Another Philly Update

Well after nine LONG days we made it home from our trip. Of course David and Morgan both caught colds on the trip home and now we are dealing with that. On Monday we saw Dr. Van Bosse for the third time during our trip. On that day he removed her casts to check on how things were progressing. She is making HUGE progress!! That means things are working and we are now going to continue with the casting. If you remember back to the first day we met Dr. Van Bosse (on Monday, October 19th) he measured her degree of bend at 65 degrees on the right and 35 degrees on the left. After just one week and two pairs of cast he measured her right leg at 90 degrees (our goal!) and 70 degrees for the left!!! We were amazed she was already at 65 degrees. It took her 15 pairs of casts as an infant to get there and that is as far as she ever got, she then lost most of that since they didn't brace her. That brings me to the next part of our day on Monday. After taking the casts off and seeing how well she was doing Dr. Van Bosse sent us to orthotics to be molded for braces. When all the casting is done Morgan will be put into long leg (KAFO) braces. Initially she will wear them about 23 hours a day and then eventually only at night to help maintain the bend she gets. When we finished with the bracing we went back to see Dr. Van Bosse to be casted. This time he was able to cast her right at 90 degrees (we will cast it there until her braces are ready) and the left at 70 degrees. The plan is now to return to Philly weekly to be recasted until December 3rd when her braces will be ready. In the meantime the hope is that through 3 more pairs of casts her left knee can reach 90 degrees.
Morgan and I will return by ourselves this coming Thursday. We will see the doctor at 8 in the morning Friday and then leave to fly home at 1. Donna has graciously volunteered to take Morgan the second trip and David is going to try to do the third trip. I will then be taking Morgan on the final trip in December for the braces so I can learn how to put them on correctly.
Hopefully we will be able to avoid any more illness along the way.