Another CF Meeting

Today we had another CF meeting at our house. This time, the In-take Coordinator and the Physiotherapist came out to look at Andrea's progress, and decide where to go from here.

Here's what they said:

• It's totally amazing how well Andrea is doing with her walking. They are amazed she can walk at all, and they chalk it up to her own will-power to overcome her foot and leg problems.
• Andrea definitely still needs orthopedic inserts for her shoes. Although she is walking, her feet and knees are not aligned properly. She is also putting her back in a bit of an awkward stetch to help herself balance to compensate for what's going on with her feet and knees.
• To make sure we can correct these issues, and do it before any of these "overcompensating" walking habits stick with her, we need to get her in orthotics ASAP.
• Andrea has her first appointment with the orthotics company on Tuesday afternoon (the 20th).
• It may take a few visits before she actually gets her inserts (consult, take molds, get orthotics).
• It will be an intensive process. Once we get the orthotics, we will slowly introduce her to them, minutes at a time, until she is used to wearing them all day. This will also involve several visits to the orthotics clinic, and visits with CF people for monitoring and follow-up.
• Andrea seems to be age appropriate in all other areas, but CF is still going to have a resource consultant standing by for us just in case any other issues appear.

I think what surprised me most about all this is that before, when they were talking orthotics and shoes inserts, I figured it would just be like adult shoe inserts--they go in the shoe, no big deal. But today they decided Andrea will need something that goes all the way from knee to toe, like a splint, on both legs. It will still go in her shoes, and under her pants, so it won't be very noticeable in the winter time. But still, that's a lot more to deal with than the little shoe inserts I was picturing.

But, I am glad we are doing this. Yes, she's walking, but anyone can see that from the knee down, her alignment is just not right. Her stance is too wide, and she walks like a robot. Plus, I was really concerned when they mentioned how it appeared to be affecting her back. She kind of overcompensates by jutting out her stomach, or leaning forward a bit--it's hard to explain.

They both said they can see she's very eager to walk now, so now's the time to get her all straightened out, before her awkward walking habits settle in for good. I agree.