Healing and keeping busy

We have had a few very busy days here in Maine.  Molly is doing well and is exhausted by the end of the day!!

On Thursday morning we went to meet with a family friend at an orthopedic office.  David Gallant, is an OTC (orthopedic technologist).  I made an appointment to learn some splinting techniques and get some new materials to try for making splints for Molly.  We got there at 8:30 and thought we would be there for about an hour... 3 hours later... I learned a ton and I am hoping to get him to come to the OI Conference in July to demonstrate some new techniques and materials - we shall see.

We spent the first hour talking about the material (polyester rather than fiberglass) that is breathable, can be cut with scissors, can be laundered and is more flexible yet still supportive.  We used his "model" (a Woody Doll - from Toy Story) to make an arm splint and then talked a lot about the different techniques for different parts of the body.  Molly was there an up until this point had been visiting with my parents.  I wanted to try making my splint and thought it would be helpful to make a femur splint for Molly that would help if and when she breaks her femur again.  Molly got the bribe of a lollipop and was amazingly cooperative while I made a two part splint that went up to her rib cage.  This was a traumatic experience for both of us.  It was like telling your 4 year old... I'm going to make a straight jacket for you, but once it's finished I will take it off but first I need to sew it on to you.  Tears occasionally streamed down her cheek while I was doing this for over 30 minutes.  I was able to stop now and then to comfort her, but it was emotionally draining given that this was for "just in case" and Molly only somewhat understood what was happening.

Needless to say that after all of that we headed straight to the toy store!

Today we went to a park and then over to the Maine Maritime Research Institute to see the fish tank and learn about fish.  They had one cylindrical tank filled with lobsters that Molly was interested in (at first), but then wanted to see more.  They told us that the rest of the fish on site were dead and she quickly said "I want to see some dead fish please"... OK they said and upstairs we went.  The found a wonderful master's student to bring us into the lab and she got to measure and touch a dead (and frozen) herring.  She was interested and not grossed out in the least!  Pete (the master's student) suggested that they use some tools (scissors and tweezers) to remove the fishes eye.  Molly thought this was a great idea and began picking out the dead, frozen fishes eye with the tweezers!  It sure seems that she has the makings of a scientist or doctor :)

She was also interested in cutting the fishes tail off and then she and Pete dug the spinal cord out of the fish and "studied it"!!  What an interesting morning :)

Off to bed - Happy Easter Everyone :)