The Helmet

Lila got her prosthetic helmet on Monday. She seems to have adjusted to it well. She will need to wear it 23 hours a day for the next 3-6 months with follow up appointments every other week during this time. She gets to have the helmet off for 1 hour a day for bath time and also to wash the helmet itself. She sweats quite a bit in it and I can only imagine how much more it will be when summer gets here.

The hardest part about the helmet, for me, has been that it takes up so much of her face so that there is much less area for kissing that sweet little face. I try to make the most of the time when she has the helmet off. It's also been hard to deal with people's stares and questions about the helmet. I'm sure that the questions will dissipate once I have relayed the information to the people that I see most often but, right now, it is just exhausting. I feel sad that people don't see Lila as the cute little girl that she is any more.

We also found out that our insurace covers 80% of the cost (which is over $2,500!). So we'll be using some tax return money for this fancy hat.

Since these pictures Sky has decorated the helmet with flower and heart stickers. The stickers can be removed with rubbing alcohol and then new ones applied so Sky is enjoying that aspect of the helmet.

We're still working hard on her neck issues, seeing a chiropractor at least once a week and also doing exercises and stretches at home. The chiropractor adjustments seem to be working very well. Her range of motion is so much better and the chiropractor is very excited about her progress.

The post hospital trauma seems to be improving. Lila is waking up 2-3 times a night rather than 5-6 times a night and she eats and goes back to sleep each time. She had lost a pound through the hospital ordeal so I feel like she is now working hard to make up for it. I do wish she would eat solid food or even take a bottle or sippy cup because I am truly exhausted with the short sleep spurts.

A few days ago I was up with her at 4am feeding her in the living room when I hear Brad vomiting in his bed. So I call out for Ken to go to Brad and I join him in the clean up efforts as soon as I get Lila back to sleep. While we're stripping his bed and changing his clothes, Sky is spouting out questions from her perch on the top bunk: Is Brad going to throw up again? Did any of it get on my Barbie book? It sure smells bad in here! Why are you taking the sheets off of Brad's bed? which finally culminated in: Adam and Eve really shouldn't have done what they did! (meaning that what they did brought sickness into the world) We changed the sheets, gave Brad a bath, put him in clean clothes, got the washing machine going, etc. and crawled back into bed. About 5 minutes later we hear Brad throwing up again so we head in for clean up of round 2. Thankfully there was never a fever and Brad has been completely fine since. Someday I'll look back and laugh, right?