What a great day we had today. To start with the end of our day, here are a couple pictures from Maria's Christmas Concert tonight. The kids in the choir all had to wear black pants or skirts, black shoes, and white shirts. This sent all the moms, me included, scrambling to borrow the appropriate attire for the evening. So, first I sent Maria over to Regina's to borrow some clothes from her girls. Then I was able to borrow shoes from a friend's daughter. In the end, she looked quite nice and I didn't have to spend any money on dressy clothes that she'll never wear again, except maybe for the next concert. Not only did the kids look nice, but they sang well too.
Earlier today I took Jon Felipe to Sioux Falls for a doctor appointment. At our last appointment at Sanford Children's, I expressed some concern that
JF's gait wasn't as "smooth" as it used to be, so Dr. B referred us to Dr. Johnson, a
physiatrist (also called a rehabilitation physician). I am still amazed at how this visit went. Dr. Johnson had read all the notes from Dr. B ahead of time and had assembled a team of specialists based on the concern areas. These people had also all read the notes ahead of time. Then they all worked together to develop the best plan for Jon Felipe. When I told the team that
JF was a little overwhelmed at having so many people in the room at the same time, some stepped out for awhile until he felt more comfortable.
So the final determination was that Jon Felipe is in a growth spurt (we already knew that) and that the good leg is growing faster than the bad leg. Hopefully this will all work itself out eventually, but in the mean time we need to deal with the difference in leg length. He needs a new brace, and was casted for that right there during our appointment. He also was fitted with special shoes, which immediately improved his walking, even with his old brace. He was able to wear those home. A small lift will be added to the brace, although if that doesn't work well for him then it can be added to the shoe instead. I was also taught how to do some stretches with him which should help with some of the
spasticity in his muscles.
I loved listening to the interactions between the specialists as they each approached the problem from a different angle and worked together to develop the best plan. Jon Felipe's favorite part was when one of the doctors told him (Jon Felipe) that he is going to be tall.
JF's goal is to be taller than all his brothers and he checks daily to see if he has grown any taller, so this was good news to him. Can you believe how well orchestrated this all was? As a veteran of many many doctor visits, this was just amazing to me.
Then to cap it off, I came back to Sioux Center and met my dear husband for our Tuesday coffee date. When I got there, he was outside helping someone with car trouble. (It is bitter cold here!) When we got in, we found that our coffee drinks were "on the house" and even included a piece of dessert! That was so nice. It may be bitter cold here, but there are good things happening out here in northwest Iowa. How was your day? I hope it was as good as mine.
I put a note on Facebook just before Thanksgiving that I was thankful for my husband who went to all three grocery stores in Sioux Center looking for rutabagas for me so we could have them with our Thanksgiving dinner. Many people commented that they have never eaten rutabaga so we took pictures so you can all see what you are missing. My grandmother always served mashed rutabaga with holiday meals, a tradition continued by my parents. For some reason, my grandmother always called them turnips. My own kids called them orange potatoes when they were little.
