A Lot On My Shoulders

The latest chapter in my most recent orthopedic odyssey was a trip to physical therapy this week. I've had physical therapy visits hundreds of times, and most of the time I remember them positively. At the age of three years old, I hadn't yet walked. It was during a PT appointment when my mom and grandma were told the therapist was going to "try something" and not to get their hopes up, etc... Then they put a walker in front of me. I grabbed on to that sucker and took off. I had places to go! I went straight to the vending machine in the hallway and asked for cookies, of course! Everyone hearing this tale, laughed about how the adults were in tears about this wonderful moment, while I only had a single minded desire for cookies (so little changes). I wanted a package of the little round cookies with crinkly edges, vanilla with lemon cream. I remember that part vividly.

Obviously, physical therapy has done me significant good here and there, since I was smaller than Miss Roo. This appointment was a horse of a different color, it was for my upper body. I knew I was upset about the appointment. I knew it might be painful and it would certainly be different. I had no idea that it would be a deeply emotional experience. I just wasn't prepared.

I am screaming at myself even writing about this "What is your problem! It shouldn't be this big a deal." It was. It is. It's ok for my shoulder blades to hit a 10 on the pain scale. It is NOT ok to go to physical therapy for my shoulder blades. I have never been able to rely on my lower half and conversely I have always demanded my upper body pick up the slack. It can't break. It can't join my orthopedic issue roller coaster. It is unacceptable.

As I sat there relaying my medical history it could have been a conversation about anything all. Once the evaluation turned to my pain I had a lot of trouble. I felt stupid. I got chocked up several times. I could not articulate my answers well in almost every case. It hit me hard when he asked if I needed a stool to get up on an exam table. I refused one, as is my habit. I used my arms to pull myself up and I sat down. The therapist said in a matter of fact way, "you expect a lot of your arms." I could have burst into tears right there. Dammit. Of freaking Course I do! Did? Oh God.

He told me he sees lots of people with shoulder issues, but NONE of them have fused spine AND walk with crutches. I tried to joke about how ditching the stupid things would solve everything. In case I haven't said it recently, I hate the crutches. As it turns out they (duh!) had a major part in screwing up my shoulders. He gave me an exercise to do until I come back.

I wanted to punch a wall or cry. Instead I hauled my now-furious shoulder blade out to the the desk to make some more appointments. I wanted to scream at someone because this isn't allowed to happen. Instead I collected Isaac and tried to suck it up. I hope this is an isolated issue and not a sign of things to come.

Just keep swimming.

100 Happy Days: Ninth Ten!

For those of you unfamiliar with the sunny little campaign that's making the rounds on social media click here.

Here's round nine (Only one more to go!) of my daily happy. In case you missed any they're here are one through ten, second set, third set, fourth set, fifth set, sixth set, seventh set and the eighth set. Ready, set...round nine of looking on the bright side.

Here's eighty one through ninety

Taking my Little Miss to see the ladies on her shirt today! #100HappyDays #Day81 #ImAHero #FrozenLove

My car being fixed (I hope, fingers crossed) It's been a loooonnnng time. #100HappyDays #Day82 #IMissedMyWheels

Sesame Street is so awesomely weird. I adore it. #100HappyDays #Day83 #PBSLove

Carmel latte & company #100HappyDays #Day84 #GirlsCoffee

My career as a bone model is really taking off! #100HappyDays #Day85 #SexyBones

It's finally pajama time! #100HappyDays #Day86 #IHeartBedtime

Happy Birthday, litter sister! #100HappyDays #Day87 #LavenderCakeAmazingness

We got a postcard from Riley today! It says: "Dear Mommy and Daddy, I went to Hawaii and was in a hula show! There were pink curtains. Yours truly, Riley" #100HappyDays #Day88

Winning things is awesome! #100HappyDays #Day89

New bling! Riley made me a patriotic bracelet. #100HappyDays #Day90

Something New at the Ortho...

I called my "back liberation squad" after the second back attack to report it. I informed the nurse that I was a genius who only needed two severe pain episodes that started suddenly and lasted hours to figure out their cause. I explained the shoulder blade connection, smugly. I wish I had more exciting things to be smug over. She promised to relay the info and I hung up. As long as my feet-dragging lasted I had finally done the right thing. Good job, me. Now there would surely be a return call applauding my deduction and a decree to "take it easy" (yeah. right.)

The response was, "We'd like you to see our shoulder guy, immediately." Now I was full on throwing a toddler style tantrum internally because: It's NOT fair! They scheduled me with the shoulder guy less than 48hrs after the phone call. Those jerks! Were did they get off! Being all concerned about this? Dammit. Damn, damn, damn. Here I was all "I just have to not pop my shoulder blades out." Then they're all "cause for concern...blah...see the specialist?" Who has time for all that noise? Geez.

