YouTube video of Taylor's new arm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNyuMtaC9A - Taylor's Newest Prosthetic Arm

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Another Shriners Hospital Adventure

Little Miss Mayhem got her new Dora armie yesterday!

What an adventure.....poor kids.....they were cooped up all day wednesday at my job, then stuck in the car (luckily for me they were asleep) until 1am thursday, then crawl their little bums into the house to continue sleeping until 6:30-7 then get back in the car. We arrived at Shriners at 9:50 and that's where we stayed until around 2:30. (Which actually wasn't a long day there but the girls I think had a slightly different opinion.....)

It was a full on kiddo rainbow in Springfield yesterday. Armies, Leggies, Cleft lip pre and post op, you name it. A building full of beautiful, perfect babies and children. Taylor was the center of Makayla's (also an LBE kiddo) attention. She was pretty excited to see another kid, especially a girl, with a limb difference too. It took Taylor a while to realize other kids there were just like her and then she nubbie bumped everyone including her OT, Debi.

Miss Muffet wasn't always so friendly yesterday though. When she saw her new arm she was all excited. 'Lookie Mom my Dora Armie' and she put it on. Then she took it off and didn't want any part of it. OMG! So Rob (the almighty armie maker/fixer) and I are trying to coax her into cooperating so he can figure out if her harness is too long too small whatever, and Taylor wants no part of it. She is a mini NinJeremya! Wow stubborn much.

We eventually win (with bribery) and she puts armie back on. And the leash (harness) is too long. But she won't wear her [nub] sock and after the battle to get her prosthetic on, we're not taking it off to adjust the leash or address the sock absence. So we run to visit with Debi upstairs for a bit and Taylor shows everyone she can open and close her new hand (this one has the body powered hook instead of the opening closing fakie hand she had last time) and then she takes it off.

Debi showed Taylor how she takes off her prosthetic (she's an all knowing and totally awesome, resourceful, informative....yes I can keep going.... Inventor, blogger, OT, RBE), and how she puts it on trying to get Taylor to do them same with hers. Instead Taylor was all excited and curious about the powder on Debi's nubbie. So Taylor tried to steal her powder by giving repeated nub bumps. So Debi ran around and found Taylor her own bottle of powder. We now have that side track done and Taylor finally shows that she can put on her arm and the leash all on her own.

Next, Taylor shows Debi she can open and close her new armie by opening the hook and then closing it on Debi's nose. Mind you this was Debi's idea, and she pulled back so Taylor didn't cause any harm. Then, in walks a kiddo and her family. Side track number 57......Taylor shows them she can open & close the hand and then takes off her arm to show them her nub. Here we go again. Now she wasn't excited about it again. At this point Rob tracked us down to check on how Taylor was doing and saw his opportunity to adjust her cord and harness so he snagged her new armie to go and fix it up, and we finished up with Debi. We eventually make our way back downstairs to meet back with Rob. Now her arms all set and we have battle royale again. We won and Taylor put on her armie and we were good to go. So we say our goodbyes and make our way to the car. I loaded up the kids and away we went. Taylor was asleep by the time I got to the Shriners Hospital sign, which is literally like 250 feet from the door of the hospital and Ashtyn was out at the I-91 on ramp about 3 miles away. Ahhhhhhh silence :) They woke briefly in Brattleboro long enough to eat a bagel (as Mommy's dumb and forgot to bring cash for lunch) and back out they went for most of the ride back to the almost-Canadian border. We finally got out of the car at 6:45 (and lucky me I got to work 3rd shift after all that).

Back to reality


Since we left Taylor has hard her Dora armie on almost every second she's awake (and sometimes when she's sleeping) and she really likes it. She's so happy she can finally hold things in her armie. I can't thank the Shriners and Shriners Hospital staff enough. Thank you. Truly from the bottom of my heart, you'll never know how wonderful you've made my daughter's life and mine.

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Quick heads up

2516.12.....and maybe more on the way :)

www.totalchaosandmayhem.blogspot.com

- Sent from my Palm Pixi