Monday, April 7, 2008

One down, ..... to go?

I just got home from Eliana's Physical Therapy evaluation with Children's Hospital. They were really nice and did a great job with getting Ellie to warm up to them. The appointment took about an hour and the conclusion was that she is actually incredibly strong, particularly in her arms. Milan asked if that means she is going to be a shotputter. That is a question for another day. Anyway, the problem is in her feet and ankles as we thought. She pushes her heel bones out and rolls her feet over on the inside. We will have another appointment next week where the therapist will make an orthotic insert for her shoes. We will try those out for a while and have therapy about every other week. Depending on how she does with the inserts, we may need to have an orthotic specialist design a shoe for her. The therapists said it is actually good that she has not started walking on her feet as they are because she would develop improper bone growth in the bottoms of her legs and feet over time by walking on them as they are. The therapist expects that we will need to work fairly deliberately over the next year or so to properly develop the muscles in her feet, but that ultimately she should not have any long-term problems. That is good news, but a little intimidating as well. I just want to be sure that we get her the treatment and therapy she needs in order to have normal feet and to be able to walk and run normally without pain.
So, one down on the appointment front. I have left a few messages now trying to reach the therapist that we want to meet with regarding Eliana's attachment issues. Again, I am hoping to get in before our family vacation. Let's hope I get a call back in the next day or two with good news on that front. The other evaluations thata we are having done were moved up a week, so we should have answers there in the first week of May. One step at a time.... One step at a time....

2 comments:

Nikki said...

Hey friend! Just wondering... did you see Dr. Benson at Children's? I was going to recommend her to you; she's an pediatric orthopedic doctor there (that's not the official term)... and she's just awesome. We took Jonah to her when he was really late in the ol' walking category. He'll get to join Ellie in another year or so; they can wear orthodics together. How cute will that be. :)

Stefany Gess said...

I am glad they had some answers for you. It is a start anyway. Our prayers are with the little peanut. I hope that the counseling turns out just as well.