s feet do not show improvement, and especially if they continue to regress despite our efforts, ortho will put casts back on her legs in one week. We pray that does not happen.
Leave a Reply