Digital Scrapbooking

I've been playing with Photoshop and created this....

It's a photo of the girls at the zoo.

We are getting ready to head to St. Louis again. I'm sure there will be casts this time, at least I hope so.

On a positive note, Amelia has been standing a little all by herself. She can balance for about 10 seconds or so. Then she tries to take a step and falls. She will only try to stand if we ask her to. So, it's been a good week for her. I'd post a photo but I can't get to the camera before she falls.

EMG test results~from a layman's perspective

Yesterday was the big day for Amelia to get her EMG/Nerve conduction study. To say that I was worked up over it is an understatement. I hardly slept the night before last and I was a bundle of nervous energy all morning. I much prefer having test done in the morning~gets them over with! But alas, our appointment was at 2:45 p.m. I started to post last night, but I was so emotionally exhausted that I just sat outside and watched the girls play and then it was couch potato time to watch American Idol and DWS Results.

I was able to talk to the nurse in St. Louis to make sure I had the necessary information for the test and she did tell me that there were particular things that Dr. Dobbs would be looking from the test. She also said the test would not change Amelia's treatment plan, it would let them know if she would be more likely to relapse after treatment. Now I was really confused. I couldn't really understand why we waited to start the treatment, but it's too late now. This just goes to show how shocked I was when we got this information in St. Louis. No sense crying over spilled milk, if you will.

Naturally, they requested that we arrive 15 minutes early to "fill out" paperwork. So we arrived 25 minutes early since you never know how expressway traffic is going to be in Cincinnati and on the surface streets are always a crap shoot. Let me start off with saying one of my biggest pet peeves is having to wait around for a doctor. Drives me insane~especially when they tell you that if you are 15 minutes late for your appointment, you will need to reschedule. This is how the timing went:

3:15~called back to room by assistant. Room is very small for two parents and one toddler~big machine in middle of room, extra big bed~not your normal hospital bed (this was in a rehabilitation area so I image that many patients need the extra space on the bed). I can already feel Steve tensing up since he is claustrophobic. Can you see where this is going????

3:30~nurse arrives and starts asking us questions. The best question was, "Are you her legal guardians?" Oooh~I hear all my friends gasping, because you know me~I've got a bit of a "smart" mouth. O.K, I've got more than a smart mouth, I'm downright obnoxious sometimes. You know all those "thought bubbles" most of you have but keep them to yourselves? My thought bubbles EXPLODE and the words just pour out into the room much to every one's surprise ;-). I just stared at her for a few seconds with this look on my face, "are you kidding me?", it was a rather pregnant pause. Then I just answered, "yes". Again with this look on my face~"That was a really STUPID question!"

She was a very kind nurse. She just oohed and aahed over Amelia~"She's so sweet!" All the while I'm gritting my teeth because we've had one of those mornings where nothing has please Amelia and she spent most of it crying. Actually, most of it would be an understatement. By the time I changed her out of her PJs, she had cried so much that her pants were went from the tears and slobber dripping down from her face. She just took an ugly stance yesterday and wanted to be carried everywhere I went. Sorry sister, get those legs moving and build those muscles. Besides, my back is finally feeling great and I don't want to regress any.

3:40~nurse returns with the sedative to help her relax. She tells us she won't be put out, just relaxed. I'm beginning to freak a little bit since Amelia has has about a 20 minute nap. She also states that it takes about 20-30 minutes for the sedative to take effective and then the doctor will be in. Are you doing the math here????? Fortunately, she put a Dora video in for Amelia and she sat in her stroller and watched it. It didn't take long for it to hit her since she was so stinkin' tired to begin with. I didn't take my camera but I had my phone so these shots are from that. Not very good, but good enough.

Hey Mommy, that's Dora and Boots up there on the wall~weeeeeeeeeee!

4:10~doctor arrives WITH a resident doctor. Now there are five of us in the room~it's really really crowded now in this tiny room. We got through a series of questions~blah blah blah. I tell him what the doctor in St. Louis needs to know and he told me that it was stated on the referral, so I can relax over that little tid bit. They ask one of us to hold her during the test, we start to "paper-rock-scissors" for the job. The doctors were just staring at us like we were insane.

