I Am Thankful For .......

(in no particular order)

1. ....finally finding something that I'm good at! I have been doing really well at school (knock on wood cuz there's still 1.5 weeks left to this semester). I have taken 5 tests over the past 2 weeks and I made it through all of them with enough energy left to order that extra-spicy Bloody Mary I was itching for. Would you believe that I got a Level 3 on my standardized pharmacology test, and scored in the 98th percentile in the NATION??!! I still can't. I love learning from every new patient I meet, I love giving injections (hee hee), I love trying to think of ways to make people's lives better, and I love coming home at night feeling like I accomplished something for myself.

2. ....the veggie burgers at the hospital cafeteria. They're just little hunks of goodness covered in cheese.

3. ....my daughter. Even though I haven't been able to spend much time with Charlotte over the past few months, I am so thankful for the brief moments we have to sit on the couch and talk about Elmo, or what she learned at school, or whether or not Santa lives across the street because our neighbor decided to put his Christmas lights up before Thanksgiving. I can be having a horribly stressful day, and if I get to hear her voice over the phone say "I love you Mommy" and "I miss you Mommy" then everything is right in the world.

4. ....my parents. They have been so amazing with helping us out by taking Charlotte for a few weekends so I can study and Brian can work. Char loves her Yia-yia and Papa and they are so good to her. I am also thankful for the too-seldom times that my mom and I get to share a cup of coffee. I'm glad that Christmas break is coming up. It's time to start some new Yia-yia/Mommy/Charlotte Christmas traditions!

5. ....losing and keeping off the last 25 pounds of baby weight I was reluctantly holding onto. Thanks to all the people who inadvertently had a hand in that - guess you are good for something :-)

6. ....my new friends at school. When experiencing so many new things it's so refreshing to have people to share it with that understand what you're going through. I love hearing about their patient's poop stories, complaining together about how we got in trouble for being late to class when we were one minute early, and having people there to make fun of me when I mispronounce all the medical jargon. I feel like I've known you gals for forever, and I mean that in a good way!

7. ....my infrequent runs. Sometimes those seem like my only moments of sanity. It's getting too cold to take Char with me anymore, and with 6:30am starts at my clinical site there's no way I'm going in the morning. I love the chances I have to put on the headphones, listen to some Backstreet Boys (Shut up!) and hit the pavement. I'm trying to recruit people to run a 1/2 marathon with me on June 13th next year. Let me know if you're interested.

8. ....Charlotte's nanny, Lauren. Man, the stars were aligned when the cosmos brought Lauren to our family!!! I am so thankful that when I leave here in the morning I know Char's going to be safe, taken care of and loved. You are amazing, Lauren!

9. ....boxed wine. Even on a fixed budget I can still enjoy some vices in life.

10. ....Brian. Even though there are many times that I would like to pop his head off like the top of a dandelion I am still thankful for him stepping up to the plate while I am at school. I could not be doing as well as I am, nor would I be able to do this program PERIOD without his help. Brian is just as exhausted as I am, yet he never complains.

11. ....my boys. No matter how short, every life makes a difference in this world. I think about Gus and Jake all the time. Their short time on this earth has taught me so much! Even though sometimes I may forget, just thinking about them reminds me of how precious life is and how we should never take anything for granted.

12. ....the fact that according to my Pathophysiology book I still have 250 days left for my boobs to get bigger naturally. After that I'm taking donations. If ever there was hope .....

13. ....my friends. I have the most amazing, intelligent, beautiful, non-judgemental, reliable, adventurous, funny, loving friends in the world. Thank you for all of your support and for cheering me on. And thank you for letting me know that I am loved.

14. ....how great my butt looks in my jeans. Seriously, I'm 30-something, and I actually feel like a MILF. And I'm proud of that! (thanks for the jeans, Sam)

15. ....the roof over my head, the air in my lungs and the food on my table. Life definitely throws you some crappy lemons sometimes, but in the grand scheme of things, I am truly blessed, and for that ....

I am thankful. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

See ya Later, Alligator!

OMG, after my nursing school orientation this past weekend I am scared out of my mind!!! If that was their intention, then they did a fantastic job. One of the current students was saying something to the effect of maybe getting to bed by 2am every night after all the reading and studying. I can't do that! I'm 30-something years old! And she doesn't have a child, spouse, cat ,dog OR a house to look after!

Classes start tomorrow and I don't know when you're going to hear from me again. I guess this is where I admit to myself that I'm gonna have to let some things slide for a bit. I think this blog falls under that category. So, for everyone that's going to have a birthday over the next 16 months (and if my calculations are correct, that should be everyone) ..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY! To everyone that is getting married, having a baby, starting a new job, or any other amazing milestone in your life in the next 1 1/2 years ..... CONGRATS! And if anything bad is happening in your life and you need someone to listen to you or to vent to then give me a call around 2am. Sounds like I'll be up.


