Alison was casted for her brace this morning. I am so very thankful that she is such a happy, social little girl. It makes having to do stuff like this so much easier. Amazingly, she actually stayed in the waiting area and played with the toys they had while I filled out her paperwork. Normally she would be running all over the place like a wild hooligan. She even played nicely in the cast room while the orthotist rounded up all the supplies we needed. She sat quietly in my lap, eating grapes while he got her all set up and started wrapping on the plaster and she was really interested in the plaster once he got high enough on her leg for her to reach it. I had to keep pulling her hand back to keep her from actually getting her fingers in it. She sat patiently while the plaster set and we were able to get a really good cast. Apparently, a lot of times, the littler kids get really squirmy and the casts don't come out so good and it makes it hard to make the brace correctly. The only time we had any trouble was when it came time to take the cast off. Alison was less than thrilled with the saw, the noise really scared her, but she toughed it out and did a great job. It'll take about 3 weeks for the brace to be ready.

Alison will be getting a brace (an articulating AFO) for her right foot. Kevin talked to Dr. Hurvitz about it on Monday and Dr. Craig called us about it today. In light of the conversation Kevin had with Dr. Hurvitz, the conversation I had with Dr. Craig was pretty amusing. Dr. Hurvitz said that he and Dr. Craig had gone back and forth about whether or not to go ahead with the brace and he finally agreed to it (when he saw her in September, Dr Hurvitz had been inclined not to do anything about her foot unless it became a problem as she got older). Dr. Craig implied that it was Dr. Hurvitz who wanted to brace her. At any rate, Dr. Craig's office will be sending us the order so that we can have the casting and stuff done here instead of dragging Alison back to Ann Arbor or Brighton any more than we have to. We will have an appointment with Dr. Craig at the Brighton office after Alison gets her brace but at least it's one less trip. It does not sound like Alison will have to wear the brace all the time, only for an hour a day, at least to start.