Tessa Jean's Operation

Finally, Friday!

Finally, the weekend! Not much new to report; Tessa had a good day at aquatherapy today, still basking in the glory of our triumphant St. Louis trip. Uncle Cody is back for the weekend for the first time in 2 weeks, and we're all very glad to see him again.

Here are some miscellaneous pics from earlier in the week:

Tessa at the Lewis and Clark museum with antique quilt

Hey, Jude!

Spidey and friend

"I suppose you think since I'm a Rubberhead, I'm going to throw fish!"

Flower child

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• Daily Movie Quote:
"I got a question. If you guys know so much about women, how come you're here at like the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?"
"By choice, man."

-- Yesterday's answer: "Animal House" (1978)

<"Click here for sound clip">

Congratulations to Grampa Smith, who even without computer access was able to get the correct answer and the no-prize! (He also gets belated credit for the April 10th DMQ: "Red River") Uncle Tom also with the right guess today. Nice job fellas!

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:
"When I had you to myself
I didn’t want you around
Those pretty faces always made you
Stand out in a crowd
Then someone picked you from the bunch
One glance was all it took
Now it’s much too late for me
To take second look"

--Yesterday's answer: "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family (1970)

(No correct guesses)

St. Louis

(Rob:) We just got home from our whirlwind trip to St. Louis today to see Tessa's surgeon Dr. Herzenberg. Usually these visits require paying for a round-trip plane flight to Baltimore, with a hotel room, rental car, etc, but his time he suggested seeing us right here in Missouri! We drove from K.C. this morning and met him at the St Louis Adams Mark hotel, where he is presenting a couple of papers to a pediatric orthopedic conference.

I can't emphasize enough how cool it was to be able to do this today with just a quick trip down I-70. I think I can speak for all surgeons when I say that the main reason for going to conferences is to get away from having to see patients in the office for a while, so to hold a mini-office in a hotel lobby a thousand miles away from home is truly above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks, Doc!

He took a look at the X-ray from Monday and said everything looked great! She is apparently setting new land-speed records for bone regrowth!

The bone looked so good that he thought she could probably get the brace off some time in June, instead of July or August like we had expected. Tessa was positively beaming at that news, I'll tell you!

He also suggested allowing her to walk without the crutches and to loosen up the brace struts so that the new bone feels more stress. Bones are stronger when they bear weight (that's why astronauts suffer bone weakening when weightless for extended periods) so putting more stress on the leg should speed along healing even faster. We will get another X-ray in mid-May and just mail it out to Baltimore, then hopefully make some plans for hardware removal in June!

Here's a picture of Tessa and me that Dr. H took with his PDA:

Here's one of Tessa and Dr. H (from my cellphone camera)

Buoyed by our excellent news, we went across the street to the Gateway Arch:

I had been up to the top once 20 years ago, and Tessa was pretty excited about going up today. Unfortunately, every high school class in the bistate area was there on field trip and they had bought all of the tram tickets. We decided to check out the Westward Expansion museum under the arch then just head back home. It's not a bad drive from here, so we'll get up to the top of that arch some other time.

Here's Tessa in the back seat on the way home reading a book about Lewis and Clark:

All in all, an excellent day!

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• Daily Movie Quote:

"Otis! My man!"

--Yesterday's answer: "Star Wars" (1977)
No-prizes to Uncle Tom and Dr. John, who guessed the correct answer simultaneously!
Check this link for a fascinating essay on the Death Star trash compactor:
Click here to get in touch with your inner geek

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:

"This morning, I woke up with this feeling
I didn't know how to deal with
And so I just decided to myself
I'd hide it to myself
And never talk about it
And did not go and shout it
When you walked into the room ....."

-- Yesterday's answer: "Guitars, Cadillacs" (1986) by Dwight Yoakam

Buck Owens comes back to walk the streets of "No-prize City"!

!!!!!

(Rob:)
Here are some good things about today!

• Tessa Jean went to sleep last night without any pain medicine and slept through the night without pain!

