It's been a long day!

Tried a little standing in the hotel yesterday. This was before the pain medication wore off!

It's been a long 36 hours, actually. Airtran had "mechanical difficulties" and was not able to get a plane into St. Louis to get us until 8:15, too late to get our connection in Atlanta. At least they were nice enough to give us a voucher for a hotel and breakfast. So, we got into Atlanta after 10pm, caught a shuttle to the hotel and collapsed into bed at midnight. Of course, Claire slept for 3 hours at the airport terminal and another 2 on the plane, so she was ready to PLAY! That did not go over especially well! Fortunately, she is such a compliant kid that I put her to bed anyway and she was quiet as a mouse.....except that she would move around and hit or scape her metal brace against the metal hotel crib! The poor thing had a hard time trying to get comfy in that contraption she has to sleep in for the next 3 years!

This morning I found that she had turned on her side and one foot is stuck up in the air because of the bar that separates her feet at shoulder width!

We caught our home-bound ride this morning and arrived tired, but happy. Well, I was happy. Claire was cranky and Paul had to race home, switch suitcases and hit the road. He had made plans with a cath lab in Myrtle Beach and had to get up there pronto!

Claire's feet look great except for some swelling in the foot that had the pin removed. As a matter of fact, the swelling is bad enough that we had to call the nurse today to get some advice because her Dobb's Brace was not fitting that foot. We have been told not to put her in it for a day or two and let the swelling go down first. She has very little muscle tone left so we have a lot of work ahead of us to get this girl back in shape for walking! Also, she still does not actually move her feet much or her toes at all. This has to do with nerve damage due to her spina bifida. We are not sure what help there is for this, if any at all, but if there is something out there, I will find it!

This is BEFORE!

Keep in mind that the foot on the right (her left foot) was turned out and rigid, not just laying to the side, the way it looks in this picture. She could not have turned it forward if she had wanted to without turning her whole body. That is the foot that had vertical talus. It is not the same as club foot but the treatment was similar and successful, thanks to Dr. Dobbs!

THIS IS AFTER!

Aren't these cute little feeties! Both feet face forward just right! You can see the swelling in the left foot and the place where they took the pin out. She only had a pin in the vertical talus foot. The other foot was club and was corrected with 3 casts and a tenotomy! This is amazing folks! I know of parents who's children have major surgery or try serial casting with an inexperienced doctor and end up with a dozen or more castings! Dr. Dobbs was well worth every mile we have traveled in the last three months! He is worth every mile we will travel in the coming years for follow up. I will credit him and the help of the Shriners when this baby walks, and she will walk!

She had very chubby legs when we got her in China, but look at these skinny things! If you look around her knees, you can see all the dead, dry skin that I can't get off yet. I have scrubbed, but not all of it comes off. It looks like dirt and she looks like I never bathe her!!!

I don't have to tell you that Claire LOVES having her casts off. She wants to try out her legs and feet but they are very sore right now so she stops herself. We went into Walmart this afternoon and as I pushed the cart past the shoe department, that kid went nuts! "SHOES, MOMMY!" She wants a pair of shoes, real shoes, not soft leather slippers like she's worn all her life! I tried a few pair but I think we will end up at Stride Rite or Kassies Bros. Shoes. She has wide little feet with a large fat pad on top that won't seem to squeeze into regular shoes. Isabel had that fat pad too and she went barefoot for the longest time because I could not find shoes for her! So, our next quest is to find a pair of shoes that will make this baby happy!

Just for cuteness sake, take a look at this video of her singing "The Wheels on the Bus". I taught her the verses about the wheels, the driver saying "move on back", the baby crying "waa, waa, waa", and the mommies on the bus saying "Shh, Shh, Shh". She just likes the wheels and the mommies parts and gets very upset if she thinks you are going to leave out the "shh, shh, shh" part! (don't forget to turn off the music)