Well, this week has been everything it was advertised to be and more. But I really can’t complain. We have such wonderful medical care here in the U.S. If Jonalyn had stayed in the Philippines, she wouldn’t have been able to receive the treatment that she’s getting. If she’d come home to a country with socialized medicine (no political views here, I promise), she would have had to wait forever for her care. As it is, I was able to get her into see the PT within a week or two after our doctor’s appointment, which only took a week or two to get. And a week after our initial appointment with the PT, we started therapy.

So, what have I learned this week? Well, not only are Jonalyn’s femurs turned, and thus everything else down the leg, but the back bone in her heel is curved. This causes her arches to collapse, causing her to walk on the inside of her foot, which isn’t very stable. The PT is recommending that Jonalyn get orthodics for her shoes, and possibly a small brace for her ankles to give her stability. Her hip muscles and some of the muscles in her feet are very weak. They’ve been working on strengthening exercises for her and have given some exercises for us to work on at home.

I love this therapy place. The therapists are wonderful and relate very well to Jonalyn. She doesn’t want to leave because she’s having so much fun. The therapist we had yesterday sat with me for 30 minutes, explaining everything to me in detail. I finally understand what’s going on. I also learned that we won’t do both strapping and taping, but one or the other. With the strapping, she’ll need to wear shorts or a belt to anchor the straps. This will interfere with going to the restroom. With the tape, we’ll need to make sure she doesn’t peel it off and we’ll have to change it every few days. So now we have to decide which we are going to do. None of this is guaranteed to move her bones. Because she is 7 1/2, her bones aren’t as pliable as a younger child’s and may well not move. But it’s worth a try since our only other option is surgery. I’m all for giving the least invasive procedure a chance!

So that’s where we stand right now. We have three weeks of therapy left. Three weeks of running around, getting kids where they need to go when they need to be there, three weeks of trying to cook healthy meals even though I’m not home! And to top it all off, Brian’s retainer broke, so we need to run to the orthodontist today. So much for grocery shopping!