• She was able to flex her leg to 58 degrees at therapy!

• The phone guy came and fixed the phones!

• We went out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Amy, Jude and Gramma Toni! Here's Jude showing off his cool new lower front teeth:

• Latoya dominated the American Idol results show, and now has the juggernaut momentum needed to propel her to glory!

• Tonight as Susan was talking on the phone, Tessa Jean and Sam secretly went upstairs and got themselves ready for bed (this NEVER happens here) to surprise their mom!

Tomorrow, Tessa Jean and I head east to St. Louis to see Dr. Herzenberg!
Tune in tomorrow for the report!
I'm never going to use exclamation points again!

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• Daily Movie Quote:
"One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner."

--Yesterday's answer: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003)

Skippy guessed the correct answer, savvy?

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:

"There ain't no glamour in this tinsel land of lost and wasted lives
And painful scars are all that's left of me
But thank you girl for teaching me brand new ways to be cruel
And if I can find my mind now, I guess I'll just leave"

-- Yesterday's answer: "The House That Jack Built" by Aretha Franklin (1968)

Congratulations Skippy on a rare double no-prize!

Here Comes the Sun

(Susan): Tessa Jean had a good day today. We are making small steps forward. We are ready to leave the wheelchair at school during the week, rather than tote it back and forth everyday. Tessa prefers to use her crutches now for almost everything. The wheelchair is still more comfortable to sit in at school though as opposed to a school chair. She had a tearful land therapy session today, but was able to flex to 58 degrees. We are eke-ing out a few degrees more each week. All of the rest of her therapy this week is in the pool and she is glad. Tessa had an x ray yesterday. Rob and Tessa will drive to St. Louis on Thursday for a doctor visit with Dr. Herzenberg as he will be in the area for a conference. I'll save the picture of her x ray until the "real" doctor sees it. I'll just say, I think it looks great to me.

Soaking up some sun

Swinging kids

Who ate a chocolate cookie?

One lone purple iris in a sea of yellow ones

Go eat the bunnies, Hootie!

• Daily Movie Quote:
"Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is... what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom. "

--Saturday's answer: "Tootsie" (1982)

(No correct answers... thus endeth "Dustin Hoffman Week')

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:
"There was the fence that held our love,
There was the gate that he walked out of
This is the heart that is turned to stone
This was the house, but it ain't no home"

--Saturday's answer: "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins (1999)

Congratulations to Abbey!

Still Dancing

(Susan)Ö I am so pleased with myself. The computer is giving me funky symbols like the o with umlaut after my start. I just figured out the keyboard is set for Swedish typing and I switched it back to English. Rob will be so proud of me. See, I am trainable.

Tessa Jean is still dancing. I personally cannot stop watching the movie Rob made and looking at all the pictures of her in her fancy clothes. She also wore some of her Great Grandmother Jean's costume jewelry to the Father-Daughter dance, and I notice the red highlights in her hair, just like her great grandmother's.

She and Abbey performed a sun dance on Saturday to try and make the rain stop. It worked and Abbey was able to enjoy a wonderful first communion on Sunday.

Rain, rain go away!

We played and played for the rest of the weekend. I was able to put the last borders on Tessa's nine patch quilt and she did a dance on that too. Every family member from little cousin Ava to Aunt Zanny is represented in the quilt so Tessa can wrap herself in her family, hopefully by the time she has to have her next surgery to remove the brace.

Dancing a quilty jig

Sam finds Dad's patch

There's Dad!

Tessa was back in the pool Sunday and Monday working hard to regain motion in her knee.

She could be a model for a hardware store!

Kicking with flippers trying to get the flexion back

P.S. Our phone is out of order until probably Friday. If you call, you will get a perpetual busy signal.

