AWAY FOR THE DAY!!!

We have been trapped at home for over 2 months! Since Scott's pain has been so bad, other than the trips to the Dr. and to Mom and Dad's now and then, we just haven't left Holmes County. I am happy to report that on Saturday we went to a movie and out to eat!!! :) The kids and I even ran into a couple stores for a few new summer items! Felt so good to go away as a family. We saw the movie, "Imagine That". Good movie and then we ate at Red Lobster! Delicious as always.
We were back to the Dr. on Friday and got a good report. Scott will be starting 6 weeks of PT this next week. The Dr. said there is a lot of inflammation around the knee cap area. He felt it was from Scott's weakened muscle in the upper thigh, so PT will be concentrating on that area. He said if that is strengthened up, it should better support the knee cap and keep it from causing inflammation. Overall the pain has been reduced. Still using crutches for support, but the pain is probably 1/2 of what it was. Seems to be mostly in the area of the incisions, so we think even more of that will leave!!! :)

A BEATUIFUL DAY!

Scott's surgery revealed that he does not need knee replacement and shouldn't anytime soon! That was a plus, but the Dr. said he never would have believed it before he looked inside the knee. He found one area that was needing some "cleaning up" and did that. Now we wait and see how it goes. Overall, Scott's pain seemed a bit better until last evening. Some storms moved thru to the north of us and caused the pain to really escalate. So, we are really praying that the surgery did it's job and in the next couple of weeks we can see improvement.
On another note, our Sunday School class arrived early Saturday morning and proceeded to mulch all our flower beds, trimmed the trees, dug up an old tree and tore down an old swing set!!! So much done, in such a short amount of time. To thank them, I made desserts to the 8 families represented and delivered a lot of those last night. I could never have gotten so much done in one day as they did in just a couple hours!
Erica has now gotten her driver's license and is enjoying this new freedom. Bible school starts this week, so that will be a big help that she and Chris can come and go as needed instead of waiting on a ride! They are helping the in 4 and 5 year old classes!

SURGERY

After a bunch of frustrating weeks of running to different Dr.'s, we will finally have surgery for Scott on Wed. the 10th. The Dr. told us he is not sure if this will solve all of the pain issues, but he is willing to try. I put in a call to Scott's old ortho Dr. and he called today to let me know that he feels this is the best thing to try at this point. I had talked to so many different Dr.'s and had so many conflicting suggestions that I needed to hear from a Dr. that I have known and trusted over the past 9 years. He was very nice and said this Dr. is very good and that he will be in contact with him after the surgery to see what he discovered! Not sure of the time for surgery yet, but it will be on Wed. in Garfield Heights (CCF has space at Marymount hospital).

On another note, we have a new little kitten named, Chowder that has joined our flock of cats!!!! He appeared at Erica's boyfriends house on Friday and he delivered it to us! :) Cute as a button and lots of fun. Then on Sunday, I had to take one of our other cats, Kiki, to the vet! His ear was HUGE with ???? blood and he had a bad ear infection! He had minor surgery today and I pick him up tomorrow after I take Scott to the Dr. to check his BP and to my Dr. to get allergy shots!

FRUSTRATED!!!

Off to Cleveland we went on Thursday thinking we would get some answers and a date for surgery! Wrong answer......this Dr. found several issues with the knee from the tests, but he doesn't do surgery!!! So he called today and set us up with another Dr.! Wait till you hear this name.....Dr. Shickendantz! Yup, just like it sounds. I hope to be able to keep a straight face when we get to meet him on Tuesday. We will be going to the new Sports Medicine Facility that the Cleveland Clinic just recently opened on Transportation Blvd. Really praying that this Dr. will get the ball rolling. Scott is just hanging in there, but the pain is horrible, and using a walker all the time is NOT fun!
So to combat my frustrations today, I pressure washed the deck, mowed the lawn and got my one fountain up and running! Not too bad for getting groceries in the morning, and then spending time on the phone chasing Dr's.! We plan on just hanging out at home for the weekend. I did buy a bunch of extra munchies and thought I might invite a bunch of the family over to help pass the time. If anyone reads this, don't tell Scott, I would like to surprise him......maybe Sunday afternoon after the graduation ceremony.

ANSWERED PRAYERS!

