Faith and Friends

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If I were to ask people who know Faith what one of her favorite activities is, I am pretty sure they would all say the same thing: socializing. Faith absolutely loves people. She has been a social butterfly ever since she was little.  She has always enjoyed going to therapy because she loves meeting new people, even those in the waiting room. Doctor appointments are also great because she gets to meet new nurses. She pretty much makes friends wherever she goes!  Faith and friends blowing out birthday candles when she turned 7  During her first years in school, she easily made friends with her classmates. Sadly, though, as the kids got older and since she was limited in her mobility, these friendships faded. When we pulled her out of school altogether in order to homeschool her, the hardest part was not having any friends.  Thankfully, we lived in a building that had a community room. Faith and I would often hang out there for a change of scenery. She would sit and wa...
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Making Faith's Orthotics

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This week Faith had two appointments. One of them consisted of getting her fitted for new orthotics, which by the way are also called AFOs or SMOs. The whole process took over an hour and Faith did great the whole time! She loved seeing her physical therapist again, whom she doesn't see on a regular basis anymore because she gets all of her PT at school. 

As the therapists worked hard to get the molding on her feet just right, they asked Faith what color of padding she wanted, what color she wanted for her straps, and if she wanted a picture on the back. Faith responded, "You can never have too many accessories!"

Jackie and another physical therapist work to get the molding just right for Faith's long, skinny feet.

The therapists have to repeatedly fit Faith's foot in the mold, make some adjustments and fit it again. They did this several times before finally getting it perfect.

Next, it's time for Tate from MedEquip to come and do his thing which is wrapping Faiths' leg in casting material to get the general shape of the orthotic.

Tate has to squeeze really hard to set the molding in place for Faith's foot.

It's important for Faith to be as relaxed as possible during the fitting but here she is uncomfortable because she's fighting hard against her tone.

Finally, the last step takes place as Tate cuts away the casting. He will then take the orthotics to his shop to finish putting them together.

The final product will be an orthotic with pink and purple padding, purple straps and a picture of a yellow butterfly on the back, all which Faith picked out herself. After Tate puts them together, it is a matter of seeing how they fit and then possibly making some adjustments so that they fit her as best they can. I will be sure to post a photo of what the final product looks like.

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