What's that guy talking about~electrodes what???

Amelia was great during the beginning of the test. She just sat on my lap and watched what the doctors were doing to her legs. She didn't like them taping the appliances to her feet, it annoyed her. She really didn't like them marking on her with an ink pen. She kept pointing at the spot as if to say, "Hey, get that off of me now!" But she never cried, only touched and jabbered.

These are my feet. I can pull them over my head.

The test took about 45-50 minutes. The sedative started to wear off towards the end of it. Amelia was pretty alert when they were sticking the needles in her legs to test the nerves. She started to whimper a little but kept it together. The only time she cried was when Steve left the room to call home since we were WAY over the time we thought we would be there and our cell phone was ringing incessantly from the sitter and from Tucker.

Finally, they told us that her muscles are in good shape. There isn't any problems there. The test did show that she had some damage to her peroneal nerve in her left leg at some point in the past. The nerve was repairing itself though.

Praise God! She does not have any problems! So now it's just a matter of getting her legs stronger so she can walk. I'll be contacting my friend who is a physical therapist for some advice! Thanks for praying for us! We head to St. Louis in two weeks. Hopefully the casting will start then and we can get those fiberglass casts behind us before the pool opens!

Uhhhhh, I don't think I can keep my eyes open much longer

Tomorrow

We head to Cincy Children's tomorrow to have an EMG/Nerve Conduction Study done on Amelia. This is not a procedure that I am familiar with, this is what I do know:

Getting ready for the big "cry", baba told her "no" about something...

The EMG / electromyogram is a test that evaluates the electrical activity in nerves and muscles. This test is helpful to determine if abnormalities exist in the way nerves transmit electrical impulses or abnormalities to the muscles themselves.


The EMG test consists of two parts:

Nerve Conduction Study / NCS which evaluates the speed and amount of electrical activity along a nerve


EMG study which looks at electrical activity in muscles at rest and also when they are voluntarily moved (if possible) to determine if the pattern of activity is normal



There are many things about this test that make me very uncomfortable~electrical current being sent through the muscle & pin electrodes being stuck in the muscle. ICK~this is going to be a real bummer for both of us.


I'm making sure that they will sedate her~otherwise, they will have big problems with me and Amelia. I'm talking sedation for both of us too ;-)

I'm learning to edit my photos....can you see the difference? This one isn't the best, I'm still learning!

I failed to ask the doctor in St. Louis how this test will impact Amelia's treatment of her club feet. Chalk that up to travel fatigue and shock at not being familiar with this procedure for club foot babies. But I am awaiting a call from St. Louis to explain all of this to me.


So please pray for an easy test tomorrow and that the doctors will find no abnormalities. To be honest, we think Amelia may have some neurological problems. She is not walking yet and we had hoped she would be. She has been out of the brace for four months now. Her strength is improving and she does balance while standing, but still no steps. Steve and I are not pessimist, just realistic. We are just trying to prepare ourselves for a different path than we originally anticipated. But we pray we are wrong and that Amelia just needs some intensive PT to get over this hump. That's another problem with older children and club feet, doctors in the US are accustomed to treating infants and not toddlers. This is due to the fact that we seek and receive medical treatment for this condition as soon as a child is born. Consequently, the doctors in the US do not exercise a different treatment protocol for older children and I have discovered it is different. Hence the reason we are now going to Dr. Dobbs since he does in fact treat older adopted children from other countries as well as treating children that have had incorrect treatment for club feet.


Digressing a little here....Dr. Dobbs uses the Ponseti method for treating club feet. Dr. Dobbs and other doctors around the US a treated by Dr. Ponseti himself in this method. It is very specialized and many doctors do not execute it correctly. Therefore, it's imperiative to locate a highly recommended doctor to treat your child. When we returned from China, we did have a doctor that was trained in the method, but she moved to Utah.


Amelia isn't feeling the greatest right now, she has a cough and a temp. Pray that she is well tomorrow and they will still perform the test.


Off to preschool with Elise!

Blingin' my blogs...

