Mary is motivated to do PT now

We had an appt. with Dr. Scott today and Mary's bone is consolidating very well.

Close up of consolidation

Dr. Scott said the tibia looks good (it is no longer protruding forward) after our additional turning of the struts.

We know she has an infection at her top inside blue wire but he could tell from the x-ray above there is an infection at the bottom inside blue wire too. (I guess the thin line near the bone that you can see on the first x-ray above but that you probably can't see on this copy of the x-ray signifies an infection.) She is to take the antibiotic she started yesterday for 4-5 days again to see if that is all she needs to knock it back. Mary didn't sleep from 1:30 to 5:30am on Sunday night because of the infection but was back to her usual only waking 2 times a night last night.

Dr. Scott is very happy with how her bone looks but is now focusing on her foot and knee. Since she can't get her foot flat yet, he has ordered a new AFO (brace) for her to wear on her foot when she isn't standing to help it get back in position. This was disappointing to Mary because we thought she was done with an AFO.

We have an appointment in a week so he can check on the infection, and see how her foot and knee are doing. He may also order a brace of some sort for her knee.

The news of the brace(s) seriously motivated Mary to do her PT. As soon as she got in the car she suggested we do more "tummy time" which works to get her knee extended and when she got home she made a PT chart.

Dr. Scott can remove the blue wires as soon as she is where she needs to be with her foot and knee but it will require anesthesia again just because she would be too freaked out if he did it when she was awake.

A side note is that at Mary's PT session on Monday with the "easier" Physical Therapist, the Physical Therapist explained to Mary that PT needs to be a little uncomfortable now in order to make progress. That was the best person for Mary to hear that from so I was very thankful for the comment.

Dr. Scott said she can return to school but will need to keep her leg propped on a chair so it isn't bent all day.

Daddy had a brilliant idea of stopping the use of her wheelchair so that she can start building her endurance. We have only been using it in public anyway but now she will use her walker at all times. She doesn't move fast by any means but she moves. Mary REALLY wants to use crutches over her walker now but Mommy and Daddy won't let her until she can put weight on her foot so she can catch herself if she falls. The ideal is that she can walk without any device very soon.

Now she has a lot of motivation and I am excited to see the progress as a result of her personal motivation...