This morning I was frustrated with the fixator and getting the sense that Mary was frustrated too. For example, at 3:30 in the morning she said her leg was uncomfortable but she couldn't think of anything I could do to help and she claimed she didn't need medicine - I felt frustrated and I felt the honeymoon (if you could actually call it that) had worn off and we were stuck with an uncomfortable thing to deal with for 6 more months that we had no tools to help make more comfortable.
However, today she had her first Physical Therapy appointment. Even though her permanent therapist was trained by "Mean Mary" he was very nice :-). After the appointment I had more hope that we had tools to teach Mary how to use the leg so it is more comfortable.
The main lessons were to do exercises every hour. We need to work the hip, knee and toes. She needs to teach the muscles how to move again. Before working the area, she should flex the associated muscle and then do the movement. For example, flex the quad then do a leg lift.
He measured her range of motion in her left knee to be 55 degrees and the goal is 90 degrees while she has the ring on her thigh. (Her right leg can do 160 degrees.)
Her left leg can straighten to a -15 and the goal is 0. (Dr. Scott wants at least -10 degrees or we have to pause the lengthening.)
By the end he was showing her how she can in fact roll from front to back and back to front in bed all by herself so she doesn't need to call for mom and dad's help in the night. At this point in time Daddy was offering the Physical Therapist a trip to Paris for a week. :-)
The PT also advised to put a pillow under her tummy when she lays on her tummy to sleep vs. under her hips like we have been doing.
We also learned that it is more important to help her do the movement so she does the move correctly vs. she move all by herself incorrectly. For example, just the past couple of days she has started lifting her leg on her own during leg lifts but she has to lift it out to the left to do so which isn't correct.
He also advised we massage the two incision sites and her muscles to get them moving again. That's good news because she likes me to massage her.
We will see him weekly for a couple of weeks to make sure we are on the right track. We all want to make sure she can straighten her leg so we don't have to pause lengthening. It was no surprise to us once the two pieces (top ring on her thigh and the piece on her foot) are removed in a couple of months she will have a lot of work to do to get the ankle (and knee) moving.
Mary will need encouragement to do what she learned today but I am confident that just like initially, when she was hesitant but would try and would always feel better afterwards, that she will learn to use her muscles again and regain range of motion that she will feel more comfortable. (Of course, I haven't gone to bed yet tonight :-))
After PT Mary saw her doctor and the Taylor Spatial Frame rep to add a second U piece to her foot to give her a platform to bear weight on.
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| Original - single U piece |
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| New and improved- double layer |
The only problem is they also gave Daddy wrenches for the fixator so now he feels important :-) Actually they are good to have when the struts get more and more resistant during our daily turning...something to look forward to...
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