I'll leave you with a few pics from the summer. The first 4 are from the Great Urban Race that I did with Patty back in the beginning of August. We had a blast, completed all our tasks and came in in the top 50% of over 500 groups. Next year .... NUMBER ONE! The picture of Char on the see-saw is from our weekend with Kari, Teddy and Isabella in June. Doesn't she look like such a little girl there? She's not my baby anymore (Oh, who am I kidding ... I put that one in there cuz of the cleavage shot). And the last pic is from this past weekend where Char spent some time with her Yia-Yia and Papa (my parents). As always, she had a wonderful time, and Brian and I got the chance to get things in order here before our lives change big-time.

But then again who knows .... maybe they're blowing it out of proportion and I'll have plenty of time to post on the blog. However, I do have 7 chapters to read for tomorrow and class hasn't even started yet. Guess I should get on that!

Watch Out!

Today was a monumental day for our little girl. Today Charlotte received her very own wheelchair! We're calling it her "Zippie", which is actually the make of the wheelchair, but as soon as we saw how quickly she figured out how to use it and how fast she could go, we realized it was a perfect nickname. If the weather is good we're going to take it with us to the zoo tomorrow and see how she does. To be honest, within the first few minutes she had figured out how to turn around, go forwards, backwards and even move the the armrests. If you were to put ME in a wheelchair I guarantee it would take me a few hours to even be able to make a decent left turn without injuring myself and/or an innocent bystander. How did she teach herself so fast??!!

The next lessons we will attempt to conquer are:
1. Wheelchair Etiquette 101 - where you learn that Ozzie and Bart really don't appreciate you hauling ass over their tails, and that you should say "excuse me" BEFORE you bump into someone
2. How to Handle Hills - when you weigh 23 pounds the bump in the sidewalk constitutes a hill
3. Wheelies - I don't want to be around for that one. Brian, just make sure she's wearing a helmet, ok?

Brian took a quick video of her right after we first put her in. Enjoy! (And, yes, we know that's she's missing a footrest in the video. Don't fret, that has since been correctly attached).

Day 10 of Recovery

This has been the longest, most drawn-out, most patience-testing, laziest, cuddliest, child-bondingest 10 days of my life. Odd combo, I know. Charlotte hasn't been too receptive to fluids this whole time and for the majority of the days I have been spoon-feeding her most of her liquids. The goal everyday has been 32 ounces. Ha! I laugh at the unattainability of that challenge. I think the most she's taken in has been 30 ounces. 30 spoon-fed ouncesm that is. I swear, the fluid seems to multiply when it's fed on a spoon.

Yes, I've tried the bottle, a straw cup, a regular cup, and even an eye-dropper. She doesn't want anything to do with those methods. I'm actually starting to wonder if this is where she goes off the bottle completely. Dear God, if that's the case then please have her choose the straw cup as her vessel of choice. Anything but the spoon!

I can tell she's still in a bit of pain, and the aversion to drinking reflects that. HOWEVER ..... her desire to eat 2-3 pizza crusts tonight, WITHOUT GAGGING, leads me to think that she's pulling some kind of "2-year old I'm not gonna do want I don't want to do" crap. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that she all of sudden wants to eat stuff that she couldn't eat a few weeks ago, chew it like she's been chewing all of her life, and then swallow it down with no problems. I'm just wondering what's going to be our "normal" when we get "back to normal"? Is this where she becomes like other 2-year olds and eats a normal amount of food and I can take her off the super-expensive, high-calorie formula? That would be nice.

For the 1st 3 days she was home a home nurse came by and gave Char IV fluids to help keep her hydrated. That took a lot of the pressure off of my shoulders and I didn't have to be such a nazi about pushing the water. I even got the chance to flush out her IV with some saline and heparin after the IV was done. I had so much fun doing it! Sounds like I have definitely picked the right career path. Otherwise, Charlotte and I have been reading books, playing quietly with her toys, doing lots of snuggling and lots of watching Elmo in Grouchland. I think it would be less painful for me to stick a fork in my eye than watch that movie again. However, I will probably be faced with that choice again tomorrow and will most likely go with the latter.

10 days at home with my daughter has been trying, but AMAZING. We have never snuggled, cuddled and bonded like this before. One thing that's always kind of bugged me is that I don't always feel like "mom". I'm a physical therapist, speech therapist, feeding therapist, occupational therapist, nutritionist, teacher, nurse, doctor, personal assistant, chauffeur, but not mom. These past 10 days I got to be mom. We haven't been working on anything, but her resting and getting her strength back. And that's been nice. At first when we scheduled the surgery I sarcastically thought to myself, "Oh, what a great way to end my already crappy summer". But, now as I'm only a little over a week away from starting nursing school, I realize what a great opportunity this was to spend an ungodly amount of quality time with my daughter. I sure do love that Peanut.

