February is over and I don't even remember all of it...where did the month go? It's all in a month's work....and wow did this month go fast! I knew it would, but some of the events of this month came as a surprise, and some had been planned since last year..... Let's reflect back and see if I can make some sense of what made this month seem like a blur:
The events:
Carleigh gets braces
Katie gets braces
Carleigh gets 4 teeth pulled
Don passes out, transported in an ambulance, then hospitalized
70 degree weather, then freak snow day
Talent Show
Basketball playoffs
The details of the events:
Luckily I thrive on being busy and enjoy trying to multitask, but I could have done without some of the excitement of this past month.
The month started with Katie recovering from having her two teeth pulled. They were huge!!! Her 6 year molars on the top were coming in very crooked and also unhealthy, so the best bet was to remove them and make room for the rest of her giant teeth to come in.
Next...
Carleigh gets her "big girl" braces. Carleigh has been in orthodontics since July after Kindergarten. She has had expanders, about 6 different retainers, a set of "little girl" braces for about 8 months, and now..... Finally, she gets her final set of braces - she will wear them for the next 27 months and then enter into 8th grade with a beautiful mouth and no orthodontics (we hope).
A week later...
Katie gets her "little girl" braces. Upon removal of the teeth, it was time to start to work on straightening the top teeth to make room for the rest to come in. She will be in braces for about 8 months and then a retainer until it is time for her to get "big girl" braces.
A week later....
Carleigh's turn to get 4 teeth pulled. The orthodontist has been trying for a year to move her top teeth with retainers and make room for her last two teeth to drop down...no luck. So, easiest answer? Take out the four pre-molars and make room. Ironically, the teeth that Carleigh got pulled are the same 4 permanent teeth that I had pulled in 7th grade before I got my braces. She's my little mini-me. Her IV anesthesia experience was not as much fun as Katie's. Carleigh agreed that being "drugged" was not very fun, and she had a hard time waking up from the surgery. We finally got her home, and she rested and recovered well. The tooth fairy came through and she received the same as Katie for a total of $20.
2 days later....
Don decides to turn the world upside down for a few days. He had bronchitis, got tested for pneumonia (was negative) and was coughing a WHOLE lot. While he as coughing, he couldn't get enough air in and suffered from "cough syncope" ...passing out from coughing too hard. It had happened at home and there was a nice soft carpet, or a bed and he always recovered quickly with no side effects.
This time...not so much..a classroom, a coughing spell, a fall to the ground, a big bump on the head, a class full of fourth graders and an RN in the clinic...equals - when Don goes down, this time he goes to the emergency room!
Upon reaching the emergency room, a head injury means CT scans and lots of tests, then they asked about the cough. As his blood pressure came down, and they started sharing some of the results...an abnormal CT scan with an unknown "artifact." - could have been there since birth, but have to check it out. So....the facility we were at didn't have the resources to read the scans and make decisions. Time to transport him. He was a "fall risk," and must be transported by ambulance to the much larger, teaching hospital - Fairfax Hospital - over an hour away in rush hour traffic. Off we went, I followed the ambulance and we were off. We reached Fairfax ER and more tests and analyzing of the results from the first ER. Definitely an artifact that needs to be looked at further, he is now admitted for overnight observation and more tests and another CT scan in the morning. I finally make it home at about midnight - only leaving after being reassured that it was probably nothing and my husband would still be there in the morning when I returned. He was admitted to the Neurological Ward...very scary/interesting floor of the hospital. He was a "fall risk and not allowed out of bed. Nope...not even to go to the bathroom...he wasn't thrilled about that. These were the signs that adorned his room door and wall by his bed:
He's not done yet - about two weeks after his fall and he has one more Dr's appt - has been cleared to drive, has had a follow up MRI, EEG and a few other letters. Luckily, insurance seems to be cooperating and no big hospital bills have showed up....yet!
I realized through this adventure, how LUCKY I am to have such a great family and group of friends around me. My parents met us at the first ER and took the girls home to have a normal evening. My sister drove - after work - in rush hour - to our house in Purcellville, got things for Don and then drove the next hour to the 2nd ER to sit with me and be there to keep me calm until Don was admitted. The next day friends were more than willing to take the girls after school and drive them to their activities and keep them indefinitely - feed them dinner and entertain them until Don and I got back from the hospital. Another teacher at school stepped up to take over the practice that I had scheduled for afterschool (on a Friday). We had meals provided for us, so that we wouldn't have to deal with trying to cook for two days. I truly felt so lucky to be surrounded by all of these caring people. I only hope that I am able to repay the generosity and thoughtfulness that I was surrounded with during those crazy 3 days.
Two days later....
During that crazy adventure, Don totally missed the beautiful 70 degree and sunny weather that we had for 2 days. Luckily he didn't miss the craziness that Mother Nature threw at us two days later when she decided to forecast 4-8 inches of snow. That accumulation didn't materialize, but we did get enough to cancel school.
Three days later....
The Mountain View Talent Show - 3 months of planning, 40 student acts, 70 students ranging in age from 6 - 11 years old, 3 awesome adult co-hosts, a huge multi-purpose room with standing room only (about 600 in attendance) and a clock that read 2 hours and 45 minutes from start to finish.....
I was in charge of this event with a team of volunteer moms and dads, and teachers. What a great night, but wow...a lot of work. You may think - elementary school talent and almost three hours - where's the gun? It could have turned out that way if not for the 3 teacher co-hosts including my dear husband, Mr. Rahn. Yep, less than a week after being hospitalized...he is up on stage co-hosting the school talent show. The PG adult humor supplied by the hosts in skits and jokes between acts kept the audience from rioting and leaving before the end.
Carleigh has been performing in the school talent show since Kindergarten and Katie made her first appearance as a "future Mountain View Moose" when she was 4. Both girls did solo acts this year - Carleigh...her last as a fifth grader heading to Middle School - did a dance choreographed by my sister, Patty. Katie - as a third grader - sang a song - Wishes - from the Magic Kingdom fireworks show in Disney World.
The evening was a huge success and a great big sigh of relief was said by all as we fell into bed that night. Would I do it again...you betcha!!! Will Don do it again? Absolutely not. He is officially retired as a MTV Talent Show Co-host. The next MTV Talent Show is tentatively scheduled for February, 2013. Wanna come? :)
The next day....
Basketball playoffs start for both girls....
Katie had a great season and ended the season after losing her first playoff game. She was disappointed, but is looking forward to next year and improving and learning some more.
Carleigh's team won their first game, and advanced to the semi-finals. They won that game - which was a huge win, as they were definitely the underdog. They advanced to the championship game - with a season of 4 wins, 6 losses. The final game was crazy!! Both teams played incredible basketball and ended up tied at the final buzzer. After a 2 minute overtime, the game was still tied, then on to sudden death.....both teams attempt to score and a final foul shot is scored by the other team to end the game. Carleigh was upset, but also knows she should be very proud of how her team and how she (individually) played. She's looking forward to trying out for a travel team and again playing with her friends.
It was a busy month, but we survived. Now, please let us have a peaceful March and time to rest and recuperate from the craziness of February. And again, many thanks to all of our friends and family who were there to help us out during the various adventures of February!! We appreciated all of your kind words and thoughts as we made it through the month.
And now, it's March!
March means spring, relaxing, normal 5 day weeks and looking ahead to summer!!
Looking ahead to summer means VACATIONS!
Vacations mean planning.....and...
....that is what I am going to be doing for the next 3 months as we look ahead to our summer adventures!!
Stay tuned for the latest in the Rahn adventures and YES, I THINK we are heading back to Disney World after all this summer!! Details to follow.....
