CIT-It's casting day!

Today marks day one of the Constraint Induced Therapy program here at UVA and we survived! We arrived yesterday to get a feel for the area and to get comfortable at our hotel.The hospital is located very close to the UVA campus so walking around outside made me feel young again...like a student....with a child!

Quick background on CIT! It is a well known Occupational therapy that is known to be an accelerated recovery for people that have suffered a nervous system or brain injury that impairs movement in the arm. We knew it was time for us to try this approach after Frankie starting opening her right hand when prompted and after a very dear friend of mine, Danielle told us of this awesome program.

Today was casting day, except not for a movie. It was the day we casted Frankie's stronger/dominant arm. I thought this cast was removable but I learned that it's permanent and to last one week at a time, totaling 4 weeks.GULP! By casting the stronger arm, we hope to get Frankie to use her less-strong arm more. (HATE the word weaker.) Since she rarely uses her right arm & hand, this is going to be very daunting and frustrating, no doubt.She will have to eat, drink, and learn how to do everyday tasks with her right hand. The whole idea here is to retrain her brain into KNOWING that she CAN use her right arm & hand.It's neuroplasticity at it's finest. The brain can actually rewire itself.

Here we are molding the cast with two amazing Occupational Therapists.Frankie was so tolerant of the process. Five minutes after it was completed,she screamed "take it OFF!" She proceeded to become more upset when I told her it stays on. I thought to myself, "Self, how in the world is this supposed to stay on more than an hour?" We quickly headed toward the kitchen to see if a snack would cheer her up.I also told her that we would put a cast on "Twobaby," which is her favorite doll. Her mouth opened in excitement.

In the kitchen, I watched as Frankie was struggling to grab a cracker with her right hand.One of the therapists gave me some really good advice when I expressed to her how difficult this would be for ME! (yes, pretty selfish.) She said, "Take 3 minutes at a time." Then I pause and think...here I am worrying about a month of this restraint when there are others that can't even move their affected side. This makes me put everything in perspective and feeling pretty blessed.

As we left the hospital, it was time to walk back to the hotel and push those awesome elevator buttons. Frankie tried so hard to push it with righty! Once she did (with her knuckle,)I was reminded once again what a long ride this is going to be.The sky is the limit and very few things will stop us from reaching our goal. We just need to push forward and stop looking back!