Today we met with yet another new ortho Dr. The last one we were supposed to see kind of blew us off and said Scott didn't need surgery, but yet we had never even met him!!! His PA met with us and ordered PT which only added more pain to the huge amount he was already having. Anyway.......we went to see the new guy today.......not the joking type, very serious, but he had read Scott's file and found that in 2006, when he had his last MRI, there was a small tear in the meniscus. Nothing was done at that point, but that is definitely the area where all the pain is located at this point. He ordered an arthrogram and CT for next Thursday and then we will be meeting with him to discuss what is next. Most likely he will be having surgery to correct the problem. This is what I have been asking for over and over!!!! We are happy to hear this, but don't have a date set at this point. The pain is thru the roof today since the exam, but at least the weather is nice and Scott is sitting out on the deck. At this point, we will take it day by day and just send up the prayers of thanksgiving that someone finally listened to us!!!
Chris got a good check up yesterday and will be returning to school on Monday. His infection is gone and he is feeling better. Even got in a bit of skateboarding!!! Erica thinks that some rollergblading is in order with the nice weather, and I hear the lawn mower calling my name.
On another note, Chris's bedroom is getting a great paint job by George's Painting!!! So glad to get this done.

WHAT'S NEXT???

The crazy train has stopped at this house!!! Chris went on his 8th grade trip to D. C. last week. On Tuesday before he left, he was home and not feeling too good, but felt better by the morning and I dropped him off at the school around 6 a.m. I talked to him a couple times and he didn't sound like he was having fun. His wallet got stolen, and he felt horrible about that. Then on the way home, the girls bus broke down and they got home at 3:30 a.m., instead of 11:15 p.m.! When he got off the bus I thought he felt a little warm. When I looked at his face, I thought he must have fallen and scraped it! No Mom, it just keeps looking worse every day! So he slept for a while Saturday a.m. and then I took him to the Express Care. They thought he had shingles, but that just didn't seem to sound quite right. Did more research and ended up calling a neighbor who is a Dr. He too, felt it didn't sound quite like shingles, so Chris and I headed to the local ER! Turns out they thought it may be a staph infection! So we came home and started washing everything in sight, and used a LOT of Clorox wipes. I took him back to the family Dr. yesterday and she did a culture to try to determine exactly what it is. For now she is calling it a skin infection, but he is out of school for a few days until it looks better and appears to be healing. As for me, my workplace thought it best if I stay home until the result of the culture comes back, as we are VERY busy and they don't want to take a chance of me carrying in a germ and causing a bunch of people to be off. That's fine by me, as this week has a lot of appts.
Friday I am taking Scott to Cleveland again about his knee. Pain is so intense he is using a walker to get around. I am also looking at running to Akron to get the hitch and lift put on my vehicle in preparation for the arrival of Scott's power scooter. Friday morning, I also have a dentist appt. in Wooster before we head for Cleveland. Thursday the VA rep will be here for a visit!!! And Thursday afternoon, I take Chris back to the Dr. for a check up. Erica has piano tonight and I have allergy shots!
Been looking at some info about Virginia Beach. Would love to get away for a vacation this summer and thought that might be fun. If you have any thoughts on this, let me know!

Rain and Relaxing!

This has been an even crazier week for me than usual!!! Scott has 6 appts. this week, and then Erica had piano and an eye Dr. appt., Chris had guitar lessons and then he had to pack to head to D.C. for a couple days with the 8th graders!!! What fun! We had a bit of a ruckous here last night as we lost power for around 3 hours. I ended up putting burgers and asparagus on the grill! Delicious! But then I had to wash a last minute load of clothes for the traveler around 8 pm!!! I guess a semi hit a pole in town and they had to shut power off in order to fix things. Glad it wasn't off overnight!!!
So tonight I am trying to catch up on e-mails, update my blog and just kick back. Really need to work on my book, as I have hit a roadblock and need to get it in gear. Any suggestions!!?? :) I got off to such a roaring start, but then hit a mental block, then it seemed life just got in the way. Oh well, I still have hopes to get it finished this year!
Scott had a biopsy on his stomach yesterday. He had a scope to look for an ulcer, but no sign of one was found. Then the Dr. checked his stomach and it was very red and inflammed. So he did the biopsy and if that doesn't show any problem, he wants to check out the gall bladder.