The holidays were great! The kids are at such a fun age, and Christmas was really fun for all of us. Chris's parents came up from New Jersey, and we all went to Disney on Ice which was the highlight of the kids vacation! Here are a couple of pictures from the holidays...
Connor's School Christmas Party...
Kaitlyn's class gets a visit from Santa...
Kindergarten party...
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!
After several failed attempts at a "Christmas" picture for our holiday card, I chose this one I had taken back in October instead!
Kaitlyn at Disney on Ice (just FYI, the Minnie ears light up!)...
Overall, things are going quite well for Kaitlyn. She continues to walk with her feet basically flat, which is awesome. She's falling occasionally, but not nearly as much as she was prior to casting. She tends to want to go back to her old habits, such as running instead of walking, and using momentum to keep her going as opposed to walking in a slow, steady pattern. However, when we cue her to slow down, she can and does. She is still not a fan of using her forearm crutches, but we're doing our best to get her to use them more in the community (at the mall, the grocery store, etc.) instead of her walker.
She is still showing some overall muscle weakness, something that's troubled her since the SDR surgery three years ago. She's done lots of work in physical therapy to help build strength, but she still has a way to go. We finally got her home ESTIM unit and started using it this week. The theory is that electrically stimulating her muscles will force them to flex and contract, which will eventually build strength. She's using it for 10 minutes each day, and is doing quite well with it. She doesn't complain at all about the feeling of the electrical current. Apparently some kids can tolerate it, and some can't. Luckily, she is tolerating it quite well! She has even asked her therapist to turn up the current - crazy kid! She knows how the unit works, so she holds it, and watches the lights and numbers so she knows when to expect a little zap. It will take some time to see if she shows any improved strength, so we'll see. Since it really is non-invasive, and since she tolerates it so well, we're happy to give it a go and see what happens! Here are a couple of pictures of the ESTIM at work...
So, here's what happening from here...Next week we go back to Boston for a follow up with Dr. Webster (physiatrist), and Dr. Braun (orthopedist). Kaitlyn will get some x-rays on her hips, which have historically shown about 30% - 40% subluxation (slippage). We're hoping that they have either gotten better, or stayed the same. We're not hoping to hear that they've gotten worse (I really don't think they have, but we'll see...). Also, we're anxious to get an x-ray of her right leg that she broke last April. The doctor had some concern about long term damage, so we should be able to get a pretty good picture of how that's healed.
So happy 2010 to all of you! I'm thinking this is going to be a great year, and that Kaitlyn will continue to give me lots of great stories to write about!!!
Happy 2010 to you! It sounds like you have lots of great things going on. Yay, Kaitlyn! She is simply amazing! I look forward to updates after the Boston appointment.
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