I haven't updated this list very much because there are so many members
and this is off topic, but I thought this was a good time to send a
quick update, and to thank everyone for the card/post card shower for
Lexie. It really helped her getting mail every day through that rough
six weeks when she was in cast. Here is the update I sent to my family
and friends...
***
Hello everyone
Lexie went to the doctor today and had an xray. The good news is... the
bone continues to heal well. There seems to be no problem with the
bone, it does not appear to be dying. There is still a chance this
might happen, but with each week it doesn't happen, the chance gets
slimmer and slimmer. The fact there is still good obvious blood flow to
the bone and that there is no white on the xray (indicating calcium
build up) and that the bone definition is solid (ie, it's a clear curve
around the top, and around where the break occurred) gives us great
hope. The doctor said that he couldn't even find the break line, it has
healed so well. Two xrays were taken and we both looked, but couldn't
find the line, which indicates that the bone is healing very well. The
pins are HUGE , though. They will come out in about a year. Lexie has
permission to begin putting a bit of weight on the leg. We had
discussed weeks ago they'd begin really slowly, but it seems that she
has healed so well, we are moving a bit faster. She can put about 50%
of her weight on her leg for about two weeks, using the walker. After
that, she can move to walking slowly, without the walker. She is not
allowed to run, jump, skip, or move any faster than a slow walk without
the walker until he sees her in a month and does another xray. We have
an order for water therapy, but now we have to find a place and get
Kaiser to pay for it.
Ten years ago today I was in labor with Lexie. In retrospect, I handled
her birth wrong, and after two and a half days of labor, Lexie was born
by c-section. I don't think I will ever have the chance to have a
vaginal birth, or another child, and I do and will always miss not being
able to give birth vaginally, but now, ten years later, I don't care. I
have a beautiful and wonderful child who is growing into a wonderful
young lady. She stuck with DI throughout the last ten weeks, when she
very well could have quit and no one would have thought badly of that
choice. But she never even considered quitting. She participated in a
DI creativity day while she was in a body cast, and then returned four
weeks later to participate in the tournament in a wheel chair, unable to
even put that foot on the floor. Her team was just as wonderful, no one
suggested they go on without Lexie, but instead they personified what
Destination Imagination stands for and remained a team through what was
not an easy time for any of of them. Even though they did not win an
award, they are all winners, and I am trying to figure out how to
recognize them as such. They not only accepted Lexie in a wheel chair
but they used the wheel chair as a side trip to their challenge! Lexie
is very lucky to be a part of a true team, The Tiny Tigers.
Lexie has also done so well in her recovery. Yes, there has been low
moments, and low days. She has cried, and become angry with her
situation. But for the most part she has been a remarkable young lady
who has taken a difficult time and done the best with it. She has
always done her exercises to the best of her ability, and the result is
good healing and now the ability to begin walking again. She has
followed the rules of no weight on one leg to the point of almost
obsessiveness, knowing that following those rules was the best way to
get an optimal outcome. Now she is stepping carefully into the next
part of her recovery, with both feet and both legs. I have never been
prouder of my daughter.
I know this is about Lexie but I have to take a minute and talk about
Janene. She has also been pretty amazing. She has helped her sister,
almost always when asked just once, as well as she could. This six year
old even learned to help Lexie use the bathroom using a bedpan, so that
I could stay in the bath a few minutes longer (this was without my
knowledge, I only figured it out when Janene came into the bathroom to
empty the bedpan!) She has been encouraging and only once or twice
hijacked her sister's walker or wheelchair or hospital bed for her own
use. She has brought Lexie water and liquid, books, computer, played
games with her sister, and handled the last few months, when our family
has been in so much stress, amazingly well. I am proud and lucky she is
my daughter.
We have also learned how "handicapped accessible" means pretty much
nothing in many cases. I will never look at a handicap stall in the
same way again, nor will I do any small thing, from shopping to using
the restroom in a public place, without looking upon a person in a
wheelchair with new respect.
As a family of three, without Mark, we have formed a bond with each
other, and have learned how strong we can be. I am very sorry that we
have had to go through all of this, from Lexie's accident, to Mark's
leaving, to Addy (our dog's) tragic and horrible death, but we have come
through stronger in so many ways.
One of the most important ways is the confirmation of our friends and
family. It was an amazing process to see just how many friends we have.
Thank you all for all of your help. This journey toward Lexie's
complete recovery is not over yet, but the worst is over, and it is
thanks to all of you that we made it through that worst. I don't think
I could have made it without your support and help. I wish I could
write individual, personalized notes to each and every one of you, and
maybe one day I will be able to do that, but for now please know I thank
you in my heart each night. Every bit of the support was appreciated,
from the physical support of meals and help with errands and help with
Janene, to the emotional support of private conversations and public
emails, to the private support of precious prayers and healing and
calming thoughts and candles lit in our names. All of it has been
noticed and appreciated. Thank you.
And I do know now that Lexie will completely recover. That is a
certainty in my head as much as I am certain the sun will rise tomorrow
and that my little girl will be ten on Wednesday at 12:25 pm. Ten years
old, two numbers, an entire decade. Amazing, I look at her and am
amazed that I created this life inside my body and now I have such
little control over it, as she grows to womanhood, that is as it should
be. Lexie will be an amazing woman--look out world, here she comes!
I am crying now, and so I will say thank you again. I'll send another
update next month, when we hope to get further good news, and maybe the
possibility of a bit more activity.
Thank you
Joylyn
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