Sara's Foot

This is what Sara's leg and foot look like 4 weeks after surgery. The picture is a little blurry because it is from my phone, but you can see the pins on the right side and the dark black lines are dried blood from the incisions.

I know this looks a little gory, but her foot actually looks normal. I wish I had taken a picture of her foot before surgery so that everyone else could see the difference.

She is now in a short-leg cast that is black with a pink spiral stripe going down to her toes like a candy cane. It will still be a couple of days before she can walk by herself because her leg muscles are weak and she is unsure of her abilities. She is progressing great and amazes me every day at how well she is recovering.


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Darrel only has three weeks left to work before he starts school and he is oh so ready for that day to come.

I just received my temporary OT license and I have a tentative start date of September 14th. I am so excited about my new job and being able to apply all that I have learned so that I can help other people!

Sara's Surgery

Sara's surgery was last Thursday at Scottish Rite in Atlanta. She wasn't too happy to be there because we had prepared her for what she would experience, but the nursing and staff did an excellent job in making her feel happy. When they brought her to her room for pre-op they gave her a medication that made her loopy. And boy was she ever that!! She even told her surgeon that he was in the way of her tv when he came in to answer any last minute questions;))

She was a trooper! We weren't able to walk back to the OR with her, but she went on a Dora the Explorer hunt to find her room and did not fuss.

When she came out of surgery she was a little sick, but energetic and kept us laughing.

She has been home since Sunday afternoon and has been off her pain medication since Monday night. She can maneuver a wheelchair like a professional. She has also learned how to scoot on the floor and transfer from the couch to the wheelchair with minimal assistance.

Sara begins Pre-K at her new school on Tuesday Aug 18th. She is very excited and is ready to meet her new teacher. They only attend school until 12 noon and then she will be with the other 4 year olds in the child care center until Darrel or I can pick her up.

Darrel also received his school schedule for the Fall quarter and is pleased as he will be at University Hospital for all of his classes and furthermore doesn't start until 1pm on Mondays.

I have a job awaiting my license through the state of Georgia. It will be a wonderful change to be able to get paid for work.

Boy how time flies??

I never thought I would spend an entire month without once blogging!

I have less than 2 days remaining in my clinical rotations and already have a job lined up.

As you all know Darrel has been formally accepted into the Cardiovascular Technology program at Augusta Tech this fall.

And more importantly, Sara will be having her surgery next Thursday at Scottish Rite in Atlanta. She is not exactly thrilled with this notion, but I think she'll enjoy the time she has to play and people doing for her. Our neighbors are fabulous and have already offered to help in any way while we're at the hospital and when she gets home.

I'll post pics of our beach trip as soon as I get my camera back since I left it with my mother-in-law this past weekend.

It has been confirmed...

Darrel has been accepted into Augusta Technical College's Cardiovascular technology program and will be a full time student this fall!!!

Congratulations Darrel!! We are all so proud of you!!!

A day in the life...

This past Saturday I purchased Sara a pair of flip flops with Tinkerbell on them. And she had to show everyone what was on her shoes (who wouldn't right?) During this outing we also stopped by the local feed store and picked up some treats for our cow friends When it cooled off we took Sara over to the cows and let her share the treats we had purchased. The cows were literally coming through the fence to get the food Sara had. Some how or another the cows ended up with Sara's new shoes on the other side of the fence. And boy was she ever upset! She kept yelling "that's mine...you can't wear them....give it back!!!" It was precious.

Darrel still has not heard any definitive news about his cardiovascular tech program and we were supposed to know something almost a month ago. But he is still having fun feeding the fish and watching the birds come in in the evening.

I am beginning my 7th week of my last clinical rotation. To pass your midterm one needs to make a 90 or above on the evaluation and to pass the final one needs to make 122 or higher. I was fortunate enough to make 122 on my midterm and can breeze through the remainder of my rotation knowing that I will pass. I love what I am doing and hope to find a job soon. I have also been afforded the opportunity to observe in orthopedic surgery tomorrow morning. I am excited to witness the surgical procedures that my patients are recovering from.

We are really enjoying our new ward. It's tiny and full of interesting people. Our bishop came over last week and spent some time just getting to know us. We really miss our friends in the Augusta ward though;(

Other than this, nothing exciting has been happening with us. Maybe we'll have better news for our next posting!!

Pics from my new camera

So as you can see, my daughter is a photo ham! With my graduation gifts I was able to purchase a fairly decent digital camera. I thought it would be a great gift to share with my family and capture memories. I am very excited to be able to do this and finally share on the web.

So much to say in so little time

It has been very busy around here since the last post. We did not have a telephone connection for two weeks therefore we could not use the internet. We were able to spend the long weekend together with both sets of parents and had a very nice time.

Darrel and Sara have become great fishing buddies. She even used money out of her own bank to purchase the crickets for their most recent fishing expedition. Darrel has also learned much about raising cattle. Sara was introduced to her first calf last week and was able to watch when they tagged it's ear. Our neighbors used Darrel as a 'cutting horse' and were able to pin the baby bull down long enough to tag it's ear. Other cows are due to give birth any day now and Sara is really excited. Almost every evening Sara gets to take some food over to her friends, the cows, and that is her favorite part of the day.

Recently she has decided that she has to have another school to go to because she is tired of the drive to and from her current school. So I have been able to find her a spot close by for Pre-K this fall, but we have not been as successful to move her at her convenience. However, this new school has the best playground and Sara always wants to go out and play when she sees it.

I am at the hand clinic at the Army Hospital in Augusta. I have been learning treatment techniques this past week and will have another week learning the machines before I go back to evaluations. I really like being around adults during the day instead of being surrounded by children.

Darrel is still waiting for an acceptance letter. As of last week nothing has been done in the school and they are now going to use email as their form of communication to the eligible students. We were supposed to know by the end of the month but I guess they missed their own deadline.

Other than that there really hasn't been too much to blog about. We are really enjoying our new house and our neighbors. And being closer to family doesn't hurt too much either;)