All Done

Avery is out of surgery. I just spent some time with her in recovery and now John is back there with her. One parent at a time until she gets a room. We might be here for a few hours as rooms are full upstairs, or so the story goes. Dr P said surgery went great, under an hour. When she got in there she noticed Avery had a huge case of bursitis due to the hamstring snapping over the tumor repeatedly for over two years. The tendons of the hamstring I believe are a three cord and they had divided two on one side and one on the other of the bump which she believes allieviated some of the pain. Future surgery is likely as the angulation of her leg is very much an issue. We wait on that though and see how her leg reacts to the bump being gone. I didn't take my camera with me to recovery but I will. Sweetie looks so cute all drugged up in her hospital get up. She ate a popsicle, drank some juice and gave me hugs and kisses. Her incision is sutured, steri stripped, covered in a plastic bandage, wrapped in an ace bandage and a knee immobilizer on top. We have the immobilizer unstrapped for now to let a little ice penetrate for swelling. She is on some happy drugs but they are making her a little teary faced. Plus other kids are waking up unhappy and she can see other kids being wheeled by unconcious. She is being a trooper though. I'm very proud of her.

Avery is in surgery

Avery and I arrived at the hospital right on time.... a little bleary eyed. I drained the rest of my coffee and we headed in to register and pay up. They processed us quickly and before we knew it she was back in pre op watching the Disney Channel, a rare treat since her parents are too cheap to pay for anything other than basic cable. She changed into some cute little jammies. Dr P came in and marked the right leg YES. Before I knew it she was being walked to the OR. I had to give her up to the nurses at the stop sign. She looked back once a little timidly and then turned a corner. I wish I could have captured that moment with a picture. I choked back my tears, proceeded to the waiting room where I await John. Going to watch a little Beth Moore Esther until he arrives. Pictures are on facebook. I don't have the cable to upload them here. I could email them to myself later.

In the morning

Avery has surgery in the morning. She is peacefully sleeping on the crib mattress in our room. I don't want her to wake up and hit the pantry for something to eat first thing in the morning. Her and I will head out around 6am arrive at the hospital at 6:30 for check in and PAYMENT! Dr. P is scheduled to start the surgery at 8am. John will drop the other 3 off at a friends house at 7:30 and join me in the waiting room. He will stick around until she is coherant and we are debriefed by the Doc. He will then pick up the kids, go home and get some work done, receive a dinner cooked by another wonderful friend and then bring all the kids back to the hospital to see Avery. She should be released Friday morning. You can follow updates here or friend me on facebook where more updates will happen as well as pictures.

Avery isn't the only one

Avery won't be the only one going under the knife in August! I had a recheck for a breast lump with my general surgeon. He would feel better if it comes out. So out it will come at the end of August. Vacation first then Avery's surgery, recovery and then mine. The doc really doesn't think it is anything serious but he doesn't want to be at all wrong. I can respect that. And to think I just got done scheduling school Looks like we will miss a week or two in August. Maybe I just shouldn't even start till September! :(

Of warts, moles and surgery dates

I took two kids to the dermatologist yesterday. Ian had warts on his foot that I wanted taken care of and the ped wouldn't do it. Hannah has had a mole on the back of her neck forever and it was looking fugly. The derm was great. She gave Ian the option of freezing or beetle juice, he opted for immediate pain with little pain afterword and had them frozen. We go back in two weeks to have them checked. Hannah's mole appears to be nothing to be concerned about. We will have it rechecked in two months.

Avery's surgery has been scheduled for August 6. 8 am which means we will need to be at the hospital at 6:30. She will be released the next morning. I will stay the whole time with her (during the surgery though you might find me sneaking across the street for a starbucks, pager in hand of course) and spend the night as well. John and the others (minus Ian who will be living large with the grandparents) will come and visit during the day.

Avery will have surgery

Avery had her 6 month check at the orthopedic yesterday. The good news is that her bone tumor (benign) has moved off the growth plate making her available for surgery. Dr. P said "it's time". The plan is to schedule it sometime in August. The surgery itself will last about 1 1/2 hours, performed by Dr. P. Avery will stay overnight at the children's hospital for pain management and be released the following day. She will be in a knee immobilizer for two weeks while the incision heals. After that its back to normal. We are hoping once this one is removed the pain she has been experiencing over the last few weeks will cease and that her leg will stop compensating. We will keep you posted on when her surgery is scheduled.

Senioritis when you are the teacher??

That can't be good!  Here we are with 3 1/2 weeks left for the girls and about 2 weeks left for Ian.  The littles are in for the ride and doing bits here and there.  I just can't get motivated to finish this out.  I will order curriculum for next year next week but even that thought hasn't got me motivated.  I have a case of senioritis and I'm the teacher.  Egads!  Many other home school moms would say "well no one ever finishes the books in traditional school" but to me I have paid for 36 weeks of education.  I KNOW my kids get 52 weeks of education a year as they love to learn and read and explore but I just want to check off all the little boxes, yet I can't get out of my pjs!  So I proclaim today the get off your butt Traci day and do some school.  We did finish two read alouds yesterday.  Our family read aloud Swift Rivers, should be finished this week and we will move on to The Hobbit.  Over the summer during the extreme heat we will touch on some Language Arts that we missed and work on some writing of papers (our weakest subject).  Mapping skills will be worked on during vacation to Florida.  How to build a really big trash pile fire without getting burned will be a course study at the grandparents house.  Loving on Auntie and Uncle 101 will be a week long course as well.  Conversation with the Older Generations is an upper level course that will also take place with some fabulous teachers called Mimi and Papa.  How to be spoiled and love it will be taught by Papa and GrrGrr.  See educated 52 weeks a year :)