We acquired a new pet. I think this is pet number 451. Welcome Lucy to the family. (more pics added 9/11/08)
jan
Thursday, September 4, 2008
family feet
Auri has been having escalating problems with her feet. She started with sores on her Achilles from wearing ballerina shoes that didn't fit properly. Having her heels hurt caused her to put more pressure on the balls of her feet. Combined with the cleats and the increased pounding from soccer practice, the balls of her feet became increasingly painful...to the point that about 1-2 weeks ago she started walking on her heels with her balls up to avoid any pressure. Then, as predicted, yesterday her ankles hurt her so bad that she woke me up in tears at 6 something am.
We had been soaking in Epsom salts, stretching and massaging her feet thinking it was just soreness from the increased activity and cleats. However, it just seemed to be escalating not receding. So, I took her to the ER for eval (or lack there of as the case may be). A complete waste of time and money!! Diagnosis from ER doc: bruised feet from cleats, stay off feet completely for 1 wk, buy new cleats...realistic considering she has school- Not!
On the way to school, we stopped by Frenchtown Physical Therapy. They were great! After a thorough evaluation, they explained that her joints are hypermobile (move beyond the normal range of motion), they used the word "ridiculous" to describe her hypermobility (surprise, surprise and welcome to the family :); she has high arches and pronates (not a good combo..also not a surprise, don't you just love our genetics)); has comparatively tight medial ankle range of motion; All this combined with the previously mentioned factors related to wounds, cleats and increased activity, walking abnormally to try to reduce pain, escalated an already problematic situation into her current severely painful foot condition.
So, they taped her up really well, had her practice walking barefoot until she approached normal. She will need further gait training and lots of reminders to walk heel to toe and keep her feet straight. She walks with her feet wide, toes out and up (not even touching ground) and pushes off like a ice skater with each step instead of rolling through her toes and pushing with the balls of her feet. They also added pads under her metatarsals to relieve some pressure (which helped a lot in the beginning but was more painful by the end of the day); Told her she is not allowed to wear flip flops for 6 months, no ballerina shoes (or shoes without arch support); and to throw away her current shoes and get new ones. After watching her walk and seeing the conditions of the soles of her shoes, I had to agree. She would never learn to walk correctly in shoes she has worn down so completely. So after school, she hobbled home in tears, iced and took a lortab and ibuprofen. When she recovered enough to walk, a couple hours later, we went shoe shopping and bought her a couple of pairs of appropriate shoes and extra arch support insoles for her new sneakers. Between the PT, the shoe sales persons, Jan and myself hopefully we have finally convinced her of the importance of good shoes (over style).
She is very upset about not being able to play soccer and letting her team down and very hard on herself for not being as good as she wants to be. She will still go to soccer practice and the games, to support her teammates and to learn by watching and listening. We have another MD appt today to try to get an order to cover PT (required by insurance). So, once again we are spending money like it grows on trees...man I could use one of those trees :) Send her love and support, she needs it.
FYI Jamie chose not to play this year related to foot pain, so I will be taking him in for eval here soon also. I am sure he has the family feet also :) Yea...
We had been soaking in Epsom salts, stretching and massaging her feet thinking it was just soreness from the increased activity and cleats. However, it just seemed to be escalating not receding. So, I took her to the ER for eval (or lack there of as the case may be). A complete waste of time and money!! Diagnosis from ER doc: bruised feet from cleats, stay off feet completely for 1 wk, buy new cleats...realistic considering she has school- Not!
On the way to school, we stopped by Frenchtown Physical Therapy. They were great! After a thorough evaluation, they explained that her joints are hypermobile (move beyond the normal range of motion), they used the word "ridiculous" to describe her hypermobility (surprise, surprise and welcome to the family :); she has high arches and pronates (not a good combo..also not a surprise, don't you just love our genetics)); has comparatively tight medial ankle range of motion; All this combined with the previously mentioned factors related to wounds, cleats and increased activity, walking abnormally to try to reduce pain, escalated an already problematic situation into her current severely painful foot condition.
So, they taped her up really well, had her practice walking barefoot until she approached normal. She will need further gait training and lots of reminders to walk heel to toe and keep her feet straight. She walks with her feet wide, toes out and up (not even touching ground) and pushes off like a ice skater with each step instead of rolling through her toes and pushing with the balls of her feet. They also added pads under her metatarsals to relieve some pressure (which helped a lot in the beginning but was more painful by the end of the day); Told her she is not allowed to wear flip flops for 6 months, no ballerina shoes (or shoes without arch support); and to throw away her current shoes and get new ones. After watching her walk and seeing the conditions of the soles of her shoes, I had to agree. She would never learn to walk correctly in shoes she has worn down so completely. So after school, she hobbled home in tears, iced and took a lortab and ibuprofen. When she recovered enough to walk, a couple hours later, we went shoe shopping and bought her a couple of pairs of appropriate shoes and extra arch support insoles for her new sneakers. Between the PT, the shoe sales persons, Jan and myself hopefully we have finally convinced her of the importance of good shoes (over style).
