Wednesday, June 20, 2007

I've had some visitors the last few days. Since I've been home from the hospital, I've already seen all my nurses: Nicole, Sandy, Diane and Caroline. It was so good to see them again. The nurses at Cardinal Glennon are very nice, but it's just not the same as my "home" nurses!

My friend Eileen came to visit me on Sunday. She was the Sunday School teacher for third and fourth grade, so she brought the lesson to me. It was so nice to have her here, and she says she'll be back every other week with the lesson.

I've also seen my physical therapist (Jan), my speech therapist (Kathy) and my teacher (Paula). They're all trying to get me back into "summer school" mode. I'm not sure who my new occupational therapist will be since OT Sherri is going back and forth to the hospital every day to see her new babies at St. John's.

Now, here's the best part of the week: My Uncle Kevin was here from California! Not only did I get to see him, but he also came to see Grandma to wish her a happy birthday in person, and he was helping Grandma and Grandpa clean the garage. (Mom says that is NOT a fun job.) Ian spent the night at Grandma's house each night Uncle Kevin was here, but I stayed home with Mom. (He came to see me during the day, though!)

Aunt Jenny, Cousin Addison and Uncle Ryan (from Mississippi) will be here for Mom's birthday (firecracker day). Mom said that Grandma Powers, Uncle Don, Aunt Marie and Cousin Asher will be coming to visit me soon, too. They might all be here at the same time. Wow! This is going to be a great summer!

If YOU want to come visit me, just let Mom and Dad know. They'll make sure you don't come on the day of a doctor's appointment. Every now and then those things pop up on my busy social calendar! :)

I've had some really good days since I got home Friday night, and I've only had one episode that required the ambu-bag (and that one only needed a couple of "puffs"). We're all glad about that. It's good to breathe, you know? Take a deep breath and see how good that feels to fill up your lungs. We take that for granted, don't we? So not only should we stop to smell the roses every now and then, I guess we should also stop to take a deep breath, too, and just thank God that we're alive!

My mom talked to my former teacher, Kelly, yesterday. (She's the one who fell off the balcony and broke her back a couple of weeks ago.) She has been moved to a rehab center in St. Louis. I'm so worried about her. She was such a great teacher, and I loved going to school to see her. She really made me work hard and she taught me so much! (She even put me in time out a couple of times when I was being stubborn. She sent home a note to Mom and Dad to tell them I wasn't cooperating one day. I know that sounds kind of mean, but I deserved it because she knew I could do the work, I was just being stubborn.)

After I had my tracheostomy last summer, I had to have school at home instead of going to Roosevelt. So I didn't get to ride on the bus with my friend Joe, and I didn't get to see Miss Kelly at school or my other friends all last year (but I didn't end up getting all the sicknesses everyone else got last year, so that's good!).

Miss Kelly is being very optimistic and says that when the swelling in her back goes down, she hopes to regain use of her legs. She has some feeling and some tingling, but her toes are still numb. She has two rods and seven pins in her back. Everybody, please say prayers for her!

Well, it's 9 p.m. and I should be asleep now. Good night, everyone!