Equipment update

I wanted to share that we're all adjusting to Hannah's "new boots" as we call her AFOs. The first day after we got them and I tried to put them on her, she cried and said, "They hurt!" After making sure they were on correctly and distracting her with some crackers, she kept them on although she wasn't interested in bearing any weight. I called the orthotist who said as long as there were no red marks that wouldn't go away or she was refusing to put one of her feet on the floor it was probably okay and she was just adjusting to them. She said, "Imagine if you had never put on ski boots and then walked around in them for a few hours. Would you want to put them right back on again the next day?" Good point.

Each day since then has been better and better. But each time I put them on, Hannah says, "You only have to wear them for a little while until you can walk better." The girl knows how to tug on the ole heart strings. Isabelle in her typical Isabelle "please let me help you" way now brings the AFOs over to me when it's time to put them on Hannah and says, "Here you go, Hannah. They are to help you walk better." They are quite a pair, those two.

So we're making progress and I'm getting more used to the idea of them and the best part is that I can see a very noticeable difference in the way Hannah stands and walks when they're on. One of the most striking changes is how straight she stands, I think because she doesn't have to work so hard to keep herself stable on her feet while she's wearing the AFOs. They allow her to concentrate more on holding herself up and using her trunk muscles instead of focusing all of her energy on foot alignment. I don't know, I might be just making this up. Sometimes I act like I have a degree in PT:) But it does seem to make some sense...

And today we got the new walker. Hannah has been walking around in her old walker this week saying, "Mommy is getting you a new walker that has wheels so you can turn." She knows what she wants and better yet, she has the language skills to say it! The girls were the hit of the medical equipment supply store, especially since most of the customers at that time were older folks. Isabelle found a dog toy on a string to pull around (she named him Buster) and Hannah was more than happy to try out her new wheels even in a new place with an audience.

She did pretty well on her first attempts but it's going to take some getting used to, as everything does. On our loaner walker, the handles were in a completely different place than the new one, which has much better placement to encourage Hannah to stand up straighter. But she's gotten used to leaning forward and putting all of her weight on her arms so this will take much more work and I think it might be awhile before she can get around as easily as she did with her old one. This is a bummer even though it's for the best in the long run, because we've all really been psyched about her increased mobility. She'll also have to learn how to use the swivel wheels and the pull-d0wn seat which are great features.

But she'll get there!