Cold and Rainy

(Susan:) It is hard to top the Father-Daughter '04 report from earlier today. Everyone slept in this morning after the late night dancing. It was still cold and rainy so we pretty much stayed in. Grampi and Rob and Sam made a run to the train store and comic shop. The girls stayed home and sewed. Grandma made some new sheers for the small windows in Tessa's new bedroom. She also brought Tessa another short set, this time with lady bugs. Man, are we lucky or what? Abbey came to play this afternoon. Tomorrow we will help her celebrate her first communion. That's all for now. The blog site has changed the way pictures are added and I can't figure it out. Rob and Grampi left to see Kill Bill Vol. II so he will have to show me later.

Father-Daughter Dance '04

(Rob:) Last night was the Visitation School 2004 Father-Daughter Dance and man was it a blast! Tessa Jean was all gussied up with a new peach dress and mascara on her new long eyelashes and her hair was all curled up, and she looked just beautiful!

Susan took some really cool pictures that I made into a little 30-second movie:
Click here
(If you have trouble watching it, you probably need to download Quicktime, which you can get for free at this site:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/)

The dance was at the school gymnasium, which was all decked-out with mirror balls and colored lights. I think there was a "70's" theme because some of the kids were wearing afro wigs and tye-dyed shirts.The kids were all very shocked at Tessa's appearance, because her leg brace wasn't visible under her poofy taffeta skirt. Some girls asked if she left the brace at home, and one girl flopped right down on the floor and looked up her dress trying to find it!

Ordinarily at the Father-Daughter Dance the girls immediately abandon their dads, kick off their shoes and begin running at high speeds in serpentine human chains, screaming all the while and flailing their arms chaotically above their heads in glee for three hours straight. The decibel level remains constant, accentuated at times if the DJ selects a Brittney Spears song or the Monkees song from "Shrek". I was a little apprehensive this year because I knew Tessa Jean wouldn't be able to do all of that. She had even considered staying home this year because she thought she might be too sad about not being able to keep up with the bedlam while having to rely on her crutches to get around.

We arrived a little bit late, found some chairs and sat down with some sodas. Tessa's friends Erin and Abbey came over to visit for a while before the pull of the dance floor became too strong.

We sat there watching the dancers and eating pizza, and I could tell it was going to be a long night for her
if we didn't figure out a way to dance. Just then the DJ put on "YMCA" and we couldn't stand it anymore! We went out and found a safe place on the side of the dance floor right in front of the mirror ball and stayed there most of the rest of the night dancing. She found a way to stand with her weight on her left leg and balance without crutches, freeing up her hands for the interpretive arm moves and such.

We danced until her feet hurt, then we rested for a while and danced some more! My dancing style incorporated some cool "playing the crutch like a guitar" moves that were a big hit with the crowd, I think. Being a nervous dad, it was a fairly nerve-wracking experience to watch. I was constantly aware of her leg being exposed to the 90 m.p.h. conga lines that would pass closely by, then return at regular intervals like a comet on a tight elliptical orbit, occasionally spinning off a little pastel-colored whirling dervish that would crash into the chair I had set up to run interference. Aside from a few near-misses, no one was hurt (which, unfortunately, is more than can be said for the "Grandparents Day" celebration at school earlier in the day, which required at least one ambulance visit for reasons unknown.)

After the last song, we went out to Winstead's for malts and fries with the some of the girls and dads and then came home and went to sleep. Quite an event, and one I know we'll long remember!

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• Daily Movie Quote:
"That is one *nutty* hospital."

-- Yesterday's answer: "The Graduate" (1967)

Uncle Tom coo-coo-ca-chooses the right answer!

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:
"For one so small,
You seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
Keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
Can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry"

-- Yesterday's answer: "Girl of the North Country" (1963) by famous Minnesotan Bob Dylan
(No correct guesses)

Uno Queen

(Susan): Well, Grandpa and Grandma Herzberg made it today and brought some arctic Minnesota air with them. We had to turn the heat on tonight, but I guess it could be worse. Aunt Zanny is expecting three feet of snow in Denver! Tessa had the day off and played with her friend Abbey this morning. They painted toenails. She swam this afternoon and relaxed tonight. We watched Survivor and played Uno and I won 4 games to 3. Mom rules!!! And now Tessa is sound asleep in her cozy pink bedroom with extra blankets piled on her. Tomorrow promises to be fun with Grandparents' Day at school in the afternoon followed by the Father-Daughter Dance in the evening.

