All Better!

"All Better" is what Bria thinks now that her cast is off but little does she know that she may have a brace for the rest of her life.  She got the last cast off this morning and received her brace and new shoes as well as what the doctor calls nighttime shoes. She was able to pick the pattern on the brace at her last appointment.  No matter how hard I tried to get her to pick the pattern that matched most of her clothes she insisted that she have the pink hearts. This girl knows what she wants! The brace goes above the ankle and past her big toe.  It has a hinge at the ankle so that she will still have some movement for flexing the ankle. It doesn't allow for much movement but some. The brace is supposed to help keep the foot in the proper position so that it doesn't go back to the club position. The brace is not always necessary but she has a lack of movement or reflex in her toes and almost no flexibility in the Achilles tendon.  We have to do some therapy to stretch the tendon a couple of times a day. She also needs to walk on her heels and toes to gain more movement.

The cast has been on for 8 weeks so there has been a loss of muscle tone in the leg.  It is painful for her to walk on but she is a determined little girl and is already hobbling along.  She won't bend her knee so tonight I helped her walk while I bent the legs.  She just giggled and said I was funny. She went right back to walking like a zombie.  The doctor said that it will be two to three weeks for her to be back to where she was before casting but if she still walks funny at that point we need to get her in.  Our next appointment for the foot is in 3 months. It looks like she will get a new brace every 6 months or so.  I asked the guy making the brace how much they usually cost.  No surprise, his estimate was about $500.  Shriner's can make them for under $200 but we pay nothing. What a blessing Shriner's is!

I am so excited for Bria to have the cast off. She can now wear all her clothes and not just the ones that will accommodate a cast.  She can play in the sand with the other kids. She started sneaking into the sand so Hannah devised a way for her to play with them by putting Bria on a sled in the middle of the sand box.  I don't know how well that would have worked if it was much longer than 2 weeks but it was sure sweet of Hannah and the kids to include Bria that way. Most importantly Bria can now take a bath.  I was going to soak her in the tub today but she was doing so well getting used to the new leg that I didn't want to interrupt that.  Tomorrow she will have a very long bath in hopes of getting most of the dead skin off her leg.

Bria with the doctor right after the cast was removed.

Her club foot was the right one, or in the picture, the one on the left. It seems to me that it looks abnormally straight. Hopefully over time the tendons will relax and make the foot be more normal.

This is her cute pink brace.  She needed special shoes to support the foot and brace. No, she won't wear this to church. The doctor said she could keep it off a couple hours a day. I just can't help but feel sorry for her. As a child I had to wear special shoes. I remember at the age of 4 I got to pick out my shoes for the first time. I even got a hellium balloon.

These are her nighttime shoes. Looks pretty comfy doesn't it. I'm not sleeping with her anymore. I'll really get a black eye with these when she tries to turn over.

We have been talking about Bria getting her cast off for the last week.  It was pretty funny when she finally said she wanted her cast back on.  She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to walk without it.  When she looks through pictures she points out when her leg was better.  She had a club foot that made it difficult to walk but she didn't even recognize it as a problem. We all need a little more of that attitude.