Wild Dunes

We just got back from a wonderful vacation, made possible by my mom's wonderful friend. She owns a condo in SC with 4 other couples, so they each get 10 weeks per year. Dee couldn't go last week, so she graciously offered the use of the condo to our family. We spent a glorious week in Isle of Palms in Mt. Pleasant, SC. My parents, the kids and I headed down on Sunday the 14th. Wes had to work Monday so he joined us Monday night. The condo was directly across from the pool, which the kids loved immediately. The adults ended up lovin' it too! 

We were within short walking distance of the beach, but also had the luxurious option of using the condo's golf cart to drive to a beach access point with cart parking. This is what we did since it was a bit far for O to walk and we had tons of gear to schlep to the beach.

I walked in the morning all but one day that we were there. Once with my mom, once with Wes and the other times alone. Such a beautiful place to walk! A beautiful place to escape too, and that is saying something because I find the place I call home to be quite beautiful. Still, an escape. We still worked, but we played a whole lot more. We were together. We were having such fun! 

Now that we are back, my goal is to continue to look for that escape when I can, take life less seriously (easier said than done for me), and have more fun, especially with my kids. This was not supposed to be a post about how fast they are growing up, but growing up they are!

Wes and I went on a date and had drinks one night. We all went out for dinner on our last night there. Ashley was able to join us on Friday evening for the remainder of the trip, when we left on Sunday the 21st.

All in all it was a great trip, and much needed by all. I will write another post with pictures very soon.

Super O's Team Walk for Wishes

As many of you know, O is a Wish Kid. That means he was granted a Wish by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. It was a life changing experience for all of us. We walked in the Walk for Wishes last year to help raise money and awareness so that other kids waiting in our area might have their Wish granted. The Walk was great. I quickly learned that just like O is a Wish Kid for life, I am a Wish Mom for life. Yup, we are walking as Team Super O again this year. Click on the link below to join us at the walk. Can't be at the walk? Consider making a donation to our team! Thank you, from me and from the kids!

Super O's Team Page for FY14 Walk For Wishes Charlotte

Orthopedic Check-up

This morning Owen had a check up with Dr. Casey after four weeks. He has been getting around very well with his walker so I was very confident. Still, because of the number of times that I have been no-so-pleasantly surprised during an appointment, I couldn't help but be a touch nervous. Luckily everything looked wonderful and the doctor was thrilled with his progress. There was a great deal of increased healing. The bone that was already looking good a month ago had calcified even more. The few parts that hadn't shown much calcification yet looked quite a bit better. As she has said before, the doctor referred to Owen as a "super healer". He has graduated from physical therapy, which was perhaps the biggest surprise to me. He is now WBAT, or weight bearing as tolerated. As is the case with most almost-five-year-old boys, Owen is certainly pushing the envelope. His leg doesn't hurt him anymore, and he is certainly on the move! He is certainly pushing it with his new weight-bearing rules. Dr. Casey obviously has a plan for this. We have told Owen one set of rules, and when he pushes a bit I let him push a certain amount and pretend not to notice. He can walk a bit without his walker, but I certainly don't cheer him on. That would cause him to push further. She feels that when we go back in another four weeks it will be sans walker. I predict that it will happen within two weeks. 

I am so thrilled that Owen is doing so well, and I am beyond proud of my little man and how hard he has worked to get to this point.

Such a happy day!

Back from my Hiatis

If you are a regular reader here at the Hive, you've noticed that I have been absent lately. Things have been crazy here for the past several months. This is a long story short type of situation. Owen had surgery on November 29 to begin the lengthening of his right femur. In case you forgot, he was born with a leg length discrepancy. Specifically, a congenital short femur. The orthopedist performed an osteotomy and placed an external fixation device for the purpose of lengthening. There was a tool that looked a lot like an allen wrench, which I had to use to turn a part on the device four times each day. Each turn lengthened his femur by 1/4 mm. That means by the end of the day, his femur had been lengthened by 1 mm. This went on for 42 days, and we gained 4.2 cm of length. Unfortunately, about 3 weeks before she had planned to remove the fixation device, Owen got a bone infection. It had to be removed early. During that surgery, once the device was removed his femur broke. This was not an anticipated complication, but his hip flexor muscle was so tight that it slammed down and broke the bone. About four days after surgery when we went for his post-op appointment, the x-ray showed that the fracture of his femur had been seriously displaced. Emergency surgery was scheduled for a few days later. The surgeon fixed that break, set it and place a femoral plate and interlocking screws. Again, a few days later something was clearly wrong. Owen, who is such a tough guy and has hardly complained at all through everything, became very uncomfortable and experienced pain each time I moved him. As it turned out, his leg broke again above the existing plate. Another emergency surgery. This time the bone was harder to set and she had to sacrifice a centimeter of the length that we had gotten. She had to put in a much larger plate and 12 interlocking screws for internal fixation. She also released several of his tendons to relieve some of the tightness. He was then outfitted with a half-Spica cast, which he sported for 6 weeks. After those four surgeries and the time in the cast, he made a lot of progress and there was a lot of bone growth. After not having been able to walk since before Easter, he finally graduated back to his walker on June 14. He is doing GREAT! He gets around amazingly well on his walker. His spirit is truly amazing and he is such a trooper! He has taught me so much, and made me so much stronger in the process.

We see the orthopedist tomorrow, which will be the six week mark since the cast came off. I am both excited and anxious to see the x-rays and hear what the next steps will be. I am so proud of my sweet little man and how well he has weathered this storm.