A New Opportunity

I'm excited to say that Ashlyn and I will be going to an Upper Limb Clinic at Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics next week. She is starting to get very excited about the possiblity of getting a pretty new pink princess arm. She fell in love with one that we saw Jordan wearing on Born Just Right. I think she might actually use her arm more often if it weren't for the harness part...which Jordan does not use.

Last year at this time my insurance didn't cover (or barely covered) prosthetics. However, we have recently switched insurance carriers and I have been informed they are now covered at 100% (+ copay). That means that we won't have to travel 4 hours (each way) to St. Louis. Now don't get me wrong I LOVE Shriner's and they were wonderful to work with and we did enjoy our trips there. However, I don't have a lot of vacation time and the hospital isn't open on the weekends. Not to mention that a very active 3 year old (almost 4) in a car for that long makes for an even longer trip.

I think we are both excited and the opportunity to see what they may be able to do for her. They also mentioned a new swim arm. She's swimming like a little fish this year. She has really impressed me with all she can do, including diving under water and picking up dive sticks and returning to the surface. She hasn't figured out how to tread water yet...but it's in the process and I think she'll get there. I do think, however, that a swim arm will help her with the ability to get resistance to move both sides of her body equally. Eh, she would probably figure it out in time on her own, but I want to show her there are "tools" that can help. :)

This clinic will be an opportunity for me to really discuss my wants and her needs. Yes, she can do just about everything with her right hand and little arm, but I just want to try to open even more doors for her and introduce her to these tools bas soon as possible.

So excited!! I'll let you know how it goes!!!

I was born this way.....

I know that I probably shouldn't find satisfaction in this story...but c'mon...my kid isn't going to take any poop from anyone and I'm proud of her for that!!

Ashlyn recently went to a birthday party for her BFF. She was so excited to see her again as she has recently transferred out of Ashlyn's daycare, and they were BEST friends. I, unfortunately, did not get to attend as I had a family medical issue that took me out of town, so this story was told to me by one of Ashlyn's teachers that attended the party also.

Ashlyn was having a blast with all the girls at the party. Playing, swimming, running, eating, giggling...you know, being a complete girl. *smile*

While playing another little girl came up and asked Ashlyn what happened to her arm. Ashlyn gave the standard, "I was born this way" response. That apparently wasn't good enough for the little girl. So she asked what happened to it. Ashlyn responded again, "I was born this way. Do you want to play?" The little girl seemed scared of Ashlyn's little arm and said, "No, you're missing your arm." Ashlyn responded again, "Yeah, I was born this way. Will you play with me?" The little girl didn't want anything to do with Ashlyn and her "missing arm" so she began to back off and try to get away from her. Well, my kid doesn't take kindly to being told no...and most certainly not for something as silly as her arm, so she began chasing the other little girl, hitting her with her little arm and yelling, "BUT I WAS BORN THIS WAY!" repeatedly. Hahahahahaha!

Okay, okay, I know that I shouldn't encourage that type of behavior. I never encourage hitting anyone. But sometimes, well, this is what it takes for others to see there is NOTHING wrong with my kid. To me, she is beyond perfection.