This week we played hard and had fun with my brother Daniel, my sister-in-law Mimi and my nieces Claire and Samantha, visiting us from Phoenix. Today everyone is a little sad and tired out as we said good-bye to them last night. Combination of daylight savings time, emotions of saying good-bye and worn-out from playing so hard has caught up with kids today.
I asked Robyn what her favorite thing we did this week (cause we did a LOT) and she said it was sitting in the hot tub with Claire. Claire was a big fan of the hot tub and said the words with gusto that can't be replicated in writing. Monday I was able to play with Claire and Samantha while Daniel and Mimi were able to go up to the SLC temple. I forget how busy little girlies can keep you! But I loved it. And after that day Samantha would come give me snuggles periodically which I ate up. When kids all got home from school we headed over to an indoor pool with a playground to spend the afternoon. If I needed to locate my kids I just had to look for Mimi as she was surrounded by a pack at all times. Taylor enjoyed the hot tub and turned into a warm noodle like body, just completely relaxed. Then with everyone tired out and ready for warm baths we drove home in the small snow flurry much to Caire's delight for dinner, FHE, and Mimi and Daniel's yummy treats from Kneaders.
Tuesday we spent the day at the Children's museum in SLC. That place is perfect for Robyn's age but we don't go very often as Spencer and Allison are getting past it. But Robyn ate it up. Then we grabbed older kids and went to their school's roller skating night at the local rink. Disco light, loud Justin Berber music blaring and little kids screaming and carousing in abandon. Before we left I told the kids I could handle one hour. It was a lot of fun though and Taylor seemed to enjoy doing laps around the rink the music. Jeremy had a big photo class that evening that Mimi was able to join up with and the rest of us went home to collapse and eat leftover brownies to replenish our strength.
Wednesday was our typical busy day of everyone running everywhere - will tell you the details of that at the end. That was the bad medicine we had to swallow. But that night Claire was able to join with Robyn and Allison and me for Allison's book group at the library. They were discussing Bridge to Terabithia which didn't hold much interest for the little girls. But the treats and making crowns were a big hit.
Thursday Daniel was off to BYU so the girlies spent the day at Gardner village. Claire was a trooper as she had been up all night throwing up but still wanted to go see the shops, feed the ducks and go to the big candy store. That place is just fun to poke around in and explore. It is definitely a girly place to go. Thursday evening Mimi and kids joined up with Daniel and my kids were at a loss. They kept asking where everyone was and seemed very disappointed to eat dinner with just their regular family.
Friday was filled with a little shopping and a little girl photo shoot. The photo shoot was chaos in the making but it was hilarious as Sam really, really, really did NOT want to have her picture taken. That night we headed off to the Mayan with everyone to eat some good food and watch the show. All of our kids just think it is the coolest place ever.
Saturday was Spencer's birthday party. He invited Jason's family over for lunch along with a friend. So we had his yearly hamburger and tator tot lunch with a big chocolate cake. Then Jeremy took Spencer, his cousin Garion and his friend Brenner out to go rock climbing for the afternoon. Jeremy had an Elder's quorum party to host that evening and then a talk to write for today so he is enjoying a well deserved nap right now.
So we had an amazingly fun week but I agree with Robyn. The best part was just being together and visiting with family.
So back to Wednesday. We met with Taylor's orthopedic doctor then who checked his spine last year. His spine has curved more from 22 to 34 degrees now. But the part we were most concerned with were his hips. A month ago when we stood him up we heard this loud cracking sound and every time he moved his leg, it cracked some more. He seemed fine the next morning though. So they x-rayed his hips and found out that his hips were displaced. His left femur bone is an inch away from his hip socket and is actually up and past the hole where it is supposed to snap into place in. His right femur bone is out but still touching the illiac crest with the tip of the bone. Since Taylor's bad late summer and fall his skill have dropped dramatically. We were thinking of brain damage and that perhaps he was having mini-strokes. In fact in a week I meet with the neurologist to discuss the MRI (it took them a long time to evaluate it this time and then for me to get in). But now we know that his hip problem at least on the left side has been for several months. It explains why he has a hard time sitting, why he can't walk very well now, why mobility is doing so badly. He has been in pain. I honestly don't know how he has been walking everywhere. What I feel worse about is that we thought he was loosing his mobility skills due to brain damage so we have been really pushing him to walk more at home and at school.
So the orthopedic doctor wants his partner to do the surgery to fix Taylor's hips as he has more experience with them and think he will do a better job. He is actually on vacation right now so I will see him on the 29th and then schedule the surgery. This is what they are going to do: They are going to go in through the left side, grind out a new hip socket, grind away growths on the femur, get the left femur back into the socket and plate it into place - not sure if pins/screws will be needed as well. Then they will go in on the right side and grind out a little and hopefully be able just to pop that side back into place without a plate. They do not think he will need a body cast. He will be in the hospital for at least a week, then home with limited weight bearing for a month and then 6 months to a year of therapy and work. On the plus side, these surgeries are very successful and should help his quality of life a lot. On the down-side it sounds extremely painful and it will be hard for Taylor to get back to wanting to walk and move again.
So we will see how it goes and I will let you know more details when I learn them in 2 weeks. I just feel so bad for Taylor. To add on a little more pain for him, he developed pressure sores on his feet (like bed sores) from his braces so he is without his daffos right now too. But he is still his usually happy self and loved going to the Mayan on Friday night. He was chirping away, looking around and eating as much mexican food as we could give him. But needless to say I ate quite a few Trader Joe chocolates and commiserated with family this week quite a bit. But really it doesn't change anything, we just now know why he has been acting the way he has and know that we can do something about it.
love to you all, Heather
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