Just a quick post.....

Kira's got the countdown going for getting rid of her boots!  She has handled them soooo well but it's getting old and she's getting frustrated....especially with the heat creeping in now and then.  Then brilliant me thought that I putting her in footie socks would help keep her legs from being quite so warm......maybe it worked but now the backs of her legs are all scratched up from the velcro rubbing them.  Uggggg.....no win there!  So tomorrow we're back to long socks with the guarantee that when she's home, I'll set her up in the recliner to do her homework with her boots off.

14 days left until, hopefully, she's done with the boots and moved on to her new inserts and shoes.  Hoping that she adjusts to walking with the inserts and her "new feet" as quickly as she has with casts/walking casts/boots!  She's so ready to be done with this stuff.  Come on May 28th!

Eva's doing good with her boot. (I still cannot believe that between 2 girls, we have 3 boots!)  She complains a lot towards the end of the day that her foot hurts but trying to get a 4 year old to slow down during the day is next to impossible!  She goes back on May 21st for xrays and a follow-up......she'll either have to wear the boot longer or she won't!  (I know so much detail there!!) :-)  She is happy to be back to school and other than not getting to go out on the playground right now, she's doing everything else.  She has a field trip to a farm on May 30th so I'm REALLY hoping that she's out of the boot by then.

Dylan had his follow-up with the ortho from his femur fracture and apparently felt the need to keep things exciting. :-)  Wait for it..........

We knew when he had the surgery that eventually one or maybe both of the pins would need to come out but I CERTAINLY was not expecting to hear that it would likely need to be done by the end of this year.  I'm pretty sure I looked at Dr N. like he was CRAZY when he said it.  So basically we go back in October for more x-rays, sooner if he starts to limp or have any pain.  Then, hopefully, Dr N will be able to tell if the best plan is to 1) take out just one pin that is shifting as he's growing and leave the other one alone, or 2) take both pins out at the same time since there's always the chance down the road that he will have to have the 2nd pin removed too.  The hard part of this decision is that we still don't really know what caused the fracture in the first place so the question remains if taking both pins out at the same time will increase the risk of him re-fracturing in the same place.  When the screws come out, we know that the bone will have some "weakness" until the holes fill in again.  We're hoping that the x-rays in October will give a very clear answer as to what needs to be done.  OY!  Dr N suggested that we try to schedule it over Christmas break so that he doesn't have to miss school and having restrictions afterward wouldn't be quite as hard in the winter.  Of course, this all could change if we see any signs that it needs to be done sooner!

Never a dull moment...... :-)

But even with all of this and the worry, frustration and exhaustion that the past 9 months has brought...and looking ahead knowing that Kira has a long way to go yet and this surgery for Dylan will need to happen, I am so thankful.  Things can ALWAYS be worse and have friends who are facing cancer, who have marriages that are ending, who struggle to pay the medical bills for their kids and have lost their jobs/houses/cars just to do so.....I have so much to be thankful for....so very much!

"I'm like Kira now!"

At least getting a boot for her foot didn't upset her.....cuz now she's like Kira!  OY!

At least they can now use a boot for fractures instead of a cast which is REALLY nice.

She goes back on May 20th for more xrays and then they'll decide if she needs to wear the boot longer or if she's done.  Right now they have it so the boot doesn't flex in the ankle or anywhere but if the xrays look good on the 20th, then that may be the next step.

(If you didn't see the blog post about what happened, it's the one right before this.)

Oh, now I get it!!

You know that saying that talks about "bad things" happening in 3's?  Well, I had been convinced that we had out "3" done......Dylan's TWO surgeries and then Kira's surgery.  

2 + 1= 3, right?

Well, here's where my thinking was obviously a bit cloudy.....Kira's surgery was "elective" so now I see that it CLEARLY could not have been our "bad" #3.  We were actually still on #2, right?  I'm really glad that I didn't KNOW that because honestly, I would have just been waiting for #3....but with the way I was thinking, #3 just got to sneak up on us and WHAM!  there it was! ;-)

Drum roll please....who was the "lucky" one who gets to claim #3 as their own????

Yep...that's my sweet Eva's foot!

Eva was enjoying the beautiful weather at a friends house yesterday, chasing bubbles and she fell.  She appeared to be fine but as the day went on, she started limping and was clearly in pain so off to urgent care we went last night after Jason met me at martial arts to get Kira and Dylan....I really didn't want to walk in with Kira, who is wearing 2 boots and using a walker.....gee, think that would have gotten us any "looks?"

So I decided to take Eva to the urgent care on the west side since we were only a few minutes away and on the way I actually had the thought (this is just "wrong" humor in sooo many ways)...."Well, at least since we're going to the west clinic and not the east clinic, we won't get the same doctor we saw when Dylan had his fractured femur!"  Ummmm, so guess who was working at the west clinic and guess who remembered Dylan?  Sigh......

