Catching Up On Some Scrapbooking

I set a goal for myself to spend some more time scrapbooking.  My goal was to finish 30 pages in 30 days.  Here are a few of my favorites that I thought I'd share.

Just a mini update

Jack got his cast off last week.  9 weeks and he's all healed.  It was the first time I left that office since January that I didn't have to make a follow up appointment since January.  He had quite a rash under the cast when it came off (we had some high temps that week), but a week if airing it out  and putting lotion, it looks great.

And this little girl made the varsity competition squad for high school.  There were only 12 girls picked, one freshman-Morgan!  This team is the two time national champions, so this is quite an accomplishment.  She will continue to cheer with all the other freshmen girls at the football and basketball games, the competition team is separate.

Here's her competition schedule for the coming year:

Nov 3 James Logan High, Union City
Dec 14 Santa Margarita High, Rancho Santa Margarita (So. Cal)
Jan 18 Yorba Linda High, Yorba Linda (So. Cal)
Jan 19 Brea Olinda HIgh, Brea (So. Cal)
Jan 25 Tesoro High, Las Flores (So. Cal)
Feb 2 California Open Champs, UC Davis (Superbowl Sunday)
Nationals March 28-30 (Anaheim)

In addition, she'll be headed down to Long Beach in July for cheer camp and over Labor Day weekend for choreography somewhere in So Cal.

She's been working really hard to get the skills needed to be on this team. (see video)

Darn, those kids are expensive...

If I ever overhear a parent complaining about how expensive diapers are, I may just have to give them a peek into their future.

Morgan made the high school cheer team.  Yay!  Right? 
Considering she's been cheering for two years and has her gymnastics background, I knew it was coming.  But I didn't know how big the checks would be.
Just this week...
$355 Fair Share Donation (covers coaches' stipends and busses)
$679 Cheer Uniform
$300 Cheer Camp and transportation
$100 Camp/practice clothes

CHA CHING!!  We also had to sign up for our first of many fundraisers because believe it or not, there's more.  Cheer music, cheer choreography and perhaps new competition uniforms.
But wait, there's more...this doesn't even cover the expenses that occur to be on the competition squad-competition fees and not one, not two, but FOUR trips down to Southern California to compete, so add some gas and hotel bills to this.

That's child one.

Child two has needed his fair share of checks lately too as he is going to the Jr. Prom this weekend.
$155 prom tickets
$10 to replace ASB card that he lost which is needed to buy tickets
$220 Tuxedo
$20 to special order a new vest because first vest won't match date's dress
$32 Corsage
Dinner-TBD
Pictures-TBD

Child three...he's the cheap one.  I like it that way :-)

Making Lemonade

When life hands you lemons....

take a picture.

So I guess by now, this picture is a bit outdated because that third healthy person in the picture above is now wearing an arm brace.  I did get a picture of the gimps in the house, but this one is a keeper for sure.

Seriously What Are the Odds?

Monday seemed like it was going to be an ordinary day.  I was getting over a cold and counting down the minutes till I could go to bed and then Morgan comes running from her room in tears saying that Jack had broken his arm.  A few seconds later, Jack comes out and there was no doubt he fractured his forearm.  It's not as obvious from the photo below, but when his arm was by his side, it was nearly shaped in an S.  Being that I have such a recent memory of this injury and the fact that Jack was as calm as could be, we took a few minutes to gather a few things and then headed off to the ER.

Despite a lot of people at the ER, the triage nurse came to get Jack's vitals, took one look at his arm and said they would get him a be right away.  Jack was given an IV so medicine could be administered.  This was probably the moment that was most difficult for him.  Later he had a blood pressure cuff, heart monitor and a cannula for oxygen.

I went with him as he was wheeled to x-ray.  I saw his x-rays on the monitor so I knew exactly  what they would tell us.

They had to set it before they put him in a splint.  This was the worst part of the night for me.    They had already given him morphine, but they also gave him versed which put him in a twilight sleep.  The doctor manipulated the bones and I could hear the pop of the bones from the other side of the room.  Jack woke up and moaned at this part.  But he does not remember this at all.

Here is the x-ray of the after.  The next day the orthopedist commented that the ER doctor did an excellent job, they usually don't get them so straight.

Jack was sent home in a sugar tong splint.  He slept pretty well that night, but needed pain meds in the morning.  We followed up with the orthopedist and they put him in the long arm cast.  Healing time is 4-6 weeks, most of it in this length of a cast.

He is doing remarkably well.  He doesn't complain about it hurting and he's already pretty active.  It's definitely not going to slow him down.

Two Weeks Out

Garrett went to his orthopedic appointment today with a big cast and high hopes of leaving with a shorter cast and he was not disappointed.  Actually this appointment  put a smile on his face bigger than I've seen in weeks.

The latest X-ray showed that his transverse break continues to heal and that he could go to a Patellar Tendon Bearing  Cast.   We were not expecting this type of cast at all.  As you can see from the picture, the cast goes up and around the knee from behind.  He has forward and back movement, but no side to side.  The best and most unexpected news is that by next week, he should be able to walk without or with little assistance from crutches.

I guess with this transverse break, the pressure of walking/standing will stimulate bone growth.  So really as soon as he feels like he can comfortably start bearing weight, he's been cleared to do so.  This was completely unexpected.  This still does not change the timeline of the recovery as the tibia is one of the slowest healing bones in the body.  But it will make the recovery much easier.

This is Garrett's leg when the cast was removed.  There is a sizable difference  between the size of his legs, particularly his thighs from atrophy.

We go back again in two weeks for another X-Ray and recast.  He will likely stay in this type of cast for at least six more weeks until he can be moved to a walking boot.  Unfortunately with this type of cast, he was unable to get a waterproof cast, but I think the trade off is worth it.  The doctor thinks he could probably be driving again in about two months.  And after therapy he will likely be able to start back to soccer when the season resumes in July.

Progress

Week 2....
Garrett had another appointment today at the ortho.  He had another x-ray which is the second one since the injury.  Doctor said the bone is in a good position which is great.  This definitely puts Garrett on the road to a full recovery.  And when we asked if it would definitely need to be another 3 weeks in the long cast, he gave a long sigh.  After a bit of silence he said Garrett would need to come back next week for another x-ray and at that time he would consider putting him in a shorter cast.  We are really crossing fingers that this will be the case.

Today Garrett went back to school for the entire day.  I was a bit worried.  Last week, he went on Thursday for 3 periods, but was too tired to attend more than one class on Friday.  I wasn't sure he could make it the whole day.  But he did.  He was tired, but I'm very relieved that he won't miss more school.  His good friend Cory has had his driver's license for a year and has offered to take Garrett to school in the morning.  It's a huge help and I think Garrett prefers to go with a friend in the morning.

Jack went to school last year with a little boy who just so happens to be the son of the doctor that Garrett is seeing.  So I know the doctor's wife fairly well and ran into her last week.  She mentioned that one of her son's used a different type of crutch which had a better ergonomic design and was more comfortable.  She said she'd let Garrett use them.  Here are the Mobilegs.  They are a pretty unique design and there's give when pressure is applied.  Hopefully they make getting around a little easier.

I have to say, in just the last couple of days I think Garrett is becoming much more mobile.  He's less likely to call out for help, he's getting more independent.  All in all, we are in a much better place than we were last week.  I didn't expect to see this much improvement in such a short time.  Keep thinking good thoughts, he has a long road ahead, but the worst is definitely behind him.