Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Bargaining...

Gracie has been wearing AFO's (braces) on her feet up to her knee since January of 2010. She has a love/hate relationship with them...some days they help her a lot(such as in the snow). Other days, she comes home from school with welts on her little heels and bruises on her ankles. I made a deal with her, back in September- she only has to wear them on school days. So, Saturday and Sunday and any time we have to make a trip to Rochester (unless we are going to see the orthopedist, of course) she gets the day off. It's funny...she hates those braces, but she loves school more. Yesterday was quite the day though. I asked her to go bring me her shoes- my first mistake. Of course, she
came back with her black church shoes. So, I told her it was a school day and she had to wear her braces. She gave me that look. If you have children, you know the look I'm talking about. I think I even have it caught on camera...yep, this look right here.
Being the mean mommy that I am, I told her that she had to wear her braces, that it was a school day and it was snowy and slippery outside. She brought them to me, under duress. Here's the conversation we had as I squeezed the torture contraptions on her.
G-"Mommy, they hurt my feet. I don't want to wear them today.
M- Where do they hurt your feet?
G- Ummm, on my feet. ( Said with a slight eyeroll and voice inflection that leads me to believe she thought I didn't know where her feet were.)
M- But which part? Does it hurt here, or here?
She points to her heels and her ankles. 
M- Well we are going to a doctor on Thursday that will be able to help with that. 
GRACE DOES NOT LIKE GOIN G TOANY DOCTOR EXCEPT HER PEDIATRICIAN.
G- (Big smiles and claps her hands) Oh good!! (They must really hurt her.)
G- Mommy, can I wear my black shoes today?
M- No, honey, today is a school day. You wear your other shoes on Saturday and to church on Sunday.

I can see the wheels in her head turning. She gets the sweetest little grin you ever did see on her face and says-
G- Mommy, I'll go to Sunday School today. I NEED to learn more about God. PWEEASE?"

Ugh, she was so cute, I almost caved!

 As I said, she does have an orthopedist appointment coming on Thursday. This is a local doctor that we haven't seen before, so please pray that he might be able to help her in some way. It is truly heartbreaking to have your child wake up, night after night, crying because her legs HURT. The hardest thing is, she doesn't wake up completely, so we can't even give her any Tylenol or anything. Botox injections have been considered in the past, this might be the path that we go down next. We shall see on Thursday!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Michelle,
Don't feel bad, Graham hates his AFO's too, and refused to use them so much that his Rehab doctor okayed getting SMO's (the shorter AFO's that go just above the ankle) from what his therapists have said, if they are causing pain, then she might have outgrown them, or they may not be fitting correctly. Hope she gets some relief soon, or that she wont have to wear them even sooner!! G will also most likely be getting botox injections in his hamstrings when he has his vision surgery in March.
Thinking of you guys!
Erin

 
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