AM I ALONE
Re: AM I ALONE
Am I all alone? You're never alone b/c there are always others out there who feel the same no matter what it is you're feeling.
Is there anyone else that is okay with BPI? Not sure what you're asking. Am I okay that a preventable injury happened to my baby? No.
Do any of you think that it could have been worse? Certainly. Anything short of not surviving could've been worse, but does that make it "okay?" No, esp. since it could've been prevented.
Why not just teach them how to live and be okay with one functioning arm? God created our bodies with 2 arms and it is clearly evident by the secondary / compensatory problems that occur later in life that when only 1 arm is used or even mostly one arm, the body pays the price for it later. To some extent, and depending upon the severity of the injury, I think it can be a bit of a balancing act. Initially, we tried to help Nicole do everything we could with 2 arms. Eventually, there came a point in therapy when some tasks were done with only one arm or with less assistance than ideal with the BPI arm/hand. This came out of necessity to minimize frustration. We've had to learn where to "draw the line." While I want to help maximize Nicole's function in her L arm/hand, I also don't want to overdo it to the point that her lack of success in doing something the "normal" way makes her lack confidence or self-esteem. On the other hand, some frustration at an early age will help prevent more frustration at a later age. I've felt from an early age that Nicole had a strong will to help her arm get stronger b/c for the most part she's always been a willing participant with therapy. She used to go bring me her splints or ask to do e-stim when we were on a break. Hard to believe, hah? I'm glad we've done what we have b/c now she takes her own initiative to challenge herself and accomplish more with her L arm. She's always showing us new things she can do now. Last week, she zipped her jacket by stabilizing the bottom w/her L hand and w/o using her legs to hold the jacket down. This is huge!! I hadn't even been working on that with her for a while. Sure we had times in the early days when Nicole didn't want me to do ROM, but I did it anyway b/c I knew it would be a lifetime thing. It didn't take long before she stopped resisting and accepted it as part of our routine. Now she gets upset if I don't do her exercises (although I'm sure it's part of wanting to stall bedtime as much as possible LOL!).
I think of it like this, if I had a child who couldn't speak or who couldn't speak well, would I teach him/her sign language? Yes, I would, BUT I would also do anything I could to help improve the verbal speech as well including surgery and / or therapy if possible. What I'm saying is I think we can do both -- teach them to use the arm, while also helping them learn ways of coping too including having some tasks that don't involve the BP arm. I like how Kath puts it when she says that her arms always had different tasks that they were to do.
Well, there's my personal opinion.
~Tina, bpmom@comcast.net, Mom to Nicole (6 1/2 y.o. w/LOBPI) & Joshua (1 1/2 y.o. w/NOBPI)
Is there anyone else that is okay with BPI? Not sure what you're asking. Am I okay that a preventable injury happened to my baby? No.
Do any of you think that it could have been worse? Certainly. Anything short of not surviving could've been worse, but does that make it "okay?" No, esp. since it could've been prevented.
Why not just teach them how to live and be okay with one functioning arm? God created our bodies with 2 arms and it is clearly evident by the secondary / compensatory problems that occur later in life that when only 1 arm is used or even mostly one arm, the body pays the price for it later. To some extent, and depending upon the severity of the injury, I think it can be a bit of a balancing act. Initially, we tried to help Nicole do everything we could with 2 arms. Eventually, there came a point in therapy when some tasks were done with only one arm or with less assistance than ideal with the BPI arm/hand. This came out of necessity to minimize frustration. We've had to learn where to "draw the line." While I want to help maximize Nicole's function in her L arm/hand, I also don't want to overdo it to the point that her lack of success in doing something the "normal" way makes her lack confidence or self-esteem. On the other hand, some frustration at an early age will help prevent more frustration at a later age. I've felt from an early age that Nicole had a strong will to help her arm get stronger b/c for the most part she's always been a willing participant with therapy. She used to go bring me her splints or ask to do e-stim when we were on a break. Hard to believe, hah? I'm glad we've done what we have b/c now she takes her own initiative to challenge herself and accomplish more with her L arm. She's always showing us new things she can do now. Last week, she zipped her jacket by stabilizing the bottom w/her L hand and w/o using her legs to hold the jacket down. This is huge!! I hadn't even been working on that with her for a while. Sure we had times in the early days when Nicole didn't want me to do ROM, but I did it anyway b/c I knew it would be a lifetime thing. It didn't take long before she stopped resisting and accepted it as part of our routine. Now she gets upset if I don't do her exercises (although I'm sure it's part of wanting to stall bedtime as much as possible LOL!).
I think of it like this, if I had a child who couldn't speak or who couldn't speak well, would I teach him/her sign language? Yes, I would, BUT I would also do anything I could to help improve the verbal speech as well including surgery and / or therapy if possible. What I'm saying is I think we can do both -- teach them to use the arm, while also helping them learn ways of coping too including having some tasks that don't involve the BP arm. I like how Kath puts it when she says that her arms always had different tasks that they were to do.
Well, there's my personal opinion.
~Tina, bpmom@comcast.net, Mom to Nicole (6 1/2 y.o. w/LOBPI) & Joshua (1 1/2 y.o. w/NOBPI)