Post-op Recap

Charlotte had her surgery yesterday morning and everything went well, however, as was expected she was a bit of a mess afterwards. But who isn't after waking up from anaethesia? Especially if you're too young to know what the heck is going on!

She stayed in the hospital last night, and, thankfully, came home this morning. We had to share a room with another family and it was difficult to get her to sleep with all the constant chatter, lights going on and off, and all the alarms beeping. Not that any of it was anyone's fault, but it's still annoying.

She was getting IV fluids at the hospital and they left the IV in so the home nurse can come by and give her fluids if necessary. I can tell you right now it's going to be necessary. There's no reasoning with her about swallowing her juice, soup or ice cream. We managed to get a bit of broth and juice in her today, but not enough to keep her hydrated. On top of the usual, excrutiating sore throat that comes with a tonsilectomy, there's also the issue of Char's low muscle tone, which is restricting her swallowing as well. You know how when you get a bad sore throat your swallowing is much more labored and you kind of have to think about doing it? Well it's that much harder for Char since she has to think about swallowing on a normal day. But as today trudged along we started to notice that she was swallowing a little easier. Probably a combination of time, drugs, and limited energy for resistance.

Having the IV left in her arm is also posing another issue for Char. She can't crawl. She's totally immobile until they take it out on Sunday. That was tolerable today since she still didn't have any desire to do anything except watch Elmo and Patti LaBelle (they sing the ABCs together on Sesame Street - another reason why I question if she's mine, she likes gospel music. It's always funny to see people's facial expressions when she asks to watch Patti LaBelle, "Did she just say Patti LaBelle?" "Yep"). But the next couple of days might be a challenge. The IV is on her left hand and it's all wrapped up on this board thing. It might as well be a cast. Maybe I need to make it into some kind of stump-like thing that she can use kind of like a wooden leg ..... hmmmm ..... I'm thinking paper towel roll, plastic tubing, duct tape .... maybe I need to think about this a little more. Although it would be fun to see the nurse's expression when she walks in and sees that. You don't think she'd call DCFS, do you?

Surgery on Wednesday

Just a quick update to let everyone know that Char is having her adenoids and tonsils out tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We're really hoping that this is going to help with her eating, swallowing, and breathing. I guess they don't usually do this type of procedure on kids as young as she is, but her nasal passageway was pretty compromised by the size of her nodes. She will be staying at the hospital overnight, so they can keep an eye on her and make sure she gets plenty of fluids. Then the plan is for her to come home and remain on IV fluids for 4-5 days. It's generally quite difficult to keep kids with c.p. hydrated on a regular basis, so we're taking extra precautions to make sure that's not a problem after the surgery. We will also be visited by a home nurse for a few days. Hopefully she'll (or "he" will, you never know) give us plenty of suggestions as to how to keep the IV in a kid that won't sit still. This is going to be very interesting ....

I'm hoping they have wi-fi access at the hospital tomorrow, so I'll try and post an update tomorrow night if I can.

Char's a strong girl, and I know she'll be just fine, but I can't help but be nervous with her going under general anaethesia.

Is That a Couple Bucks Burning a Hole in Your Pocket?

Or are you just happy to be reading my blog?? Well, if it's a couple bucks then maybe you'll read on to find my shameless plea for donations to the Center for Independence. This is our 2nd year of Charlotte going to the Center and as my previous posts have shown they've had a tremendous impact on her progress towards becoming an independently mobile, little girl. Each year they host a fundraiser and this year it includes a golf outing, silent auction and dinner dance. The golf outing and silent auction are going to be held on Friday, October 2nd. Brian and I are planning to attend, but to be honest I wouldn't expect anyone else to want to (although when I hear "dinner dance" I think hey ..... what a great opportunity to go out and buy a new dress for myself). However, the part where you can help is through the raffle! If anyone is interested in purchasing a raffle ticket from me here are the specs:

• Each ticket costs $100
• Only 600 tickets are sold (so that means your chances of winning are pretty good)
• 1st prize is $10,000, 2nd prize is a 2009 KIA, 3rd prize is $2500, 4th prize is $1000, and 5th prize is $500
• You don't need to be present to be a winner
• Proceeds from the raffle go towards helping families with limited income and/or limited insurance receive affordable, intensive motor training

If you, or perhaps a few people together, are interested in purchasing a raffle ticket(s) please email me at achellyer@yahoo.com and I can arrange to get one to you. It is because of the donations received by the Center that they are able to offer parents a reduced hourly rate for therapy. And it is because of these donations that we will be able to afford to continue sending Charlotte there when our insurance allotment runs out (which by my calculations for next year will be before the end of January - c'mon Obama ... let's get that new healthcare system in place).

If you would like to know of other ways that you can help out or donate to the Center please let me know! Thanks for taking the time to read this.