Blue with Kitties

I cannot seem to get "blue with kitties" or "KAFO" out of my head. I suppose with good reason. We spent the day at Shriners Hospital so that Daughter of Purpose could be fitted for her new KAFO that is blue with kitties on it.

While we were waiting for some of the details to be fixed on her KAFO, she got to play in the "play area" of the hospital. It is an awesome area full of things for her to do and play with. She can even do an art project if she wants! The rocking horse seemed to be her favorite.

Daughter of Purpose held herself together for her brace fitting and while the Physical Therapist and the man fitting her KAFO deliberated back and forth about what her needs were. The big discussion seemed to revolve around whether her KAFO should be locked or unlocked at the knee. They settled on locked.

Once we were done, that's when Daughter of Purpose decided to let us know how she really felt about her brace--she's not happy! She doesn't want to wear it. We made her wear it to the car, but we let her take it off in the car. We had many discussions all the (very long) way home about why she needed to wear the brace. The thing that struck me the most in the midst of all this discussion was something I've noticed over the last few weeks as I have explained to her why we were returning to the hospital. Here is it: I honestly don't think she had ever noticed there was anything wrong with her leg.

Ever since we originally went to Shriners and started asking her to do things with her leg without the assistance of her hand (she tends to use her hand to move her leg without thinking about it) she has looked at us like we're crazy. It's like as if no one has ever asked her to truly use her leg before. Now here we were--back at the hospital doing it again. We keep drawing attention to her leg and I think it's hitting her that she cannot control her leg. She seemed to have her "game face" on for the fitting, but when she asked us in the car why she needed to wear it, we explained that it is to make her leg stronger. We explained and showed her that we need her to be able to lift up her leg. She then seemed driven to prove to us that, in fact, she could do what we were asking so therefore she didn't need that "blue with kitties" thing.

Now I know she was tired and I think a bit overwhelmed with it all, but it broke my heart when she kept trying to show me over and over again that she could "perform", but yet she really couldn't. This brought her to tears because she couldn't do it. It brought me to tears too. This will be an adjustment for her AND for me. Nate seems fine with it all, but for some reason I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that she needs it.

Well, tomorrow is a new day and we'll see what it brings. We are supposed to have her wear the KAFO 1 hour per day for about a week and then increase it the next week and so on. I am not really looking forward to tomorrow when I have to make her wear the KAFO--even though the time will be limited. I'm glad Nate will be home to support my efforts and to also encourage Daughter of Purpose along.

I can't be grateful enough for the other kids and their excitement of it all. They've been great since we got home and were totally excited to see her brace. We keep catching ourselves saying, "Where is her leg?" Funny, but I guess we better think of a better way to refer to it. Below is a video of a few of her first steps showing off to her siblings. Again, I am so grateful for them to be her cheerleaders alongside me tomorrow. I think that will make a huge difference in her attitude about it all.

Here are some pictures of the kids and Nate goofing around posing with Daughter of Purpose with her new KAFO.

1 Samuel 1:27 "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."