Things could get a little tricky with referring to the things on Namine’s feet as braces, so I have to remind myself to call them AFOs. That stands for Ankle-Foot Orthotics, which really just means that they stabilize her feet when she’s walking.
When we met with the specialist to have Namine’s feet measured, she showed us all the different styles she’s had over the years. Namine likes variety, as further evidenced by her desire for rainbow-colored braces (the kind she wears on her teeth). The style Namine chose this time around is called Cosmic Bam. They’re very colorful with comic book-style action-y speech bubbles with things like “Pow!” and “Wham!”
It’s been a while since Namine had AFOs, so they may take some getting used to. In therapy today, she climbed up to a standing position at the bench and walked sideways. Then she climbed up into her walker — which we refer to as “the beast” due to its size compared with the previous walker — and walked around the room.
Walking is hard work for Namine, but she has fun with it. We don’t know if she’ll ever be able to walk for long periods of time. Namine is fully aware of this, but insists on it anyway.
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