Seriously, I start to unravel at the suggestion. What if the loose hardware windshield wiper-ing my soft tissues left more than just scar tissue behind? What if this is serious? What if they can take the shoulder blade pain away (after four long years)? What if it's another fracture? What if it's a spinal tumor? Ok, seriously why do doctors always feel compelled to share worse case scenarios with me all the time? Their horror stories haunt me at times like these.

It was an unusually long wait, over an hour. I was cold and I'd forgotten my book. I read all the anatomy charts on the walls (not good for my run away imagination). My mom texted me at this point and asked where I was. I told her the Ortho and followed that with "I live here now." She asked if we'd be holding my sister's birthday party there. "Of course", I replied, "we'll have a cast pinata and ace bandage streamers! It'll be perfect." Shortly after this conversation ended I was finally lead to radiology.

My appointment finally began with some more bone modeling. I have to say shoulder x-rays are the advanced class! Back x-ray: stand with your back to the board. Hip x-ray: lay down and turn your foot out. Shoulder x-ray? Stand here, a little more to your left, good. Now point your feet this way, but keep your torso straight. Now turn slightly to your right, not that far, a little more, good. Now put your left arm across your body and rest your hand on your waist. Higher, too high...there! Now hold your breath and don't move!!

X-rays looked good. Range of motion looked good. For a minute I thought he'd say "take it easy" and send me home. No dice. The x-ray process flared up the pain and the exam made it worse. Stupid shoulder blade, everyone knows once you make the doctor appointment the pain is supposed to go away! Duh. Anyway, he claims I have a muscle imbalance which seems likely. Then he writes me a prescription for four weeks of shoulder physical therapy. SIGH! There goes the ignore it for another 4 years approach.

Summer Camp Week 3

Miss Roo

This week was international travel week! They learned about England and made their own Big Ben. They learned about Japan, had candy sushi, and practiced using chopsticks.

They had Wet Wednesday and this time they got to run through sprinklers! Thursday was New Zealand day and they cooked anzac biscuits, sweet coconut oatmeal cookies. Friday they learned about Mexico. Roo picked out her outfit Friday with no guidance at all. All I did was her hair that day. Speaking of hair...

Mom gets a gold star for a successful Elsa braid on Friday! Woohoo! Another semi-successful hair experiment we did was hair hearts. It did NOT look like the Pinterest pin, but they did resemble hearts. She wanted hearts in her hair to match her new leggings that are pictured above with little white hearts. I tried it at 7am free-form twisting and pinning. I wish I'd done it on wet hair to start, but it held up great. Everyone at school recognized that it was supposed to be hearts.

Isaac

Official last day of camp photo.

Sadly, this is Isaac's last week of camp. Monday he finished his "About Me" power point presentation. Tuesday he played hookie from camp to go to a theme park. It was a trip his grandmother took him on with his cousin to reward them both for completing 5th grade with good grades.

Wednesday the kids at camp broke into teams and launched rockets. He also presented his "About Me" power point presentation. He said the presentation went well. At home he completed his first Tenmarks (a math website) goal for the summer and earned a Slurpee. Thursday was the final day and they took a field trip to the aquarium. Fun stuff! When he got home on Thursday we went to the library for some more science experiments. There was even a robot dance party and alien mask craft this week!

Week Three Video Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up Questions
1. What did you learn that you didn't know before?
2. What was the worst part of your week?
3. What was the best part of your week?
4. What was your favorite meal?
5. What was the weather mostly like?
6. What was your favorite activity/project?
7. How many books did you read?
8. What were they called?
9. Which book was your favorite?
10. Where are some places you went this week?

Weekend Adventures!

Family mini-cation overnight at the beach!

Low budget, quick camping trip? Yes. Planned. Packing started. The weather! Oh no. Cancel. Bummed. Break is needed. Beach? Maybe...Research. Discuss. Discuss again. Decide not to. Discuss some more. Change our minds. Ready, set, go! Um, someone's already in that room?!? Take two. Pool! Dinner...There's no cheese on my cheese burger?!? Ice cream!! Beach! Sunset. Seaweed mound. Crutches in the sand. Back to the pool! No bedtime! Pool's closing guys. Ok, bed ZZZZZZZZ. Roo it's 7am, go back to bed. Nope. Saturday morning cartoons? Where are the Saturday morning cartoons?? Treasure hunting movie. Breakfast poolside. Walk back to the beach. Crutches on sand some more. "Ok, Mom you fill my bucket with sand I gotta hit the water!" Time to go back. Dry clothes. Packing up. Is vacation over? We'll have "vacation" lunch and a "vacation" nap at home later.

We go home that afternoon and rest. Roo and I had somewhere to be in the morning.

