4th set of casts...up to her waist...can't move her legs...but she is moving her arms much more!!

From Erik and Dawn:

"Maybe 4 will be the magic number.  That's right, Analise had to be taken in again on Thursday afternoon because one of her casts was slipping again.  Dawn rushed her over to the cast room at Kaiser Fontana to try and catch Dr. Hurley before she left for the day.  She caught her, and Dr. Hurley made sure there would be no more slipping.  

Oops!! Did this happen because I kept kicking my casts off?!?  

Analise now has casts around her legs... with a bar in between... up the sides of her hips... and around her stomach.  This will hopefully keep it in place for the next 2 weeks until we return to Philly.  Although Dawn and I are very stressed, Analise seems to be in good spirits and happy!!

It is 10 times more difficult to handle Analise with these casts than with the last casts, and changing her is very HARD!!!  

Nope...I don't like these casts because I can't move my legs...

but wait a minute...I can now move my arms!!

But let's look at the brighter side for a second... Analise cannot move her legs now, so she is putting more effort into moving her arms.  My mom and stepdad watched Analise today and got some great videos of her moving her arms (using her chest, shoulder, and triceps muscles).  She is very determined to move those arms in one way or another.  Good for you Analise!!  Since the new casts are so cumbersome, we had to go out and buy new carseats so she could fit in the seat now that her legs are spread apart by that bar, and bean bags for her to sleep in.  But she slept through the night last night (we didn't, but she did!!  ;-) 

Here I am trying to reach Grandpa Richard's hand...

hey,it is harder than it sounds!!!

Mama's home...Mama...Mama...Mama...LOOK...I AM MOVING MY ARMS!!!

Even though this does not look very comfortable...I had a great night's sleep...
THANKS Mama and Papa for the comfy bean bag chair/bed!!

From Grandpa Richard and Abuelita Marti:

At first we felt soooo badly for Analise in her new casts, but after seeing her today, we noticed how much MORE she is moving her arms now that she can't move her legs!!!  Actually, Auntie Monika had also noticed the last week she has watched Analise, even with the old casts, that Analise has been moving her arms much more!!  Look at her arms in these videos.

Today reminded us that when we have faith in Him...
we realize that the trials in this life are His mercies in disguise...

Sometimes our blessings come disguised as ugly casts!!!  

We know that Erik and Dawn are strong and will get through this latest hurdle...

They will do ANYTHING for Our Sweet Analise!!!