Morgan Surprises us!

Morgan and David made it home safely from Philly late Thursday night. David didn't venture to try the back brace out on the plane (who can blame him) and because they arrived home so late and we both needed to work in the morning we weren't up for testing it out that night. So... we left it for Grandma and Grandpa to test out in the morning. I called at lunch to check-in and see how she was tolerating the brace. I was expecting to hear that she hated it and was very fussy. Instead, I got the opposite. Morgan was doing great! She hadn't complained once about the back brace. They gave her a short break for lunch and then put it back on for naptime. She took a decent nap and by the time I got there to pick her up she was still wearing it. We then left it on most of the afternoon taking it off only for her bath. I couldn't believe how great she was doing. In fact, if I asked her if she liked her brace she would say "Yes!" That night Morgan slept pretty well, waking only 3 times and when she did wake it was to complain about her knees, not the back.

Not once has she complained about the back brace. We did, however, figure out why she threw up on Thursday. On Saturday afternoon we went with Matt, Georgia, and Lucas to a Pima Community College basketball game to watch some former Cienega players play. While at the game we had Morgan in her back brace and she was wearing a long sleeve onesie and pants (It is winter). Well during the game she started getting fussy (I figured she was tired because she barely napped) and her cheeks began to get red (again, bad mom, I figured this was just because she is getting her molars). A few moments later we discovered what it was when she starting throwing up all over. We immediately ripped off the brace and stripped her down. Within minutes she was fine; she had overheated. I am glad we now know the cause, but now we are constantly worried that she will overheat again. Morgan is a hot body to begin with. We are trying to keep the house a bit cooler and keep her stripped down to the brace when at home and only putting on really light shirts when we go out. Our biggest worry is how she will survive this in the summer when it is 110 degrees outside.


Here are a few pictures so you can see Morgan's new back brace along with her KAFO's.




As you can see she is basically in a full body brace. She deals with it so well though; such a trooper!

Below are a few pictures from therapy today. I just had to post them because they were so adorable. She is doing great at PT and is surprising me each week with how well she is manuevering her wheelchair around the clinic. Today she drove right up to the window to check-in, raised herself up to say hi, and then backed up to go to the therapy department. When we arrived there she immediately went to play with the toys without even waiting for me to help guide her.