handsful

How many times have we heard that phrase? At least once a day, for the last…oh…5 months maybe? “I want two leg walk”

The day finally came.

His first look. Apprehensive? He was worried it might hurt. The prosthetic tech, Crissy, is fantastic. She looks a little creepy here, but she was working hard to ease his worry.

A smile…she was joking about his smelly foot. The boy does have a stinky foot.

Explaining about the insert that goes on before the leg. The little brown part helps the socket of the leg to slide on easily. And the insert gives the leg socket some cushion.

And, it’s on. He looks a little unsure!

Time to bear weight and see how it feels. She asked him a lot “does anything feel funny, etc.” to make sure the socket wasn’t hurting him anywhere.

After this shot, she decided that the socket came up too high on his leg (and could potentially wear roughly on his skin, so she trimmed it)

Being silly while waiting for the socket trimming!

Lainey shows Dylan some love!

This shot shows how the leg is attached. The sock is pulled up and goes around his waist. Then, he’ll slide the leg on, kinda like a pair of pants. And then velcro the belt around his waist. Should make going to the potty interesting…pants, leg, sock, unders – unders, sock, leg, pants!

First step!

He had to be shown how to take steps (duh, he’s never done it before!)

This shot totally makes me tear up.

As the tech was watching, she realized that the socket was a bit loose. She took it back to the shop and added some extra padding inside to make it more snug.

Adjustments made, time for another spin in the hallways.

He was doing so well by this time, his walking looked more like walking. Initially, he just wasn’t sure what to do with that thing attached to his short leg!

Great job, little man!

A close up. The pattern (camo with lizards!) that we took with us will cover the whole socket. The white part here will be taken off, it’s kind of like a temporary cast material. It was just to give support until they could laminate the whole socket with the pattern. The cord will be attached to the front of the socket. When we pull the cord, the locked knee will unlock, allowing his leg to bend when he sits down. It clicks back into a straight position. The rod will remain exposed…no covering. I love that it’s a cool red and purple!

Now, we wait for it to arrive in the mail. They said they’d try hard to get it to him by his birthday on July 4th, but they stay busy and are short a tech right now. We’ll just be happy to get it when it gets here!

And, what did Dylan ask tonight as I dressed him for bed?

“Mama, I want two leg walk”