Reagan's big move from an AFO to SMO

We wrapped up UVA with an assessment last Friday and Reagan did a great job.  Cole also had therapy with Alan Friday.  He worked more with the scissors and "made a mess" cutting paper.  We were lucky enough to be able to take the scissors home and I'm looking forward to trying some of these activities with him.  Cole had a lot of fun playing games and then we hit the road.  We were all very excited to be home for the weekend without thinking about getting laundry done in time to repack and leave again the following week.

We had a great weekend and fun last week of summer.  Reagan had several play dates and we spent a lot of quality time together.  The week was also busy with Back to School Night and Open House for school.  Reagan will be in Mrs. May's Kindergarten class with Mrs. Carr and Cole will be in Ms. Carolann's class with Ms. China.  Although both kids are excited, I'm sure the transition next week will take some adjustment.  Luckily I have worked it out for Reagan to take the bus with Cole to school.  If you remember, he still had a little trouble getting on the bus in the morning. They are now fighting over whether or not they will sit together.  We'll see who wins that one!

We were back to therapy this week at Children's Therapy Center.  It will be good to get back in the regular routine.  We also had an appointment to FINALLY pick up Reagan's new brace at Nascott Orthotics and Prosthetics at National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH).  There was a discussion about what brace to get next and the Physiatrist ordered a Supra-Malleolar Orthosis (SMO) instead of the Cascades 3.5 AFO we had last time.  The advantage is that she will have more range of motion allowing her to increase her muscle strength and possibly build up her calf muscle (so they are equal on both legs).  The disadvantage is that the brace does not prevent the toe drop.  I am hopeful that the brace will still provide the stability she needs but give a little more flexibility.  

I will say, even after 5 years and 6 braces it's still a fight to get her to want to wear it.  We were on our way home from the hospital today and Reagan had taken her shoes off in the car and had the brace in her hand.  She said, "hey mom, it's like I have my very own glass slipper just like Cinderella. I wish I had one for my right foot too."  I could have cried.  I was so excited to think that she is hopefully going to wear this one without a fight.  Not to mention I love the butterflies. 

Of course new brace means new shoes for Reagan…   which is worse for me than jean shopping and bathing suit shopping COMBINED.  We stopped at the Tyson's Nordstrom on the way home thinking they would have a larger selection.  The bad news is that we bought the only pair that fit the brace so once again she didn't get to "pick" what shoes she wanted to buy.  The other bad news is that they no longer carry the Tsukioshi brand that have worked so well in the past.  The good news is that she liked the one pair they had (in both sizes since she needs a bigger size on the left to accommodate the brace) and she is convinced these new running shoes make her run faster….which they probably do!  Win - win in my book!