Another Crazy Weekend On the Books

Well, the weekend started out like this:

What?  Ortho On Call isn't the place to be on a Friday night?!?  Who knew!  Zach's been complaining a lot lately that his foot has been hurting and he has been to clinic three times at school for the same thing.  The school called Friday afternoon to let me know he had been back to the clinic again and when I picked him up from school he was complaining and limping, so off we went.

X-rays showed no breaks or fractures, but he has inflammation in his growth plates.  Apparently not all that uncommon in very active kids.  Especially after the summer when they have been barefoot or in flip flops without much support.  So, no gym, jumping OR basketball for two weeks.  When the doctor said no basketball Zach's face dropped and he asked a million different ways from Sunday if he could play if he didn't jump - the doctor wanted to know if he wanted to be a lawyer or on the debate team with how hard he was trying to get a yes out of him.  The doctor  might as well have told him he couldn't breathe for two weeks!

The last few weeks have been a major battle with Ms. Sassy Pant's hair.  With all of her drool it becomes a tangled mess - especially first thing in the morning.  And she gets MAD when I have to brush her hair out in the morning - it's really no fun for any of us.  On several occasions she's arrived to school in a bad mood and Tammy's jokingly asked her "Did Mommy make you mad this morning?!?" and her little eyebrows will shoot up and down multiple times (her sign for yes).  So this weekend we said "See Ya" to the hair!

Before....

I think she was really happy about having it cut off though.

Yikes, 7 inches gone!!

It's stacked in the back and it really is super cute - and SO much easier to manage.

My in-laws are in town from Rochester, New York and since Sunday was the last day of the Sate Fair we thought that would be a fun thing to do. Unfortunately Aaron had to work, but it was a fun way to spend the day - the weather was great and we logged 4.87 miles walking the fair.

One of the highlights for me was taking Alex and Zach on the Ferris Wheel.  She wasn't too sure what to make of it at first but when it started going and the wind was blowing in her face and she was up high she loved it.  Her smile was so big and worth every minute!

 Grandma and Grandpa helped Zach eat his way through the fair and bought him a bracelet so that he could ride as many rides as he wanted.  He also rode a mechanical bull :)

No fair is complete without the millions of  games you can play and it really warmed my heart when we walked by a few and they hollered out at us to bring Alex back over because they wanted to give her a stuffed animal.  She had her own teddy bear blanket on our way back to the car :)  It really is just the little things. 

Yesterday was a super busy day.  Alex is starting another round of intensive physical therapy at Richmond Hope Therapy.  3 hours a day of physical therapy, five days a week for 3 weeks.  We had to be at therapy at 8AM for her initial evaluation.

Alex gave Shannon a run for her money and at one point was screaming (and I mean blood curling screaming) and crying huge crocodile tears.   We could all tell she wasn't in pain, it was really more of a rebellion!

Anytime Alex stands she's still in this increased crouch.  Her knees stay bent and it is SO hard to get them straight - which makes any type of transport with her hard.  Really hard.   

As soon as therapy was over we had to rush out the door and head up to Charlottesville to see her surgeon for a follow-up.  Alex is really good about remembering landmarks.  Anytime we get to an exit of something she's familiar with she gets SUPER excited, starts yelling really loud and flapping her arms.  When we were driving to the hospital yesterday we got about 3/4 of the way there when Alex got really upset.  She was clutching her arms tightly to her chest and she was crying, it was really a break your heart type of cry and we could tell she was really upset.  She thought she was going back to the hospital for another surgery.  Once we promised her that there were no "ouchies" on this trip and Tammy climbed in the back seat to give her some love, she was happy again.

This was our first visit to the brand new children's building.

Since our last visit in April, Alex has gained 4.9 pounds and she is 3 and 3/4 inches taller measuring at four feet 10 and 3/4 inches.  We had several things to talk to the surgeon about - first and foremost her legs.  He agreed she still has a deep crouch and was hoping her legs would have been a little straighter, but he reminded us that the plates that were put in her knees are going to force her legs to get straighter as she continues to grow and she hasn't grown a significant amount since the surgery.  Shannon was a little concerned about her back showing signs of scoliosis and while he agreed she is in the beginning stages at her base, it's extremely mild and there's no action he would take right now, not even bracing.  Finally we wanted to talk about her arms - we jokingly call her our little t-rex because she always sits with her arms bent at the elbows and her arms are very tight - and they don't straighten out properly when you try to force them down.  He agreed they're tight and talked briefly about casting or botox injections in her muscles, but for the time being we are going to work with using her arm immobilizers to force some stretches.  It's also a goal Shannon and I set yesterday as part of her intensive session as well.

So for the most part, all good news.  The bad news is is that as we were leaving the hospital's parking garage (which gave me major anxiety as we were parking with the layout and design in the first place) I didn't have enough clearance to turn out of the garage onto the main road  and because the van sits so low to the ground to accommodate the ramp for her wheelchair I didn't clear the curb and I crushed the bottom panel on the passenger side of the van. When I called Aaron to tell him he to told me not to worry about it, we could have the piece fixed - only when I got on the highway to head home at 70 miles per hour, the wind had other plans for the piece and it's now a decoration on the side of 64 East.  

I really wanted to cry.  The van is the only way to transport Alex.  It's not like I can get a rental car while the car is in the shop - last I checked Hertz doesn't have a huge population that requests wheel chair vans.  I was so over everything having to be so complicated and difficult all the time I really just wanted a good cry or a really, REALLY loud ear piercing scream!

Today's a new day though - it could have been worse, it's still driveable, I was able to make it home from Charlottesville and it can be fixed.  Still makes me mad when I look at it, but "It Is What It Is" - our family mantra of late.  I'd REALLY like to go back to my old mantra that I've always had - Live, Laugh, Love - such a better alternative in my opinion!