My blogs are dull and boring. I use the templates provided by blogger since I don't know any better. But I've been following a few blogs that are just so pretty and I love looking at all of their new "stuff". So I decided it was time for some changes.

I've tried to find someone to bling my blog. But I get no response to my emails. I guess they are just overwhelmed with requests. So I decided I was going to give it a try. This is my first attempt. I'm going to try my hand at making a new Header tomorrow. It should be fun because it will involve digital scrapbooking and my new Photoshop software.

Woohoo...just another reason to be on the computer.

Found....

Luke 15:32 "But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this sister of yours was dead and is alive again; she was lost and is found." NIV

April 14th, nothing significant about this day, you say. Except for maybe the fact that it's the day before tax day and everyone is trying to get into the post office to mail their tax returns. Don't people know about electronic filing and paying???? I mean seriously, this is ridiculous. I needed to mail a simply package today, unrelated to tax day, and I had to try not once, but twice to get into the post office. The first time, I couldn't find a parking place and the parking lot is set up such that if you don't find a parking spot the first time, you have to exit the parking lot, go back out onto the main road and try again. It's utterly ridiculous and I know why people go "postal". My second attempt was successful in that I found a parking spot, but the line at the self-serve kiosk was four people deep. But I preserved and got my package off for the Ladybug Spring Bling Swap. But I digress....

April 14th is Amelia's finding day. Two years ago, a kind man found her and took her to the local police station and then she was taken to Chengdu Orphanage. This day is always a sad/glad day. Sad that she was born into the situation that she was, glad that she was found and saved. So today, we give thanks for the kind man that took the time to save Amelia so that she could be found by us, her forever family! Praise be to God above!

I often think of her birth parents and what they must be thinking and feeling today. If I could, I would tell them this about Amelia SiYuan Wells:

Physically

~She weighs 24 pounds and is 31 1/2 inches tall

~She still has a soft spot, but it's now only about the size of my finger tip

~She can crawl and cruise, but does not walk yet

~Her feet look good, we still have a little ways to go to get them straight, but the doctor says that she will run like any other kid

~She has chubby arms and hands, a round face and a round tummy. She has no bottom and still can wear size nine month shorts and they fall off of her

~She loves to swing and go down the slide

~Her hair is finally growing a bit, I can't get a "water sprout" yet, but we're hopeful

~Her smile is brilliant and she shares it often

~Her eyes tell a thousand stores, from happiness to ornery & sadness to concern

~She LOVES to eat and will stuff so much food in her mouth that she can't chew

~Her verbal skills are amazing, she repeats everything-not such a good thing sometimes ;)

Mentally and emotionally:

~She loves her Jie Jie and Gu Gu's

~Tenacity is her gift, she never gives up

~She can cry a bucket of tears, but stops as soon as she's in her mama's arms

~Her temper matches her tenacity

~She takes a daily two hour nap and she sleeps through the night. Some nights she sleeps folded in half (it's weird looking)

~She loves to be held close right before bedtime and be snuggled

~Bath time is a favorite time of day

~She can go down a really big slide

~She adores Gordo, our dog

~She fears nothing

~Her favorite toy is her push cart~it takes her everywhere

~She doesn't have a favorite stuffed animal yet

~She did suck her thumb, but we've had to take steps against her undoing her "night-time shoe brace", so we have broken that habit

~Mama is her favorite and will cry if she doesn't get a hug and a kiss at bedtime

~She's learning to like reading books

~She uses the potty, but only when I ask (which is everyday, several times a day)

~She hasn't met a food she doesn't like, but water is her favorite drink

I would say that she's dearly and deeply loved by many. We are doing our best for her and pray that she grows into the beautiful person God has created her to be. We are still bonding and attaching and each day is better and better. I would say that she is more like me than any of my children. I guess that's why God laid it on my heart to adopt again~so I could get a taste of myself when I was young.

For as much as my heart aches for what she has lost, I'm ever so grateful for what we have found...A child of God, perfectly knit into our family!

May they find peace on this day and always knowing that she is loved beyond measure.

Yes, this daughter/sister/child was lost and now is found. Let us CELEBRATE!