Doctors, doctors everywhere

Maria had her trip to the eye doctor this morning. Her chalazion isn't improving much so he's decided it's time to lance the swellings. Since they have to put her to sleep it has to be scheduled as an outpatient procedure so it may be another 4-6 weeks before they do that. In the meantime we continue the compresses when Maria feels like allowing it in hopes she will have some kind of spontaneous remission so we can avoid surgery.

Then she saw the orthotics specialist for her AFOs (ankle braces). She got molds made of her feet, which was kind of interesting. They use this fiberglass-impregnated cloth that looks like an Ace bandage. When the cloth is moistened it starts to harden and is completely set in a few minutes. That gives them time to wrap it around her leg from knee to toe so it hardens in a perfect mold of her legs. Then they just cut it off with scissors. We forgot to bring the camera, but she had someone else in the office take a few pictures that she is going to email us. We go back the 29th for Maria to try on her new accoutrements and do some final fitting. She'll wear them only at night and when she's in the stander.

She also talked to us about, as Cathy put it, "another damn contraption". This is something that fits across her hips and thighs and helps her to sit on the floor more easily. Right now she can (sometimes) sit on the floor unassisted, but only very hunched over and with the support of both arms. This could help her feel more comfortable straightening up and maybe even sitting without needing her hands for support. They have some we could try to see if it helps her. It was a little too much to look at them this time, but maybe next time or even at the post-AFO follow up visit.

The vision therapist had us try something interesting. Maria was sitting in her new chair (a very nice pink, fuzzy easy chair complete with ottoman) and the therapist put light weights on her thighs. It gave her some stability so that she could focus on her upper body. She became much more active with her arms in this more stable position.

I tried something new in her stander. The straps go across her knees, waist, and shoulders. I tried unhooking the shoulder straps to give her a little freedom. She loved moving around and experimenting with her position. She flopped forward only once and was able to lift herself back up. We will probably start doing that more routinely to give her more freedom to move in the stander.