The Leg Appointment

Sorry I left you hanging for longer than I hoped!

Saturday, we attended our first Chinese New Year's Celebration with the local chapter of Families with Children from China. Four hours of wiggly, tired Lily left this Mama too pooped to type! Then Sunday & Monday were devoted to preparing for the Orphan Care Info Meeting that we and fellow-adoptive friends spearheaded. (Check out Jenny's blog if you haven't already...www.ourplansmultiplied.blogspot.com) What a night that was! Praying the Lord will use our humble offering to do mighty things for orphans and for His glory! That's still another post, for yet another day...

In an effort to not leave you hanging any longer, I will simply post the text (actually I typed it days ago) and hold off on the excruciating process of uploading pictures until...well, soon...hopefully!

Sooooo....the leg appointment!

What a day!

When we left home it was snowing...again! The weather seemed to indicate that it would stop and be inconsequential, so we trudged on. After we stopped to get gas. After we were already running late. But, running out of gas only makes you later, right? Right, I told myself.

So, after we get gas as fast as we can, we head out...behind the sloooowest drivers on the east coast (at least it seemed that way). Something about the 's' word just makes people drive differently...even when the road is perfectly fine. After rehearsing several verses about patience and God's perfect timing and imagining all of the wonderful ways in which the very slow driver in front of us was saving us from dangers unknown by the leading of the Holy Spirit, I settled into knitting for the rest of the drive. And guess what? When we got there we were only 10 minutes behind! A major praise for all that seemed to be delaying us.

As you probably know by now, Lily is not the biggest fan of those who have been building her leg. They are the sweetest and gentlest of people...not to mention exceedingly knowledgeable in their field...but she just wants nothing to do with them.

We had been wondering how long it would take for her to start crying when we walked in the office door, and we found out Friday the time is close. Although she didn't cry when we walked in, the moment she saw sweet Mary, she started vehemently shaking her head "no" at her and crawling over my shoulder to get away. And that was with Mary carrying the gift of a baby doll wearing a matching socket! Just look at this sweet doll! Not only that, but Mary had made Lily's doll a matching blanket!

After, receiving her gifts Lily settled down a bit and was willing to play. For the rest of us, excitement was building as we knew it was just a matter of minutes before we saw her leg.

And what a sight it was! It is the cutest little thing! We were just so excited! The completed leg socket was made with a pink fabric that has butterflies, flowers, and caterpillars on it. Just too cute!

Lily was quite interested in it, too! I think she recognized her shoe and wanted to play with it.

Following her initial exploration and our "oohs" and "aahs," it was time to try the completed leg on for the first time. Mama paid close attention...as this is my job from here on out! First we roll on the silicone liner (a rubbery, tight fitting sock) that provides cushion between her leg and the very hard carbon socket (same stuff jets are made out of apparently!). Next, we attach a y-shaped piece of velcro to the liner and feed it through an opening on the socket. The piece of velcro is then fed through a buckle of sorts and velcro-ed to itself. All of this hold the leg on snug.

Next, it was time to get her up and standing on her leg. This we did on the exam table where they could check the fit.

What a moment! We all cheered! Lily cried!

We gave Lily a few minutes break to recoup before we tried doing a little assisted walking on her leg. After the break, we put the leg back on and headed into the adjoining room. Once there, we tried her out in her Cadillac of a walker (haven't posted on this little contraption yet, but will eventually). She kind of looked at us like...now what? She wasn't nearly as anxious to roll around in it there as she is at home, but that will come. We talked through some modifications and adjustments that we can do with the walker and then moved on to the main attraction...walking!

Once she was out of the walker, I stood her up again. With Mary behind me guiding Lily's legs and Daddy photographing like mad, Lily took her first steps! Granted they were anything but independent...but they were steps, none the less, and I'm counting them!

This she enjoyed much more!

Lily needed another break after all of this, but when Mary & Mr. Don returned, they had another gift. A bag painted especially for her that held her liners, socks, doll, blanket, and leg.

While Lily enjoyed her latest gift, Mama received instructions for the care of everything and how to proceed for the next several days. We will work up to longer periods of wear, beginning with about 45 minutes at a time this weekend. We need to watch her skin carefully for degrees of redness and how long they last as well as obvious areas of rubbing.

Our Physical Therapist returned Monday afternoon. We decided that the leg is actually too long, so Wednesday we go back to have the leg "reduced."

Keep praying that she will accept her leg and adjust to it well. Thank you so much for praying for Lily and us as we go where He leads!

In Him,