One In a Million Blessings

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Prosthetics

Hey there. Remember me? If not, I'll remind you.
I used to blog.
Some.
But then I became a mom of two instead of one.
I had always heard that two is WAY more than one plus one, but apparently I hadn't really absorbed that notion to the fullest.
It's mind-boggling. And exhausting. And amazing. And perfect.



I mean, come on. It doesn't get more perfect than that, people.

So let me just start by telling you that our little man is the bravest of all brave little people out there. He has been through so much in the {almost} two months that he's been home:
Shots, blood draws, ear infections
Physical evaluations, developmental evaluations
Physical therapy, occupational therapy, play therapy
Surgery
Not to mention adjusting to a new family, new home, new foods, new smells, new sounds, etc.

And he has handled it all with such bravery. (Three cheers for a fantastic big sister, who has been an amazing cheerleader and teacher, helping him to bond and figure all the craziness out!!)



But this week has been the biggest of all. This week is the (drum roll please) PROSTHETIC WEEK!
The kids and I are spending the week in Oklahoma City, where we have spent every day with Elijah's prosthetician, Kyle. (Tobin is attempting to juggle working and driving back and forth between Joplin and OKC...bless his heart. He is EXHAUSTED.)

It's a fascinating process, this thing they call prosthetics. It's a true art, and we are blessed beyond belief to be working with world renowned specialists.

On Monday Kyle took a cast mold of Eli's leg, and used it to build the 'socket' that will hold the prosthetic portion of the leg onto his actual leg. While he wasn't thrilled about this, he never let one tear slip out of his sweet little eyes. He definitely stuck out a pouty bottom lip a time or two, though, just to make sure we knew he wasn't loving it.


But as soon as we were done, he was all smiles again.



Tuesday they built the leg around the socket. We spent a lot of time playing with the new leg in order to get Eli comfortable with it. He was very curious. Here's a picture of him playing ball with the 'rough draft' of his leg.


Once they knew the fit was perfect, they took measurements of his right leg, matched color, shape and size and adjusted the new left leg until it was nearly the spitting image of his right. Seriously, when I saw the finished product, I was shocked. Once they put it on him I could hardly tell which was his real leg and which was the prosthetic. Even the 'skin' has the look/texture of real skin.


I'm telling you, these guys are ARTISTS!!

Wednesday was spent trying on the leg, and letting Eli get used to the weight, length, and feel of it. Our prosthetician told me to imagine having a size 20 shoe on my foot...that's how Eli is feeling right now with his new leg.

It will take him time to get used to it. He was a pro at getting around the house with only one leg, so for a while this is going to be a huge inconvenience to him. He has to figure out how to crawl with this ridiculous THING dragging behind him now. But something tells me he's ready to take on the challenge :)


They told me to expect him to fight the new leg at first. But so far he has been absolutely amazing. So amazing, in fact, that he kept the leg on for over an hour this morning (they told me it usually takes a month or two for babies to tolerate their leg staying on for an hour). Not only that, but he stood by himself against the couch today for the first time. It was so wonderful to see. Of course I didn't have time to snap a picture of it, but here's one of him and Kyle working on standing.



We will go back in tomorrow to work out any kinks that we may have had with the leg over night, and then we're done. Once home, we'll continue to put the leg on as much as Elijah will tolerate it. When it's not on we'll encourage him play with it, suck on it, sleep next to it, etc. The goal is for him to get 100% comfortable with the leg and see it as an extension of himself (no pun intended).


I'm thinking the 'bonding process' between Eli and his leg is going well...he kept it close the entire time he napped today :)