Houston, We Have Lift Off!

We do indeed have lift off, a shaky one, but it still counts! Woo Hoo!

Yay!  The walker arrived today and Miss Kate is practising standing up, moving her feet a little, and sitting down.  She was way nervous last night and expressed all sorts of concern about falling, the walker tipping over, etc.  We had a long discussion, at 11:30pm of course,  about how we will go slow and practice and how everything will work out great. 

It was an actual act of you know who to get this walker today.  The original order was never processed and I was told yesterday it would take 2 WEEKS to get in the walker the Dr. had ordered.  Um, no.  No way.  Totally unacceptable.  I talked to the people at Apria Medical Supply forever yesterday and I ended up calling her Dr. office who directed us to a different medical supply company.  Thankfully they had the perfect walker in stock.

Kate was so nervous to try it,  but as I am sitting here on the computer, Kate is like a jack-in-the-box,  up and down, over and over again.  And I must add, with the biggest grin on her face.  Now that is a reason for Yay.

3 Hour Dr. Appointment

 We saw Dr. Wenger today, yes it took 3 hours.  Here's the deal.  I'm not sure what I was thinking,  but I didn't realize that they actually severed her femur in two.  I thought there was like a cut in it.  Dumb, yes.  Very.  So,  you can see on this x-ray on her right leg the line where the bone is starting to heal, sorta.  It's hard to see.  So Kate can start walking next week with a walker.  She has to use a walker for the three weeks after that.  I swear they make everything sound so much easier at the beginning and then throw all this other stuff at you slowly.  I guess it's good,  we would all go nuts knowing what we were getting ourselves into from the start. 

 Kate had the fun experience of being x-rayed twice.  The first time they didn't get low enough to get all the "hardware" in her legs.  Probably why it took us three hours.  I have to say though,  Rady's is a well oiled machine.  Even if a slow one.  She is totally a "Princess and the Pea" girl.  Had to have something under her head while we took the pictures.  Had to express how hard the table was, etc.  At least she did it laughing.  Oy.

So these are the feet, that won't wear the shoes, that her mom purchased for her yesterday!  She has long feet with a boney protrusion on the outsides of them.  It's part of her foot bone, I guess it's part of Marfans.  Anyway,  she needs shoes to float around her feet,  not actually touching any of the sides.  Back the shoes will go.  I just bought her a pair of shorts that were size 10 and I had to take them back and get a 12.  She's 8!!!  It used to be like this cool thing she was tall,  now it just kind of depresses me.  At least she is proportional,  unlike some Marfans sufferers. 

Asked about going to Disneyland.  Haven't been since January!  I know,  so sad, right?  Dr. Wenger said it was probably a better idea to wait another month.  So we are looking at middle of May.  I failed to mention that she will start physical therapy as well.  We did ask about that before the surgeries and were told she most likely wouldn't need it.  Whatever.  How's that for an attitude!  I learn from the best,  Miss Kate.

Easter Sunday

 We are starting to get out into the world a little bit more.  I took Kate to the library this last week.  I have taken the kids to the library almost every week for at least 10 years so this was a nice, routine thing to do.  She was a little worried about people staring at her in her wheelchair the first few places we went,  but she pretty much just cruises past people now without a glance.

I have completely ruined her while she was in her cast.  Brushing her hair is all I am allowed to do.  No styling whatsoever!  This kid is all attitude.  I am sure it will serve her well someday,  but I'd sure like to do something with that mop on her head.  She is getting dang speedy on those wheels.  I come at her with a brush,  or heaven forbid something to put in her hair,  and she is off like a shot protesting as she goes.  As a side note,  all that pushing in the wheelchair is making her hands actually peel and callous.  Lotion, lotion, and lotion.  It does help,  but only if I can catch her.

We are one week from this coming Wednesday on her thumbs up to try walking.  I still need to get the walker from the medical supply company we are using.  We see her Ortho Dr on this Wednesday for a check up.  Fingers crossed he doesn't add any more time on wheels. 

We took the kids to the zoo last Wednesday.  It was a beautiful day.  Noah actually really likes pushing Kate,  and Kate really likes telling Noah where and how to push her so they make a great team.  It's interesting to cruise the world via wheelchair.  You notice ramps for the first time in places you've been a thousand times.  You also notice where there aren't any ramps, or wheelchair access restrooms, or horrible counter top heights, etc.  It's really been an eye opener for me.  I feel for people who spend their entire lives in a wheelchair.

Easter bunny came this morning and we had to make sure eggs were at wheelchair level for Kate to pick up.  She did pretty well for herself.  She is getting so strong.  She uses her arms to move from on chair to another now with ease.  I notice I repeat myself sometimes,  try to ignore it.   Or if you're getting old like me, you can thank me later for all the reminders.  If you remember.

The Marci update is that I started school this last week.  Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 to 9:30.  It's a nurse refresher program for nurses who haven't worked for a while.  I've learned a few things so far.  First,  there aren't any jobs right now.  Nice.  Second,  I tried listening for heart and breath sounds through my stethoscope and can't hear a flipping thing.  If I concentrate really hard,  I can make out the faint evidence that I do indeed have a beating heart.  Bugger.  I was interested in Orthopedics, or the OR, or PACU.  I figured the OR thing was out.  Don't need Drs.  getting all angry because I can't hear what they want.  But PACU,  I thought I could swing that until I tried the stethoscope.  Can't take care of patients I can't hear.  I was thinking,  what if I am working on a floor and I hear a 'help' or 'nurse' or something else yelled out.  I would be looking around in circles, I can't tell sound direction any more.  Yup,  so much fun. I am looking into school programs for admin,  research, or informatics.  All pretty much require more schooling.

I think that's it until Wednesday.  Wish us luck.  Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.