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

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html