By the time we got to urgent care, Eva wouldn't put any weight on her foot without crying and shaking.....before that, she would take a few steps here and there but would start crying.

The x-rays showed a couple of weird spots that are likely small fractures.......feet as tiny as hers are just hard to see sooo many things and there are so many things that just don't show up on x-rays right away as we know from our experience with Dylan.

Right now, we are waiting to hear from the ortho to see what we need to do.  She won't put any weight on it today and had a really rough night.  They mentioned maybe a boot (yep, like Kira's) for a couple of weeks or we may just have to wait and let it heal.

Ya know, I just couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

So as my awesome friend, Gwyn, said last night which made me stop crying and crack up laughing like a crazy person......

"Your ortho should have his kids college funds say 'this education brought to you by the VandeKieft family"

What a difference a few days makes.......

And some time on the SWING!

Kira's figured out that she CAN walk without her walker....she's still unsteady but she can do it.  She also figured out over the weekend that she CAN get across the yard and to the swing set.  Let me know tell you...I haven't seen her smile like she does when she swings for a long time.  I REALLY wish that today's weather was here to stay.

Swinging + Kira = LOTS of smiles!

Ups and downs of today......

This was Kira this morning before we left for the doctor to get her casts off!  She could.not.wait.  She was still talking about going shoe shopping and taking a shower.  I LOVE this picture!

We had absolutely NO wait when we got there.  The ortho nurse saw was and we were on our way to go back to get her cast off, then x-rays, then we'd see the doctor.  Gotta love the no waiting part!...especially since last time we had a 2 hour wait!

 Those casts are almost gone!  Kira just kept giggling and saying that she couldn't believe her casts were almost off!!

 Beautiful feet!  

 So happy to have the casts off after 15 1/ 2 weeks.  She was just giggling!

 Waiting to go have x-rays........she could not wait to see the x-rays so that she could see the screws in her feet! ;-)

 This is when things went south for a bit.  Dr N came in and said that the x-rays looked great but he wanted her to wear boots on both feet until we can get the inserts made for her shoes.  Kira instantly had a look of panic on her face and tears in her eyes.  She also quickly figured out that with the boots, shoe shopping wasn't going to happen.  I was able to think fast and told her that we would go look for some new pants that would work with her boots.....I think that she only KINDA fell for that.  I was so proud of her for keeping it together and not falling apart....and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself too! :-/  She's not happy.  I think she'll be okay but she's frustrated that it hurts to walk right now.  She's frustrated that she can't walk on her own right now.  I have no doubt it won't take long but she's one frustrated little girl right now.

Good news!  I was concerned after seeing that her stitches are still in that she might not be able to swim when we have a weekend trip planned for the last weekend of April.  Fortunately the doctor said that it would be fine since it wasn't for several days.  She just can't bear weight without the boots on so she'll need help!  She's not thrilled with that but I told her it would be fine and that she could also sit on the edge or on a step if they have one.

After a trip to Target to look for pants, I realized, duh....it's mostly summer gear!  We managed to find a couple pairs of lighter weight pj's and one pair of leggings....I think leggings will work with her boot over them.  Again, she wasn't thrilled.  Sigh......

This mommy was and still is just feeling bad about it all.  We really didn't know or expect the boots so we've been talking up getting shoes, etc.  It was just a BIG let-down for us both......especially Kira.

Fortunately we had plans to meet Jason for lunch at Kira's favorite restaurant.....Laredo's....after all, cheese dip makes it all better, right? ;-)

After lunch we stopped at the rehab center to make her appointment to get the inserts made for her shoes...she has to wear the boots until she has the inserts and I KNOW how long it can take to get appointments for this type of thing.

GOOD NEWS!  They had an appointment for MONDAY!  We took it.

BAD NEWS!  They called 20 minutes ago and had to reschedule it.  Luckily they got us in on Tuesday, April 30th.  So still not too bad.  It can take 3-6 weeks to get braces/inserts so I'm hoping that it will be closer to the 3 weeks.........

Then we had to stop at Hy-Vee and get snacks for Dylan to take to school tomorrow.  Kira was almost in tears...she was tired, in pain and just not happy.

These sure seemed to bring a smile to her face though! :-)

There was ONE pack with puppies as decorations.  We brought them home. :-)

I thought the first thing that she would want to do was take a shower when we got home but right now she is laying on the couch, reading her American Girl magazine that came in the mail, watching Good Luck Charlie and trying hard to stay awake.  I'm sure a shower will come soon though and I have a feeling that I won't be able to get her out  once she's in!

So.....it's hard right now.  It feels like we've gone backwards with her independence and she's not happy about it.  I just keep trying to reassure her that it won't be long and she'll be up walking around like she was with her casts.  I don't think she believes me right now.  She's still ticked off about not getting to go shoe shopping but believe me, that day will come and we will party! :-)

She does have some restrictions for the rest of the school year....no running and jumping even once she has the inserts.  She is happy to know that she can swing! :-)

Her next follow-up with the ortho is August 15th.  At that appointment we will find out what restrictions she will have going back to school in the fall as far as PE activities go...it's likely that she will have some even next school year.

