Corn On the Cob, A Therapy Wedge and Some Thoughts

So. It's been nearly a week since our appointment. Breathing room. Thinking room. Nail-biting room.

Richard and I are 90% sure that we will make the SDR (spine) surgery appointment within the next few weeks. In fact, I think I will email the surgeon's office tomorrow and see what his January schedule looks like (because if *I* were a neurosurgeon living in Canada, I'd take winter off to soak up some Hawaiian sun rays...). We are thinking that January might be a good time.

All of this is quite dependent on what her hip x-rays show in 2 weeks. If there has been no change in the past year, then we probably have more time to play with. If her right hip has become even more dislocated, but not to the point of warranting hip surgery, then we're under more of a time crunch with the SDR, because we'd want the spine surgery before too much damage is done to the hip. If the x-rays show really bad dislocation, we may have to go back to the drawing board and consider hip surgery BEFORE (and, perhaps instead of) the SDR.

The bottom line is that we're really hoping and praying that her hip x-rays look "good for Ellie" in a couple of weeks. Pray for that.

My heart is doing okay. It palpitates at times. It beats happily at other times. It's all so scary. I feel so excited about the possibilities, but terrified of the means. I work hard at avoiding the slippery slope that is the "what if...?" game. We're just trying our best to make the right decisions and trust that God is guiding us in the right direction. I throw my weary arms to heaven in submission, because I can't walk this scary road on my own.

It's helped that this week has been SO. BUSY. Work is kicking my butt and it's actually quite comforting to think about non-Ellie stuff for 8 hours each day.

And my sweet baby started preschool last week! She did fabulously. Ellie has a one-on-one aide, which is awesome. There's also Play-Doh, a Thomas train and singing. Needless to say, the girl is lovin' it!

THANK YOU for your love and prayers and for listening to my wonky rambling! I hope that I'm returning the love, whether by thought, blog-commenting, emailing, phoning or face-to-face contact. I have found myself to be ridiculously self-absorbed these past few weeks and for that, I apologize.

So, to start off a new week, I leave you with a few pics of Ellie eating her first corn on and cob and having some therapy fun on the "wedge" (working on her balance and trunk strength). Kisses to you all!