After receiving all the necessary referral approvals, all appointments were scheduled. Isaiah now has cookies in both of his shoes. We're watching him closely to see if they're enough or if we need to step it up and go with a SMO. SMO stands for Supra-Malleolar-Orthotis, it's part of the Ankle Foot Orthoses (AFO) family, and help maintain a vertical or neutral heel while supporting the 3 arches of the foot. It supports the leg right above the anklebones (malleoli) which is where it gets its name from.
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| Picture taken from www.surestep.com |
Isaiah is one of those special cases where it's not clear which route to take so we're trying the cookies first and see how he does with them. So far he's doing ok. A little less tripping and stumbling, however when he runs he still trips and falls. He also still drags his foot but it doesn't look as bad as before. My main concern still persists, his foot and ankle still pronate a lot. We'll see if it just takes some time or if we need to address the issue again. The same day Isaiah got his cookies (probably not the kind of cookies he expected when he heard me tell him he was going to get cookies, haha), my mother-in-law and sister-in-law flew in from Georgia. They spent the following 3 days with us and glam-ma spoiled the kids rotten. It was a very nice change for the kids, especially as it was the first time Isaiah got to meet his grandma and aunt on his dad's side and Nia didn't exactly remember them. The last time she saw them she was a year old. Shortly after they left I got into busy mode, I had to find out how to get reimbursement for travel expense approved for the three of us for our trip to Denver. Not an easy task when nobody knows which direction to point you in. After making lots of calls I finally got travel for all of us covered. Usually only the patient and one guardian are covered but with Joseph being deployed, I obviously have to take Nia with me. Plane tickets were booked and pick up/drop off arrangements and reservations with Hotel Sasha, aka Sasha's house were made. This is one of the upsides of the military life, while you often have to say goodbye to good friends, you'll also have friends all over the world ready to take you in when you end up in their neck of the woods. More importantly, this bond is so strong that you don't even need to ask, the second they receive the news that you'll be in their area, they're already making mental sleep arrangements for you. In this case she has no idea how much that is helping us! Isaiah will not only have an evaluation, after talking to the neurologist on the phone and discussing the history, he ordered a 24 hour epilepsy monitoring. The room is set up for 2, so chances are Nia may not be able to stay with us overnight. Dr. Miller also ordered a MRI as the last one was shortly after birth, and we've seen some drastic changes in his speech development since the last evaluation. The MRI will be done on Wednesday here in Minot, and I'm a nervous wreck just thinking about the sedation! It's a tricky situation when they're this little. So pray for us please!
We will leave here for Denver on the 30th of this month and until then I still have lots to do! There are not enough hours in the day so I guess a subscription to Starbucks would make sense....is there such a thing? There certainly should be! Once we're back, Isaiah will start OT, after today's evaluation Krisann was positive direct therapy is the right thing for him. When we had our phone conversation prior to scheduling the evaluation she already suspected it. The visit today was a sure confirmation! While it is not easy to add yet another label to the ones he already has, it is great to know that he'll receive the therapy he needs. It took some time but it was well worth the persistence.
In another post I will try to explain Isaiah's sensory issues a bit so that it will be easier for all of you to understand. I'm still in the process of getting familiar with is myself, it's a rather complex matter. I still need to share Isaiah's second birthday with you, and that is something I will enjoy writing about much more!
Thank you all for following! Love,
