She's been getting along better on her crutches. The school has a wheelchair that they are happily allowing her to use. Which is a good thing, because being on crutches all day would tank! Except, the wheelchair needed to see the inside of Daddy's shop on Tuesday evening because (we joked) it had been in an accident. Hey, the humor HAS to keep coming otherwise we'd hang ourselves! So, a little bit of screwdriver-ing here, some banging, a little bit of jumping on it there, and we're all set!
Thursday the UPS man showed up with a lovely package for Rachel. The Mischlers, Rachel's 4-H project leader(s) for fiber arts, sent 'get well' flowers. How sweet.
Included are also some belated birthday photos. On Monday, we went down to Wichita, and drug our broken legged daughter to the movie theater. It's always amazing how (seemingly) little things can really change the way one does things! But, all in all it was a very good time. I am normally not a fan of 3-D movies, but Beauty and the Beast (even though we've all seen it a million times) was really REALLY good in 3-D. Drew will deny it, but he was sitting on my lap and literally jumped at one particular point. I chide him about it.
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| And yes, if you must know, it's wrapped in a bag. We bought several small knitting looms for her and given the fact she's immobile, it was the perfect gift to pass the time. We gave it to her on Sat. figuring, why wait? So it did not get wrapped. Tacky? I don't care! |
Thursday I got a call at home half way through the day saying that Rachel's cast was bothering the back of her leg. Before they put the fiberglass wrap on, a cotton mesh sock goes on, then gauze. The gauze is folded over the wrap at the top and bottom and then more wrap is applied. The gauze and netting makes the top and bottom plush. On occasion, the fiberglass wrap is applied too high and there isn't enough gauze and netting to fold over. Such is the case on the back of her leg. So, down to school I went to apply some moleskin to the back so it wasn't slicing into her skin. I thought surely this had to be the end of chasing and we can get back to life as we know it with a broken leg! By the way, I went down to take care of her leg at 1:30, if I had had the time to just sit down there until the end of the day I would have. But I don't! I am already taking Jeremiah to work too and so my day is literally starting about 2 hours late and I am loosing another hour and a half in the evening! More on that later...
Negative on being the end of it all. Yesterday (Friday), I was working away and the phone rang. I am beginning to dread that dang phone! It's the school's secretary/part-time nurse/part-time cashier (a woman with many hats). Rachel fell in class and her leg was hurting. "Awwwww crap!", I think. I talked to crying Rachel. I calm her down and she wants me to come. What other choice do I have? THIS is the exact reason I do not work outside of the home and it's beginning to look like, until the kids are married, that I will not ever! SOMEONE has to be their for the babies. So, back down to school I went. Apparently she had decided (which was actually my idea) to try the crutches for a while instead of the chair and she was getting ready to sit down in her class chair when she either hit it with a crutch or it (somehow) moved away from her and she sat down on the ground. I really don't think it's as bad as it sounded over the phone and I am sure it scared her and her medication was late in getting to her yesterday so who knows. She probably added another year on to that cast's wearing life! UGH.
I pulled Andrew out of school early at 2 and we all just headed home. After everyone was situated, I fell onto the couch and napped. If you know me, naps are few and far between. I just won't take them. But if my nap yesterday was any indication of how my week went, that should say a lot! I was not about to turn right back around and have to lift Rachel in and out of the car just so he didn't have to come home early. I was ready for that week to be over.
Oh, you're wondering how my day goes now? Well, let's see...because the big truck is a diesel, cold temperatures mean things work a little differently. First off, the truck has a heater, it gets plugged in. We forgot to do this Monday evening so it refused to start on Tuesday morning. Jeremiah was supposed to drop the kids off at school but at the last minute I had to throw on clothes and get Rachel settled and explain to half a million people the issue, fill out medication releases so the school can administer it, blah blah blah blah. However, there's the issue of getting her up and dressed and all of that!
Wake up: Wake up isn't much different. She is able to get up to standing on her own and usually uses the crutches to get down the hall either to the kitchen table or living room where she eats and gets dressed. Her toothbrush is brought to her and she pretty much does everything from the couch.
Getting her dressed: What does she wear? Well, I've taken to cutting a leg off thick knit tights and putting her in a dress. She has a pair of pants that would probably fall off her waist if they weren't held up by her cast and a pair of PJ pants that work well too. One must get creative! The weather has been so darned cold that it's been difficult to figure wardrobe out!
Getting to the car (AKA The Explorer): She
Back to the truck. Wednesday, the day of Rachel's orthopedist appointment, the truck started just fine but then quit after idling to warm up after about 5 minutes. Jeremiah can't get it re-started and we figure it's the biodiesel freezing. Biodiesel is good to about 20 degrees and we didn't think to mix it with regular fuel given the fact we had about a million other things on our mind and the previous weeks temps had hovered around freezing over night. Well above 20 anyway! It was probably 3 degrees out Wednesday morning so at the last minute again we all piled into the car, we dropped Drew at the front door and made it to work by the skin of our teeth! I got home, rushed out to do chores, hurried up, got a shower and Rachel and I headed out the door for her dr.'s appointment. We didn't get out of there until noon, ate a quick lunch and I dropped her back off at school. I came home, did 'house' chores (dishes, laundry, picking up, stoking fire) because I hadn't had time before. And then before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kids and Jeremiah...again!
We thought perhaps the fuel filter needed to be changed on the truck, as is often the case when you run 'bio'. The fuel filter does need to be changed more often so we picked up a new one on the way home and some regular diesel to 'cut' the bio enough to get it started and running down the road. Thursday morning, it's the same issue and he really had planned to take them that day so it was late. Back into regular clothes quick and in a hurry I go and out the door we zoom! I was really hating life at that moment.
Friday morning, against my wishes, Jeremiah said if he got it started, he will just leave. He thought that it was just so cold the fuel was freezing in the lines while it idled, which is perfectly understandable. It is cooking oil after all. But, I had said I already planned to take everyone, I was ready that day and me having to go was not coming as a surprise. I told him if he so chose to take the truck and it breaks down between here and the school, DO NOT CALL ME, Call AAA, DO NOT LET ME COME HOME TO FIND YOU HERE, PARK THE TRUCK WHERE I CANNOT SEE IT and let me go about my day blissfully unaware and while you're at it, find a way to get that truck home with YOU behind the wheel. I don't care if it's towed here or what, I DO NOT want to know about it! Capeesh? Capeesh. So, as it was, it drove fine, the fuel was probably freezing. We do have an injector going bad and it will need to be replaced but the source of the issue was this darn cold and the fuel. The problem has been solved by further 'cutting' the bio with regular fuel. I won't say lesson learned, we had other issues come up preventing us from doing what we knew needed done.
So, there's my week folks. Sounds like fun right?
The orthopedist wanted to see us back in 2 weeks where they will cut the cast off and re-x-ray it. He thinks it might be healed. Silly dr. didn't take in to consideration my daughter was going to fall though! I've got half a mind to call him and tell him to give it another week. That sounds awfully quick doesn't it? Yeah, I kinda thought so too but he's the dr. so whatever. 2 1/2 weeks of immobilization is good for me...we'll see!
I was more than ready for the weekend to start to say the least! If nothing else it means a short reprieve from having to do all the lifting and driving! However, one should always be careful what they wish for because...well, for one, it could always be worse (que broken leg) for two, next week may be even worse as I won't have the weekend to look forward to extra help because extra help won't be here! Jeremiah is scheduled to take some students to Mo. for a welding competition...leaving me here...alone. As usual, I am queuing Scarlet O'hara, as I so often do, and, "I'll thank about that tomorrow." One day at a time.
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