Surgeons, Singing, Stingray Salutes and Such

Picture the scarecrow From the Wizard of Oz in a suit expect he's no good with kids and awkward around people in general, that's my Orthopedic Doctor. No exaggeration. I had a mini nervous breakdown about going to his office for this follow up as it was beginning to personify all that is wrong in my life. Preparing myself for another hour or two wait the purgatory that is his waiting room and afraid I'd react over emotionally to anything he said, I brought Riley.

I got myself and my moral support there on time and was the first patient to sign in that morning. I had forgotten a sippy so after discovering one with milk residue in the bottom of it under the carseat, I had a plan. I wheeled into to the bathroom with Riley on my lap and washed it out with soap and water, just like college. After I dried it with a burp cloth I filled it in the water fountain and we were good to go. Not exactly rocket science, but I felt like MacGyver.

We only got through one read of each of the books I brought for her before they called me back. She sat with the nurse for 2mins of X-rays and then we were in a room. True to form the Ortho hadn't even glimpsed at my chart before he came in the room. He glanced nervously at Riley sitting sweetly in a chair with her toy and then said "So, are you scheduled?"
"For physical therapy? I just started."
"Well that's good, but I meant for your hip."
"Oh. No. You said to wait 6 weeks and see how the pain was. This is my 6 week appointment"
"Ok, how's your pain?"
"Hip pain is minimal."
"Good let's try to give it a year. It'll have to come out, you know."
"Yes, I understand and that sounds good to me. About my back (I give him a detailed description of my pain and ask a few questions)"
"Well, Katie I just don't know. How long along ago did we do that?" (the chart's open in front of him)
"May"
"Oh, yeah well the recovery time on a spinal fusion procedure is 2yrs. You're not even halfway there."
Makes you feel warm and fuzzy doesn't it. Anyway, he put me on prn which means I call him when I want to come in. The exception is that in May I have to come get an X-ray of my back (and every subsequent May). Fine by me.
We were done and in the car by 9:23. Amazing. I had canceled another appt at 10:30 thinking we'd never be out in time (we never have been in the past). Mike didn't believe me when I called to say I was done.

The Rest Of My Day

I decided since we were close Riley and I would swing over to the library. I'd been staring at the back of her board book in the waiting room and wanted to see if the library had one of the other books by that author. More urgently though Riley had filed her diaper and I knew the library had a changing table unlike the Ortho's office. There's no more diaper changing on the fly with this back. I noticed quite a few little ones filing in to the library when we got there and wondered in passing if it was Mother Goose day. The librarian in the children's section assured us it was.

Riley was uncharacteristically shy. She left my lap but only stood far enough way to still be able to rest her head on my knee. She refused to be a teapot, but was excited enough by the itsy bitsy spider puppets to clap at the end. When time was up Mother Goose, who was in her twenties and wearing jeans, gave all the kids a Care Bear sticker. The highpoint for Riley.

They didn't have the book I wanted, but Riley colored a picture of a T-Rex. The little boy at the table with us was so funny and only used the golden rod crayon for his whole picture. Riley saw "The Busy Spider" by Earl Carle ("The Very Hungry Caterpillar" guy) and insisted on checking it out again. We had it 3mo ago and it was a covert operation to get it out house to return it. I tried to talk her into getting one of his books we hadn't read yet, but to no avail. We also got "Hilda Must Be Dancing" by Karma Wilson and Suzanne Watts. Wonderful book! I wonder if she knows Gerald from "Giraffes Can't Dance" by: Giles Andreae.

I even got a book for myself "Not Ready for Mom Jeans" by: Maureen Lipinski. It was totally a case of judging a book by it's cover. We'll see how it is, but it's written in blog entries so it's easy to put down and pick back up. We were all checked out and headed home by nap time.

It seemed like it was shaping up to be one of the better days especially when I came home from school with a reward for good behavior, but kids are as changeable as Boston weather. Riley woke up from her nap in a foul mood and it took Isaac over 2hrs to do 10mins worth of homework.

Things just went from bad to worse and none of it was helped by my current level of exhaustion. I tried to take a nap, but it just wasn't in the cards. I proclaimed at one point that I needed Mike to get a large shipping box and poke some holes because I was shipping the kids to China. Why do they always conspire to act up in unison?