Bike Adaptation Part 3

Finally!! Here is the finished bike adaptation, it now just has to be fitted to the handle bar. A job for daddy!

Bike Adaptation Part 2

Getting ready.....

Monkeying around on the bars....

The cup! The prosthetist tried the cup on Charlie's little arm for size and comfort, he then trimmed it slightly around the top.

It fits!!!

The prosthetist then needed to work out how long the finished prosthesis will need to be.

Measuring the angle at which the prosthesis will meet the handle bars.

The cup was then marked with a white pencil with the measurements/angles required.

Bike Adaptation Part 1 - Making the cast

This is the plaster bandage that will be dipped into water to make the cast

The prosthetist was keen to make Charlie as comfortable as possible with the process, so did one of his hand first.

Charlie waited for the cast to set, only takes a few minutes then checked it out with his little arm..

Charlie was very pleased with his practise cast to take home, especially with his name and picture on it!

Now for the real thing! After having soap rubbed on his arm (to ease the process of removal at the end) Charlie had a soft cotton sock put on his little arm.

The prosthetist drew some lines on the sock with a funky blue pen (Charlie was upset when this later washed off in the bath!) which came out on the inside of the cast. This was to give him some idea where Charlie's arm bends and where his elbow joint is.

The plaster bandage was then moistened and wrapped around Charlie's little arm.

A messy job! Now I know why the prosthetist wears white!

It's set! Now for the tricky bit!!!

Wiggle, wriggle, pop!!!

Charlie admires his new cast! Charlie asked for his adaption to be made in blue with aeroplanes on it! We return in two weeks to check the cup (made from the cast) fits and is comfortable. The final step will be when the cup is fitted to the bike itself.

Apologies this is a bit belated!!  Charlie has very quickly mastered the art of opening an Easter egg...........another essential life skill ticked off the list!

Butter fingers......

While waiting for our dinner at The Harvester last night Charlie had a bread roll, I automatically went to open his butter for him and butter it, but he had already opened it!! I made him do it again so you could see........I thought it pretty impressive myself!

Prosthetic questions.

I have recently been contacted by a very lovely lady who was one of the first children to receive the myoelectric 'bionic' hand. She has also had experience using a wide range of prosthesis throughout her life. I'm so pleased as I'm sure she is going to be a great help to all of us who have prosthetic related questions. So come on, ask away!!

Mittens

This is how I adapt Charlie's mittens, its really easy! I simply turn them inside out, snip off the thumb and sew up the hole and there you have a perfect little arm mitten. Simple!

Feet first!

Charlie sometimes uses his feet to do things..........

Charlie's Little arm cards?

So we were in a cafe today , when Charlie spots a group of slightly older boys with their family and in a flash he is off (never backwards about coming forwards!). It takes a couple of seconds for the boys to weigh him up and the questions to start, those of you with little armers know how it goes. So I sit back and watch for a minute as I like to try and let Charlie deal with these situations himself now, but one little boy is being persistent "how did you break your arm, how did you break your arm?". I can tell his mum is trying her best, but not liking to let the misconception continue I wander over and gently tell him "Charlie was born with one hand, this is his little arm". Now the older boy joins in, "but how does he eat his dinner?", I point to Charlie's hand and say, "with this hand", he asks again, but this time his mum manages to distract him and change the subject. At this point I thought, if only I had a business card to hand over with the address of this page on it!!! Come and see just how well he manages!! Inappropriate? I'm not sure, but maybe I may jot the address down on some scraps of paper just in case.......

Read this!

Look what arrived today!! Sooooo excited! Can't wait to start reading!

Prompted by a message someone sent me (thanks Janette!) I realised that some of you may not know of this brilliant organisation. Reach are a great support to families and children with upper limb deficiency. www.reach.org.uk

Bodywarmers/gillets are great for autumn and spring- no sleeves to turn up! Love it!

Charlie is getting on well with his throwing and catching. We usually have a higher success rate than this, but after a large piece of cake and a rough and tumble with daddy he is a little over-excited!!!! Enjoy!

Thank yoooou!

I've been trying to get some footage of Charlie riding his bike pre-adaption, for various reasons I haven't been that successful!!!! Mainly because A) I can't keep up with him or B) I can't get far enough ahead of him..... here is the grand sum (6 seconds) of my efforts!! Enjoy, but make sure you don't blink ;-) or wink...........

Poppers!

Here is Charlie, undoing his poppers! Please note his very cool pjs!! He loves them!

Feeding/Eating aids

Slope based bowl- we were given this bowl by the OT and we use it quite a lot. It helps gather food/liquid at one side of the bowl.

Plate with curved edge- this is a great, but quite expensive plate. The curved edge is good to stop the food disappearing off the edge of the plate and it has rubber feet for grip. 
Charlie did use plate guards originally but we often found that food got stuck under the guard where it didn't quite touch the plate, this is a good alternative.

Prosthetics

Several of you who have been asking me about prosthetics, so thought it would be worth sharing some photos of Charlie's early prosthetics with you. Charlie had his first prosthetic at 6mths old, this is his 8mth old one; it still fits him now- he was a chunky baby!!

I have to say Charlie wasn't ever particularly bothered with it; he would wear it for a few seconds, chew on the fingers then take it off and 'donk' things with the heavy end (typical boy!). So we didn't really bother after this one, however if he ever does decide he wants to try one again then we will and see how it goes

Snowball making

Charlie and I have been out and about having fun in the snow. (The snowball makers are available from ebay by the way, apparently)

You can keep your hat on....

With this chilly weather Charlie has had plenty of time to perfect putting on his own hat, enjoy!

How to take your top off!

How Charlie takes his top off- super speedy!

Just wanted to show you how Charlie takes his top off, I know this was something that I was concerned about him being able to do not long ago; as usual he found his own way!

Facebook!

Now you can find us on Facebook. Hope to see you there! http://www.facebook.com/CharliesLittleArm

The Occupational Therapist

Today, I was asked by Charlie's preschool for the number of Charlie's Occupational Therapist. They want to  ensure they are doing the best for him, which is great. After the initial fleeting 'oh, isn't he coping?' thought, I was reassured to hear that he manages everything at school, their only concern was his safety on the climbing frame. Pretty good going I'd say!! Go Charlie!

The First Post

Ooo, the first post, always going to be a tricky one! Well first of all, welcome, thanks for popping in and checking us out. I have big plans for this blog and a list of things to film Charlie doing to hopefully help those of you in that 'how on earth will my child be able to....' stage. Charlie is keen to show off his skills too!

Very soon we are due to have Charlie's first bike adapted and I'm hoping to be able to photo/film the whole process for you all to see. Excited!!!

I'm on the worldwide web!!!

Right, I'm going to leave it there and add a Charlie photo for you all to enjoy. Meanwhile I'm going to get filming! Would love to hear from any of you (I assuming it is possible for you to do that on here as I'm new to this blogging thing), your thoughts, questions or anything else you would like to share would be great.