We saw the orthopedist yesterday but he didn't have time to answer a lot of questions. He only had time to say that he didn't think aqua therapy was necessary and to keep doing what we are doing because it seems to be working. There was no curve progression at all. We didn't have time to explain that the reason we are trying to figure out some kind of water exercise is because of the leg pain and foot pain that he gets with other kinds of exercise. We are trying to increase the amount of exercise he is doing so he can increase his endurance, but decrease the amount of pain in his legs and feet and I think a hot tub would help with this. Because my son finds pain distracting, we have to work around this with homeschooling. Over the counter pain medicine doesn't seem to work that well and the pediatrician said she couldn't prescribe anything stronger until he is 12. We tried heating pads and this helps a little but I think a hot tub would work even better. I think it would help him get through the 5 hour musical theater rehearsals to know that he could go home and get some relief from the pain.
Pain and fatigue have always seemed to me to be the biggest "learning disabilities" my son has to deal with. It almost seems like he doesn't have motor dyspraxia at all until the fatigue and pain start. For the first few hours, his timing and balance seem to be as good as the average kid and he seems to have the confidence that he can do well. Last week I watched him sing a solo as Hercules in Go the Distance, in front of six middle school aged girls in his musical theater class. He and I both heard one of the girls say to another girl "that was really good." They hadn't heard him sing by himself before because he was a little shy about trying it. He finally found the self confidence to do it, even though he is wearing the brace now underneath his clothing.
We don't have any hotels or gyms in our small town. The YMCA in the city is really the closest indoor pool and it is just too difficult for us to go there often enough to do him any good.
My husband found out that he has more life insurance than he thought he had so I am not as worried about the debt now. We are going to try working on this at home first with exercises we found on the internet and if it doesn't work, we will try again to find a physical therapist even if we have to drive for miles to get to a good one.
Thanks for the advice.
