Abigail's new wrist brace

Here is a picture of Abigail's new wrist brace. It is made of a flexible, rubber-foam-type material, with a stiff insert on the outside of her wrist to keep her arm/wrist/hand properly aligned. She will wear it at night and perhaps a little while during the day.

Abigail has to wear the brace because she has significant ulnar deviation (the hand pulls outward) due to her CP; this improper posture starts a nasty cycle because it allows the outside muscles to tighten more and the inside muscles to overstretch, which pulls her arm/wrist/hand out of alignment even more, and so the cycle continues. The brace also helps to pull her thumb separate from the rest of her hand, (which is where it is usually tucked) -- same cycle.

So far she seems very unfazed by the brace. She is used to everybody poking her and putting orthotics on her, so I guess it's just old hat to her now! Besides, she got to pick the colors, so that makes it a little easier for her to accept, too. All of these braces and are an investment for her future, so that hopefully by the time she reaches adulthood, all body parts will be in their proper postures and alignments and she will have the best possible use of her left side.

To anyone familiar with Abigail and her progress, this picture in and of itself is an amazing thing -- to see those beautiful, long fingers relaxed, stretched out straight, and spread out equally, instead of curled up tightly in a fist like they were when she was first diagnosed.

As I've said before, we thank the Lord for the medical professionals and technologies that are available to us. They have given Abigail a significant boost that stroke-babies a generation or two ago just would not have had...