Hospitals, Hospitals, Everywhere!

Thank goodness we're only visiting...

We haven't seen the inside of a hospital in many years, and suddenly, in the past four months, we have had three major incidents. They come in threes right? So we've had our quota for the year! Bill, bless his heart, has put in the most hours. And I have to say, he has a gentle bedside manner that is so unexpected, reassuring and disarming. I think he missed his calling.

The first incident happened with Bill's aunt in September, which I've already written about. The second happened the day before school started back after the holidays. Brendan broke his wrist, which I've already mentioned, too. Just yesterday, he finally got his camoflage fiberglass cast, which is all he wanted out of this ordeal. He thinks it is WAY cool. But it is extremely rough. We wrapped a blanket around it last night so he wouldn't accidently rub off half of his face if he brushed past it.

The last incident was with Bill's dad who was told that he could take his time and pick the best date to have a heart valve replaced...oh and by the way, one artery was pretty blocked, so while they were in there, they'd do a bypass. All of this is hopefully pre-empting worse heart complications as he gets older and will improve his quality of life. So he checked in at 5 AM on Tuesday morning, with Bill and his mom in tow, and spent eight hours on the table with his chest wide open and his heart not beating. But believe it or not, today they removed all of the tubes, except his IV and had him up and walking so that he can go home in the next few days! And I thought they kicked you out of the hosital too fast after child birth!

Dad has improved by leaps and bounds over the past two days. Hopefully, he will continue to heal at that pace. He still can use all the prayers and well-wishes you care to send his way. And while you're praying, pray that Bill stays out of hospitals from now on, as a visitor or a patient. His poor heart has had enough, too.

Skateboard vs. Ripstick

I'm back! I took the whole month of December off, and didn't do much writing at all. But as with every resolutions, I'll start off strong and see how long it lasts.

Brendan got this cool new contraption for Christmas, which I recommended, from his aunts. It has two caster wheels on the bottom. And since it looked so dangerous, we made him put on all his safety gear.

He took to it like a fish to water. He has the technique down within a hour. I couldn't believe it, but was still very cautious.

Then, after the new year and our trip to Florida, Brendan wanted to ride his old skateboard. He took it down to the basketball court, the one with the smooth surface, without his gear, hit a rock an broke his wrist when he fell off! He says he wasn't even doing any tricks!

So we spent Sunday at an Urgent Care getting X-rays and a splint. He's been so brave, working through the pain I think because he feels guilty that he hadn't worn his gear, like we always ask him to. He got extremely confident on the ripstick and the skateboard felt totally different.

So here's my warning to you - no matter how much they complain, make them wear their gear! It's kinda cool that Brendan has this badge of courage - every kid should break a bone, but it could have been prevented.