Number 7

Getting cast #7 put on today!  Pray for little Amelia that she takes it even better than she did last time!!  :) 

A look at how far we've come...

Yesterday, Amelia had an appointment to get cast #6 put on.  She is doing so much better with it!  This makes me so happy and proud of her!  :)  She still cries a little when they stretch the feet into position, which is still hard, but at least she's consolable.  Of course, we're starting to get the routine down now too!  Between the snuggling, sugar water and feeding during the process, we're able to keep her a little more comfortable through it all.  Thinking of the first few appointments, I didn't know how I was going to survive each week!  God has been good!  The first night and day following are a little rough too, but knowing that helps me deal with it.  Having another doctor in on the casting has also been good.  In fact, she gave us with some really good pointers on how to keep Amelia comfortable.  This brings up another huge answer to prayer and it still amazes me to think about.  

Going back, Amelia's first appointment with her orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. K, didn't go as well as expected.  We weren't completely comfortable with him because he didn't seem very personable with Amelia and that was concerning to me since I knew we would be seeing him a lot!  He is also very new, but I tried not to let that get to me because I know that doesn't necessarily mean he's not good at what he does.  Regardless, we contemplated switching doctors, but in the end decided to stay with him.  In fact, he ended up apologizing for the first visit realizing he was a little short with us after a stressful day.  I was still a little unsure, but it turned out to be the best thing for Amelia.  At the second set of casting, Dr. Maples showed up to weigh in on Amelia's treatment and has been working on Amelia with Dr. K ever since.  Dr. Maples has been specializing in pediatric club foot for almost 30 years!  In fact, she's the Pediatric Club Foot Program Medical Director at Mary Free Bed.  Our pediatrician wanted to get us in with Dr. Maples from the start, but she was not accepting new patients.  We're not sure of the details of how and why she got involved, but nonetheless, God's work, no doubt!  We have a really good relationship with Dr. Kemppainen now too.  Sometimes when we ask for God's direction, He may not answer in the way that we think, but it's always the best!  

The plan of care going forward...Amelia will have one more cast and then on March 5, she will be having surgery to stretch the tendons in each leg; a bilateral achilles tenotomy.  This is considered a minor surgery, however they will be giving her anesthesia, which can be an issue in babies with the same condition Amelia has.  Therefore, they will be doing the surgery at the hospital with an anesthesiologist from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).  So please pray the surgery goes as well as expected, that the anesthesia is not an issue and God protects our baby girl from any complications.  They will then cast her after surgery for 2 weeks and then probably have 2 more casts after that.

In the next post, I'll update you more on Amelia's condition and prognosis and how the treatment is going on her hands.  I know I haven't been good at posting lately; sorry about that!  I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping up with it!  So, stay tuned!  :)    
 
Again, thank you for the many prayers on behalf of our Amazing Amelia!  So many of you have shared different verses with me and one of them was Psalm 71.  Leaving you with verse 14 and some pictures of Amelia's progress as of yesterday! 
 

"As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more."  

Psalm 71:14

Precast ~ January 15, 2014

 January 22, 2014

January 29, 2013

February 5, 2014

February 12, 2014

February 18, 2014

4 down, 6 to go!

Last Wednesday, cast #4 was put on.  The appointment itself went pretty good.  There were still tears, but it didn't seem as bad as last time.  I was so proud of our Amelia!  And thankful for your prayers!  Although, I did tell her doctors that she was pretty fussy over the last week.  Because Amelia can't speak for herself, the doctors measure their limits with her based on her reaction over the week.  If in that week, she is inconsolable, that warrants a trip to the doctor before the next casting.  She was consolable as long as she was being held.  She just couldn't seem to find it.  So, I brought this up.  Her doctors said that they pushed their limits with her a little bit more that week, so they agreed to back off a little.  That made me sad for her, but the longer Amelia has casts on, the less movement her muscles get and that's not good either.  But, they were okay in being a little easier on her this week.  She also had some sores on her feet where the bone by her big toe is pushing against the cast, so they put some extra cushioning and cream on that.  She still wants to be held all the time, but she is cooing and smiling and that is so great to see!  In fact, the doctor agreed that because she's becoming more aware of what's going on, that may explain her fussiness.

So, now we're on our way to the appointments today.  Praying for a good day!

Caught a smile!  

Decorating the casts

A quick update...

Tomorrow is another appointment day for Amelia.  She will be getting her casts changed first and then we will head to Occupational Therapy on her hands.  We hope, as always, that the casting is not too hard on her.  I always dread it...  Last week she seemed to do better during the appointment than she had been (thank you for your prayers!), but she had a tough week.  The doctor tells us to expect fussiness 24 hours following the new casting, but the 24 hours passed and it's Tuesday night and it never seemed to really let up.  Most of the time she's good as long as she's being held, but there have been times when nothing worked...poor baby.  However, I have had wonderful friends come through for me this week to just play with the kids and hold Amelia for me too, if necessary.  Awesome!!!  :) 

We also met with a hand surgeon last week Friday.  We gained some new insight into the condition of her hands, which was great!  However, he didn't quite agree with the treatment Amelia is receiving at occupational therapy, so we will have to address that tomorrow.  Hopefully that goes well!  I will update you more in the next post.   

As always, thank you so very much for your prayers!  I keep receiving so many messages, notes and calls of encouragement, prayers and offers to help in some way...it's truly amazing!  I just look at Amelia and think how neat it will be to some day tell her how many people were praying for her; how very special!!!