Recently, I was sent an e-mail from Captain Chaos’ Occupational Therapist at Children’s Mercy Hospital inquiring of her status since the great casting experiment of last May.  The Captain wore a cast on her right hand to immobilize it for one month, forcing her to use her left hand to take care of her basic needs.  This was the first time that one of the Captain’s therapists contacted us for a follow-up on her condition.  There have been so many changes since May that I’m not certain where I should begin.

I guess the first big change is that Major Havoc no longer comes to us crying because Captain Chaos hit him with her “glove.”   Water no longer makes mom and dad jumpy.  Now our only concern when the girl is playing in the front yard is preventing her from planting her face in the bird bath and drinking.   She smells a lot better, too, since she once again takes regular baths.  I know that I have written about these things.

Captain Chaos discovered that if she starts talking as soon as her eyes open in the morning and keeps talking until her eye lids collapse in the evening she never ever runs out of things to say.  Never.  She chatters so much you’d think we brushed her teeth with gun powder each morning and dried them with a lit match.   “Look, dad! I found stinky piggies underneath the blankets!” she recently exclaimed at two a.m., kicking the covers off of all three of us and pointing to her toes.   This does not win brownie points with the Boss, who finds the Captain’s nightly excursions to our bedroom when her room gets too lonely quite annoying. 

Music is quickly becoming a big part of this little girl’s life.  She loves to drum.  Sometimes she even uses a drum.   Usually, she drums on the Major’s head.  It’s quite amazing to watch, really.  Her coordination is excellent.  She’s developed a good, fast, two-handed rhythm that she can maintain for 10-15 seconds, and when she uses open flat palms instead of closed fists he tolerates it fairly well.  If anyone has a set of drums they’d like to donate to Ringo’s therapy regimen, let me know.  She’ll play bongos or with sticks.

The Captain is also singing and dancing daily.  I'm seriously considering teaching her Groucho's trademark song as a tribute to the children's favorite babysitter, Lydia.  We’ve been given a large keyboard that she likes to play with, doing her best impersonation of Jeff Wiggle.  One of her favorite activities is watching a Wiggles DVD and playing the keyboard at the same time.   I see piano lessons in her future (only if she wants them), an activity that can only help her left hand. 

The best part of her developmental burst is her use of both hands.  She keeps her left hand open more than she keeps it in a fist.  While she does tend to keep her arm at half mast, she will lower it to her side when we remind her.   She will sit at dinner and eat with both hands.  She will hold a spoon and a fork in each hand and try to use them together.  She is throwing and catching balls better than before.  The Captain will even change hands and use “lefty” to complete a task when we tell her too.  We are quite pleased. 

In June, we told the Captain’s cardiologist about the immobilization therapy at her annual check-up.  He laughed, observing that it sounds quite barbaric but that the results of such an exercise are fantastic.  He was correct.   We are thrilled with her progress.