Tessa relaxes like a pretzel

Gus and Grampy

Check out the eyelashes

• Daily Movie Quote:
"Ben, what are you doing?"
"Well, I would say that I'm just drifting. Here in the pool."
"Why?"
"Well, it's very comfortable just to drift here."

-- Yesterday's answer: "Rain Man" (1988)

Dr. John comes through!

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:
"Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm,
When the rivers freeze and summer ends,
Please see if she's wearing a coat so warm,
To keep her from the howlin' winds."

-- Yesterday's answer: "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps (1977)

Click here for sound clip

Dr. John with the quinella!

A Day Among Days

(Susan:) Today was a day among days which actually felt pretty good. Nothing really unusual or dramatic to report unless you consider the engine light coming on in Rob's car or the final bid on new copper gutters for the house news worthy. The ordinary feels so remarkably good right now. I had the morning off and after dropping Tessa off at school, Sam and I puttered. It was wonderful to just slow down and do practically speaking, nothing. We are really good at it!! Tessa had land therapy and piano lessons this afternoon. I asked her just now to tell me three things about her day. She said and I quote:

#1 "I got to 50 (degrees on the knee bend) by myself today."
#2 "I'm really happy because I have no school tomorrow."
#3 "My friend and my grandparents are coming tomorrow."

Her best part was "just being outside."

Here's our day in pictures:

Can't get enough of those blue, blue eyes

Dogwood in full bloom

Can you see the tiny red buds on our new tree?

Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock

Tessa plays photographer on crutches trying to capture Squirming Boy on film

Puttering with Batman puzzles

Congratulations to Uncle Tom and Lisa on their engagement!!! We are so, so happy to welcome a new aunt and sister-in-law to our family.

• Daily Movie Quote:
"QANTAS never crashed."

--Monday's answer: "Little Big Man" (1970)

Click here for sound clip
Zanny had the nerve, and now she got the no-prize!

• Daily Obscure Song Lyric:
"To my surprise
One hundred stories high
People gettin' loose y’all
Gettin' down on the roof
The funk was flamin'
Out of control
It was so entertainin'
When the boogie started to explode
I heard somebody say..."

-- Monday's answer: "I Wanna Marry You" by Bruce Springsteen (1980)
(In honor of Uncle Tom, who's gettin' hitched!)

No correct guesses (*big sigh*)

All Wet Again

(Susan:) It was cool and rainy today, and by rainy, I mean dumping torrential buckets of water on us as we made our morning wheelchair, crutches, kid, backpack transfer to school. We were soaked. Later, Tessa had a extra lucky surprise change in her therapy schedule. A cancellation meant she could swim instead of doing land therapy, so she got all wet again! Always a bonus in her world, as swimming is her life and her big shamboozie, don't you know. After homework, spaghetti and American Idol, it was early to bed.

Mom's Little Helper assists with a new futon cover on the sun porch

Captain Jack Sparrow parks his behind on the futon while we try to change the cover

Starting yesterday, Tessa went about 36 hours with no narcotic pain medicine. Last night she was able to fall asleep with just Tylenol. This must be a first in about ten weeks since surgery. Despite this progress, her night was pretty restless with a tummy ache (which the narcotics tend to make worse). It wasn't always enough to wake her up but she was tossing and turning and peeping, so I got about two hours of sleep. Sometimes, I just need to lay next to her and listen to her breathe. Thankfully, she didn't remember any of it this morning. Her leg was hurting at bedtime tonight so she got her stronger pain medicines, a hot gel pack to her knee and a little massage, and hopefully will sleep well.

Jammin' Sam

Since I know many of Rob's favorite movie lines, I won't take the last one. However, I'll leave a hint; I think he is on a Dustin Hoffman kick.