Isabella's Myoelectric Prosthesis Eval.

On November 16, Isabella had an evaluation for her first myoelectric prosthesis (electric prosthesis that responds to muscle signals to operate). Children's Rehabilitative Services doesn't cover myoelectric prothetics, they only cover body-operated manual prosthetics (where the child has to make a gross motor movement such as turning the shoulder in order to operate the hand), so we had to apply for funding through a special private source called Inner Wheel, which is a charitable organization that provides funding specifically for myoelectric prosthetics for small children (a myoelectric prosthesis starts at $20K). Isabella and I just underwent the first of many steps in obtaining her first myo prosthesis, and so far, I think we're doing pretty well. I had to answer a series of questions, and Bella had to demonstrate some tasks as a measure of how well Isabella is using her prosthesis and how comfortable she is with it. In order for her to even be considered for a myo, she needs to be a very successful wearer of the passive prosthesis, which she received when she was 8 months old. I have to be honest, I really was nervous about how well Bella would act with her prosthesis around the prosthetician. She is supposed to be a full-time wearer, meaning all day, every day with the prosthesis. She isn't... but I said she was, because I knew that one little question was a major qualifier or disqualifier. And Isabella did not make a liar out of me. Bella touted that plastic arm like it was her proudest possession; she used it to climb up on a chair, hold and eat an animal cracker, push herself from sit to stand, catch herself in a fall, drink her sippy cup. When the prosthetician took it off her arm, she whined at him, held out her short arm, and pointed at her nub as if to say, 'put it back, buddy!'. We were both so impressed. Only I didn't act impressed, I acted like this was just normal, everyday behavior. Needless to say, Bella passed that eval with flying colors. When I asked how long it would take Bella to grow accustomed to her myo prosthesis, the prosthetician replied "Well, every kid is different, but judging by how well she's done with the passive one, I'd say pretty quickly." So happy! Step two in this process will be to get Dr. Ot to give us the prescription for the myoelectric arm. His reputation precedes him in how he is known for his reluctance to write scripts for these devices because they are so costly, so quickly outgrown, etc. We just have to convince him, and the insurance, and then some more people after that. We'll get there though.