Ins & Outs

Good day/Bad day?: not bad

It's a lot like having a newborn at times, this Olive business! I should catch you up to speed--sorry, just been pooping out at night when I go to sit down and write.

So, for starters, Olive is a Good Kid. It's true! She's handled this pretty well so far. Her hospital stay went fine--surgery was longer than expected because the tip of the suturing needle broke off and they had to reopen her hip area to be sure it didn't fall in the joint. They were sure--didn't see it, didn't show up on x-ray. Everything else went fine, and Olive is now the proud model of a light blue fiberglass cast. She didn't look nearly as bad as I expected in recovery, was easily comforted. I spent the night with her, and she did okay but they were monitoring every hour or 2, so that's how long we each slept! She had some pain that came and went quickly usually, likely muscle spasms, and the nurses did great keeping up with her needs. Thanks to Julie and the Dittmars for hospital food deliveries, and thanks to Ben's parents for sticking it out with us. And hooray for the Elmo books and stickers--that's all she needs to be happy most of the time!

She was discharged late afternoon the next day, after we figured out with PT what we could transport her in (they lend out special car seats, and we also found she would fit in her umbrella stroller). Yay for the stroller thing, because then we can use it inside and have our hands free! What else are we figuring out? Bean bag chair, also for hands-free, and got a special infomercial tv tray that tilts and gets very short to use for her to eat and put toys on. Up until then we'd had to sit with her on our laps for meals. She's heavier, but also less wiggly and that helps a little. Diapering has been manageable. It's a 3-layer system with a maxi pad and newborn diaper tucked into the cast hole, and then a big diaper around the cast on the outside. So far, so good with the major blowout risk--just watch what you feed her, people!

The newborn thing comes at night--we've had to keep her on a very regular medication schedule every 4 hrs or she lets us know, and we've been instructed to check her diaper every 2-3 hrs to avoid leaks. During the night it's been 3 hrs, and we might be able to stretch that to 4 soon. Just getting back on schedule. So right now it's a lot of waking up. Thankfully Kathy is staying and helping with a lot of this, and we are taking full advantage of the extra set of hands. Olive does take more entertaining now, but less corralling. She's realizing what she can't do and gets kinda mad--a continuous battle to remind her to "use her words" instead of whining. Also needing constant encouragement to not use her pacifier. But we're getting there.

At our friend's 4th gathering today and talking about the ole cancer journey, and it just dawned on me that I survived f-ing chemo and radiation--I mean really dawned on me how tough that is! In yo' face...