Which Frozen shirt? Can't wait! Hair Glitter=Ice Powers!! BFF quality time (x2)! Frozen soundtrack at full volume on repeat. Was that my turn? Did I just pass the place? Great parking spot. Check in. Swap shoes for neon gripper socks. Did we miss them? Are they here? They're here! Hugs that could knock a girl over. A long chat with the royal sisters. Pictures! Time to jump. Boing! Boing! Jump dancing. A picture with the moms! The girls get back in line. One as mini-Elsa and mini-Anna! Let's all be in one. Everyone be Sven! Now be very cold! More jumping! Pizza break. Snacks. Cake pops. Anna and Elsa come to say goodbye. Raffle tickets? Didn't win. Potty break. More jumping. I'll help you up...uh-oh, help me up! A couple games. How many tickets, is it? Two lollipops, a bracelet and a ring. Want to share? Of course! Treats for good listeners in the car. Shoes back on. Bye! Frozen sticker books for Boo & Roo. More Frozen soundtrack! Home again. Nap time.

100 Days of Happy: Eighth Ten

For those of you unfamiliar with the sunny little campaign that's making the rounds on social media click here.

Here's round eight (Can you believe it? Almost Done.) of my daily happy. In case you missed any they're here are one through ten, second set, third set, fourth set, fifth set, sixth set and the seventh set. Ready, set...round eight of looking on the bright side.

Here's seventy one through eighty

I escaped! Pizza at home for the kids, steak out for mom & dad. #100HappyDays #Day71

Modern Medicine. #100HappyDays #Day72

New fish friend. He's an Oscar we named Mr. Nebbercracker.#100HappyDays #Day73

Father's Day dinner! #100HappyDays #Day74 #Traditions #Yummy #ThreeGenerations

Milkshake #100HappyDays #Day75

That's silly! #100HappyDays #Day76

Sibling sweetness on a stormy summer evening. #100HappyDays #Day77

Sweet dog saying hello. #100HappyDays #Day78

Goodbye sun... #100HappyDays #Day79 #NoFilter #Sunset

Someone's being adorable again... #100HappyDays #Day80

Summer Camp Week 2

Miss Roo

Riley dove into her second week of camp, pun absolutely intended! These were their themes this week:

• Monday 6/16: Scuba Diving Day
• Tuesday 6/17: Hermit Crabs
• Wednesday 6/18: Seahorses
• Thursday 6/19: Sea Turtles
• Friday 6/20: Ocean Scavenger Hunt
• B for Barracuda & D for Diving

They had finished the school year with an ocean theme so naturally Roo had requested ocean themed attire. Unfortunately, she grew out of her seahorse outfit, shark shirt and even her Nemo shirt recently. As you can see by the time she started camp on Monday I had come to the rescue with not one, but two seahorse shirts. God Bless, Kohls clearance. The one she wore on Monday is pictured above. It has a big seahorse and then a fish and sea star friend. She was thrilled!

Isaac also cleaned out his jam-packed book shelves and passed down two new ocean books to his grateful little sister. He gave her I Wonder Why Fish Don't Drown by Annabelle Donati and Into the Deep: Life through the depths of the ocean by: Dr. Mark Norman and David Paul.(That one seems to be out of print so try your library). It's a book of beautiful underwater photos. She brought them to camp to share during the week.

These paper plate and hand print hermit crabs made my day. The class read Eric Carle's A Home For Hermit Crab. The main characters in the story has eclectic shell decorations. Aren't they lovely? Roo says hers (on the top row next to the one that looks tie dyed) has sea urchins on it. I just love them. They also made a sea turtle shaped snack out of apple and orange slices this week! Yay for cuteness and healthy cooking projects. Last week was Greek Salad.).

Everyday when I arrive to take her home is a struggle. She's always disappointed to stop what she's doing to come home where there are no friends to play with. These pictures where taken on Tuesday (and that is her second seahorse shirt) when she was building an impressive tower out of Picasso Tiles, magnetic shapes. I allowed her to finish her structure, but when I told her to demolish it and put away the pieces, negotiation broke down. That's when I used the trick that sometimes worked with Isaac's Lego creations and offered to take a picture. You can't tell by her expression, but peace was restored after this picture. I'm glad she loves her friends and teachers so I try not to take the daily "Oh, Man!" response to my arrival personally.

Isaac

Isaac scored his second free book of the summer this week! This kid is on fire! He completed six tasks on the library's summer reading game. I included a picture of the chart. So far he completed: Read a book, Do a Science Experiment, Read a book that's part of a series, Watch a movie based on a book, Read a book by an author that is new to you, and Read a fiction book. You can see (if you click the picture of the chart to enlarge it) he scrawled which book he was using for each task. I'm his witness all of them were completed. The stamp in the corner indicates a librarian verified his six tasks were done and allowed him to pick his book. Since it was still June there was quite a selection. He went with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (remember that one? I do!). He'd read it cover to cover within the hour and has re-read parts of it several times!

Week Two Video Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up Questions
1. What did you learn that you didn't know before?
2. What was the worst part of your week?
3. What was the best part of your week?
4. What was your favorite meal?
5. What was the weather mostly like?
6. What was your favorite activity/project?
7. How many books did you read?
8. What were they called?
9. Which book was your favorite?
10. Where are some places you went this week?

Just to clarify, they didn't really light him on fire during his field trip. He's referring to an outdoor, black fabric maze under the June sun being uncomfortably hot.