She is very upset about not being able to play soccer and letting her team down and very hard on herself for not being as good as she wants to be. She will still go to soccer practice and the games, to support her teammates and to learn by watching and listening. We have another MD appt today to try to get an order to cover PT (required by insurance). So, once again we are spending money like it grows on trees...man I could use one of those trees :) Send her love and support, she needs it.
FYI Jamie chose not to play this year related to foot pain, so I will be taking him in for eval here soon also. I am sure he has the family feet also :) Yea...
Monday, September 1, 2008
End of Summer wrap up
Well, the kids survived their summer adventures. They both enjoyed their time in Vegas and Germany visiting with family and friends. Unfortunately, the summer is over. School starts tomorrow. I posted their holidays and breaks on our calendar (which also posts to the google calendar).
Jan and I spent the summer working on our property. So much to do, so few hours in the day :) We could really use a few more weeks to prepare for winter...hay, firewood, weather treating the fence and barn, preparing the ground and seeding for grass the entire pasture but most especially the area tore up during the barn building which is currently rolling piles of clay.
We bought used Noble feeders, cleaned them up and put them in the barn yesterday. Jan made an opening in each stall to pass the hay, grain and water through...very nice! It is going to be so much easier to care for the boys this winter. We also set up the panels to make stalls attached to the barn. Good timing as it is currently pouring down rain. The horses are trying to eat the barn. So, we sprayed with No Chew and will need to do further interventions later.
My little garden is struggling along. Between the hordes of grasshoppers, potato bugs and other misc bugs, there is not much left of the potatoes and cucumbers. The onions are beautiful and the squash is looking good too. Jamie is digging up the rest of the area a little at a time. Hopefully by next spring, we will have a much larger garden, better prepared ground and...maybe even a greenhouse??
Jan and I spent the summer working on our property. So much to do, so few hours in the day :) We could really use a few more weeks to prepare for winter...hay, firewood, weather treating the fence and barn, preparing the ground and seeding for grass the entire pasture but most especially the area tore up during the barn building which is currently rolling piles of clay.
We bought used Noble feeders, cleaned them up and put them in the barn yesterday. Jan made an opening in each stall to pass the hay, grain and water through...very nice! It is going to be so much easier to care for the boys this winter. We also set up the panels to make stalls attached to the barn. Good timing as it is currently pouring down rain. The horses are trying to eat the barn. So, we sprayed with No Chew and will need to do further interventions later.
My little garden is struggling along. Between the hordes of grasshoppers, potato bugs and other misc bugs, there is not much left of the potatoes and cucumbers. The onions are beautiful and the squash is looking good too. Jamie is digging up the rest of the area a little at a time. Hopefully by next spring, we will have a much larger garden, better prepared ground and...maybe even a greenhouse??
Soccer
Well, Auri survived her first two soccer games! They had 12 girls show up for tryouts, and convinced a few more to return to the team, bringing their number to 15 girls. With 6 girls returning from last year (Frenchtown's 1st season), most of the girls are new to soccer and the team. They began practice on the 18th, with their first games Friday the 29th and Sat the 30th. Due to regulations requiring girls to have 10 practices to be eligible to play, they only had 13 eligible girls (11 players, 2 subs). Most girls had to play the entire game...two 45 min halves.
I have to say we were SO proud of Auriana!! As a defensive full back (libero for our German family), she plays with alot of heart and a strong spirit!! She is sore all over, esp her legs and feet. She has sores on her heels from her shoes and the balls of her feet are killing her from running in cleats. Nevertheless, she really hustled around the field and maintained defensive pressure. No easy scoring on her!! They lost the game, but kept it in the single digits....which against the state champs is pretty good!!
I've posted her games to the calendar, most are within an hour of our home. The dates are Sept 6,9,11,13,19,22,23,27 Oct 4 & 11. Any who want to travel to see a game are welcome to stay with us!!
I have to say we were SO proud of Auriana!! As a defensive full back (libero for our German family), she plays with alot of heart and a strong spirit!! She is sore all over, esp her legs and feet. She has sores on her heels from her shoes and the balls of her feet are killing her from running in cleats. Nevertheless, she really hustled around the field and maintained defensive pressure. No easy scoring on her!! They lost the game, but kept it in the single digits....which against the state champs is pretty good!!
I've posted her games to the calendar, most are within an hour of our home. The dates are Sept 6,9,11,13,19,22,23,27 Oct 4 & 11. Any who want to travel to see a game are welcome to stay with us!!
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