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| A little snack before the news... |
Every time we go to Lily's orthopedist, I see the skeleton sketch that is in the photo above and I start singing, "The HEEL bone's connected to the FOOT bone, the FOOT bone's connected to the LEG Bone.... Oh, hear the word of the Lord."
And every time, before I go into the office, I think to myself, "Whatever you do; do NOT look at that poster and start singing that song!" And then I do. Because I can't help myself. That song sticks in my head for days. I even went home once and pulled up the lyrics on my computer to make sure I was singing it correctly.
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In the midst of my busy Monday (Halloween), I almost forgot that I had scheduled an appointment to take Lily to Primary Children's Hospital and meet with Dr. S, Lily's orthopedist. Luckily, I remembered and off we sped (within the speed limit, of course) to the bones doc, "Dr. S."
Dr. S has an amazing bedside manner with children. He plays with her while he checks her bones and joints making sure nothing is atrophying or coming "unhinged." Lily always giggles and babbles as if she is speaking in plain English to him. In return, he nods his head and convincingly looks concerned as she babbles away. I often think of these types of encounters that Lily has and about all the friends she has made in her short little life so far—most of them being adults and most of them with the first name being, "Doctor."
We went to see Dr. S mainly to have him check out Lily's hips. Lily's hips are a concern since she still isn't standing. I don't want her to have difficulties with them later because they weren't strong enough or the ligaments were too loose, making it difficult for her to walk. All these worries are constantly whirling in and out of my brain. Worry, worry, worry. Then, just when I realize I have stopped worrying, I start worrying all over again..
New Braces.
Just as I was getting to breathe in the relief about Lily's hips, Dr. S chimed in and said, "However, we're going to need to get her some different braces. She is going to need to start sleeping in them as well." Looks like the little Jump Starts (that are still too big for her) are now no longer enough for her current needs. She is going to be fitted with the new braces and have them molded up to her knees. Poor kid.
The main reason for his concern is that she still curls her toes A LOT! Even when she is wearing hard soled shoes, she curls them inside the shoe. The doc kept taking her and holding her up and then placing her on her feet. Every time she would favor the tips of her toes rather than settling into her whole foot. The braces will keep her little toes and arches from curling up teaching her to favor the entire sole of her foot, rather than curling them up like she is doing now.
So this means, one more thing for Lily to have to deal with. One more appointment for me to make and to take her to. One more problem that we need to pay attention to, and one more thing that will worry me. That's okay, we signed up for this when we helped this precious child come into this world. So what if her body isn't perfect. She is.
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On a lighter note, I always see this letter on the wall at the doctor's office that makes me laugh. I took a picture so you could read it. This letter was written to one of the Orthopedic doctors that shares an office with Dr. S. These doctors can really work wonders...miracles even. It is a Thank You letter written to demonstrate the vast improvement of this child's foot over a period of 9 months. Read the letter. It's darling.
Now, back to my song that is currently playing in my head..."Well, the toe bone's connected to the foot bone...."
It's going to be a long day.
