1-15-11

Well, we have been busy! We started out the week with two snow days! Yeah for snow days, they are Quinn’s first official snow days, and she seemed to be ok with staying home. Monday we did a lot of cleaning. It seems like my house shows my mood, or even dictates what my mood will be. When it’s a mess, I’m a bit of a mess, and when it’s clean, I’m light and feeling free. Well, after listening to the Little Mermaid for at least 8 times, Quinn was ready to listen to blues music instead. On Tuesday we hung out and slept in, then it was off to therapy. We braved the cold weather to go walk around the mall, and we picked up some fancy red shoes for Quinn, and a dressy dress for me, and so we are ready for Febrary 5th, and John gets his measurement for his 1st tux ever, in a week or so. I was happy to find a couple choices and something that I think I’ll feel ok in, as I’m not a huge fan of getting dressed up in the first place. After some shopping and a nice walk in a warm mall, we headed to therapy. We met Kurt there, along with Suzanne and Chrissy. We ordered some new devices to help Quinn be even more successful. We got a new walker that is bigger, as Quinn is now 32 lbs, and 35 inches long. We got her wheelchair adjusted and she sits so much better now. We ordered a bath / potty chair so she can go potty easier then having us hold her on the potty, as she likes to sit there for a good 5 minutes before she can relax enough to go. We also got a brace for her neck, to help her hold it up while she is walking or really focusing on something, so she can really focus on that. Her neck is getting so much stronger, so we won’t wear it all the time, just once in awhile. So that was a big meeting, where we really got a lot accomplished. Now Suzanne has a big job ahead of her, because as a Physical Therapist, she has to fill out all the paperwork to turn into insurance, to share why we need this equipment. So thanks Suzanne!

Quinn made it to school on Thursday with another new substitute nurse, who I think will do fine with Quinn. Quinn has a cold again, and is full of snot, and is doing lots of coughing, but at school, she is keeping them on their toes, but they are taking good care of her.

Thursday’s therapy was interesting, as we had our first day of taping of our story. Ironically Quinn was asleep when she got to therapy, and it took a good 10 to 15 minutes to wake her up. After finally waking up, she decided to start coughing for another good 5 to 10 minutes, exciting stuff to be taped. Finally she got herself put together and did some good work with Diane and Suzanne. They we did some taping of me telling our story. I don’t know what my issue was, as I had not really had a lot of time to figure out what I wanted to say, as I had just gotten the questions a few minutes before the taping. Well, after an hour and a half, we might have gotten 5 minutes of usable tape, it seems like the rest was me trying to get myself under control. I am so thankful for Quinn, and she is doing pretty good, but when I really reflex on our struggles, at times I have a very hard time. Having two guys who were so kind and understanding almost made it harder. If they would be a bit meaner, and not be so understanding, maybe I could have done better, but instead they were so understanding and caring, that I was just a mess. So Sunday they are filming the grandparents and Quinn’s cousin Kaleb, while on Monday, they are filming Chrissy and Amelia. So I have two more shots at getting my words out. They even gave me homework to get my words ready and after last night and tonight, I have 8 pages of our story. The more I think about it, I have so much more I could add, but our story should be about 5 minutes to fit into the presentation, but I don’t know if I can take anything else out of our story, so we will see what we get.

I think reflecting on our story helps me accept everything and grow and heal every time I go through it, and that is a good thing. So getting past the tears, it’s good to talk.

Friday she was back at Chrissy’s, because it was a teacher workday, and Quinn was surprised to see Casey show up, and got the biggest smile on her face. When Quinn was in her walker, she was not all that interested in walking unless Casey was helping her, past that, she did not want to go anywhere, she just wanted to stay there to see what was going on. The day before she did walk 45 feet with Chrissy’s help! Yeah for Chrissy and Quinn!

So here is to a morning of cleaning, while Quinn and John sleep. So we can be ready to go tomorrow when everyone shows up to do some filming! I better get in a couple more workouts, to get my body and mind ready for this. Gotta clean first however!

Blessings,
Susan