Next week I have her transition meeting with her IEP team at school.  I feel like that meeting will go well.  The doctor made his recommendations and I've been able to share some of the things that we have learned while Kira has been doing homebound school.  I believe her 1st day back will May 1st.

Thanks for all the emails, texts, Facebook comments, etc.  It made Kira's day to see everyones support!

2 days....less than 48 hours!

In less than 48 hours Kira will have her casts off!!

If you happen to see her between now and then I am willing to bet that this is what she will tell you......

"It's 2 days until I get my casts off.  I'm going to shoe shopping and then home to take a long shower!"

That's what she's told everyone we've seen today and we saw more people than normal since we had to fun up to her school to turn a project in!

We just finished a long conversation about what it MIGHT feel like when she tries to walk for the first. Obviously we really don't know.  I can't tell that with all her excitement she is also starting to get a little nervous.  

I have to admit that I do share her nervous feelings.  I know what I'm hoping for but there's no way to know if this surgery was 100% successful? 90% successful?  We just don't know and we won't know for awhile.

BUT I do know that she is excited!  She's excited to get her casts off.  She's excited to go shoe shopping.  She's excited to meet Daddy for lunch.  And she's excited to take a real shower....a long shower. :-)

So I'll tuck those nervous feelings I have deep down for now and celebrate with her!

It's been awhile....

And rest assured, it's not because anything "major" has happened...it's just us being really, really, really busy!

Things are going well.  Kira's recovering really well and has amazed us and her therapists with how well she is doing with walking.  It was a ROUGH start and so when things turned around so quickly, we were all surprised....very happy though!   Kira walks most of the time WITHOUT her walker.  She mostly uses it outside and if we are in public and she is walking.  Her balance isn't the best so it's mostly a safety precaution.  She was little put out with me the 1st time I made her use it outside after she had been walking without it inside but once she was outside, she realized why it was a good idea. :-)

Kira's therapy schedule has changed a little over the past few weeks.  She has gone from 3 OT sessions a week to 2 sessions and her PT has increased from 1 session to 2 sessions a week.  She has a long way to go with her endurance after sitting around for so many weeks.  She continues to work hard in therapy which makes it a lot easier on all of us.

She is still doing homebound school and will be through the end of April.  Her 1st day back to school with be May 1st.  We have a meeting in a couple of weeks with her IEP team to get all of that set up.  We are hoping for a couple of weeks of all 1/2 days and then going back to her schedule as it was before her surgery which is 2 short days and 3 full days.  

She's doing soooo well with her homebound teacher....I'm a LITTLE sad that it will be coming to an end.  She's made such great strides all around but especially in math.  She is picking things up so much faster with the one-on-one and just isn't getting is frustrated.  It's been a good time for us to find ways to teach her more effectively so I am hoping to incorporate some of what we've learned into her IEP...actually, let me rephrase that...we WILL be incorporating it into her IEP. :-)

Her casts come off on April 18th!  We are all so ready to be done with casts and Kira is most excited about 2 things....shoe shopping and a REAL shower.  I'm pretty sure getting her OUT of the shower will be a challenge.

Dylan's doing great.  His IEP meeting is coming up and even though he has done remarkably well this year, everyone agrees that the IEP needs to stay in place.  He's very excited that he's getting ready to test for his green belt in martial arts....what could be better than getting a belt that is your favorite color!

I've learned this winter that having a child who is very active on the playground means a few things....lots of lost gloves/mittens/hats, lots of mud coming home on every clothes/outer gear piece and most of the time, he has "no idea how any of it happened!"

Dylan has been willing "helper" since Kira has been out of school....he's been happy to bring things home from her teacher/class, take things back for her, return library books and check out new ones and MOST of the time, the papers even make it back and forth without falling out of his unzipped backpack!  I've appreciated his teacher and aides willingness to let him help out with this.

Eva is still loving school and is already talking about being in 4K next fall....she's ready but I'm not quite ready to admit that she is old enough for that yet.  It really doesn't seem possible. Not at all.

We had a great Spring Break spending lots of time with Eva's best friend, Lorelei.  All 4 of the kids get along great so we had LOTS of fun getting ready for Easter.  It was nice to be busy but we did manage to have a good amount of down time too.  It would have been nice to actually have SPRING WEATHER for our spring break but the kids had fun in the snow too! :-/

The girls I spend the morning today taking down all of our Easter decorations and replaced them with lots of spring-type decorations.  The girls had soooo much fun crafting the morning away.  We're all ready for the last piles of snow to be gone and spring to be here to stay!  They are talking about all the "stuff" we can do when the weather is nice.....Kira of course, can't wait to experience playing outside, running, jumping, etc with her, as she calls them, "new straight feet!"  We ALL agree!