Tuesday, March 23, 2010

New Legs...part 4

Sorry this update took so long to get here! It's been a busy time with birthday stuff. (A new post with fun birthday pictures is coming!) Let me see here, where did I leave off? I was talking about getting his prosthetic legs shorter so they would be more functional I believe. Well, that was all well and good, except for the fact that he absolutely no leg/butt muscles developed so this was an absolute nightmare to get him to stand for more then a few minutes. Not to mention the fact that my body was in a crazy contortion just to hold him up! I had to have my hands on his knees to keep them from buckling, my thumbs on his butt to keep him from sitting down and my head/shoulders on his back to keep him from leaning back! It was a crazy position...for both of us! And if I needed to use my hand to do something...it all fell apart! This is NOT a functional way to get Israel to learn how to stand what so ever! So thankfully our in home therapist was able to bring a stander out for us to borrow for as long as we need. This is a God send! It allows Israel to stand in a functional and comfortable position and lets me be free! It save my back and lets me play with him instead of being his support system physically! YEAH! Its a win win situation! Here is a picture of what I am talking about :-)


It has tons of individual adjustments that can be made so it can fit him just perfectly! It has support straps that go around his knees, trunk and chest. This allows him to be completely supported and feel safe at the same time! And the tray is wonderful because we can put toys on it to entertain him! Wonderfulness!!! He will even stay in it for up to 20 minutes at a time now! This stander will allow his muscles to develop and let his body get stronger. It will still be a very long road before he can ever stand without it, but at least I now feel like we have an effective plan in place!

2 comments:

Melanie said...

He is so stinkin' cute! :)

Sharon said...

Yeah for PT Judy!
See you soon!