Due to his pending surgery, the services will begin 12/30. The physical therapist will come to my house and give him 30 minutes of therapy. At the same time she will show me some additional stretches and exercises that we can do when the therapist isn't there. So far, the HSS therapist have shown me some stretches and I've been working on them with Felipe. Before beginning on 12/30 he will need to get cleared after surgery to make sure that medically he can participate in any stretches, workouts, etc.
12/13: HSS therapist noted that his ankles are very blistered. The braces really have broken Felipe's skin. So we haven't used them since Thursday. he bumps against them when he crawls so this will be a process. The therapist thinks that he will need a "hip helper". basically a girdle type device that goes around his hips to try to get to him have a more narrow stance. Right now when he crawls and when he sits up, he keeps his legs very wide. On one hand, that's great, he found a way to keep himself stable. On the other hand, it again uses the stronger muscles while the hip muscles remain relaxed. So by wrapping him up by the hip, he should have a narrower stance and will be forced to use the underutilized muscles.
We have to get a Orthopedic to step in and give an opinion as to the braces. the PT seem to think that the current brace isn't good for him right now, but in a couple of months after therapy has helped him adjust to shifting his body weight on his foot. The guy at the clinic to get the equipment seemed to think otherwise. I spoke with the insurance company and they basically warn that they will not pay for another set of braces, since this set was just recently made.
Another thing to sort out is what will EI pay for and what will the insurance be responsible for. Apparently EI is supposed to pay for equipment such as stroller, braces and any other devices needed for therapy. So I gotta call the OSC (ongoing service coordinator) and request clarification of how these things work. He needs braces and as quick as I want to get them on him, things seem to just keep getting messed up. Blisters are a real downer bc, you can see an immediate change once he has the braces on. He was enjoying standing up and bouncing around in place.
On a separate issue all together, the teething saga continues. His two upper front teeth are coming in. Which has resulted in a very serious, very sleepy and very thirsty Felipe. He isn't eating as much solid foods but enjoying a lot of formula. The teeth are just about to break the gumline.
As promised: photos of Felipe styling his new sneakers: Low cut sneakers worked best with the brace
Sounds like God knows just what Felipe needs. A couple from my church went through a similar battle with hip/leg braces for their daughter..in fact the doctors didn't think she'd ever walk. But a lot of prayer got them through those 2 hard years and now their little miracle is walking around and you'd never know she ever had an issue.
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