2 months post-surgery

I had to just look twice at that - has it really only been 2 months? So much has happened, but of late the happenings are often both so frequent and seemingly minute that I guess none of us stopped to write them down. So here is my list, if I have missed anything else exciting, I am sure Pants or Andrew can do a catch up post.

• Avery has mastered getting her taxi, and she books it before we leave in the morning, so we know how long she intends to stay (2 hours a day before March break)
• On March 13 she had an appointment with her surgeon. He was so pleased with the results he called in another ortho intern or resident to admire his handy work, and he sent Pants home with screen prints of the before and after so she could show her friends (Andrew and I both keep that as our screen savers on our laptops both home and work)
• I learned that the surgeons did not make any lateral bends in her rods, which is to say she is pretty much perfectly straight. All the reading I did beforehand suggested we would be lucky to get her below a 20° curve post-surgery 
• Pants learned how awful overdoing it in a day can feel. Following the Dr.'s appointment (including the 1.5 hours in the car) she wanted to go to school for the afternoon - it was the day before the break and they were going to be watching a movie and a basketball game, so we said fine. I picked her up at 3, and she went right up to lie down.  Friday was also Andrew's birthday, and that means dinner out. Andrew kindly chose Mandarin buffet as we knew it could be faster than table service, and we headed out before 5. Dinner was yummy, but by 6:30 it was pretty clear Pants was ready to fall over, so we headed home. And at 3:30 am she was up feeling so nauseous and scared of what throwing up was going to do to her back. I got a Gravol in her, but half an hour later she couldn't hold it in - and in her practical way, said well, I threw up in the sink so I didn't have to bend over and it was fine.
• She was cleared for floating. Monday night Pants and Andrew went to the Y. Pants wore a scar baring tankini top - I love that she is so comfortable in her skin (because really, it is a pretty cool scar!)
• Pants was excited the other day because she sat up in bed. I didn't get it, until she demonstrated that up until that point she had been rolling to her side and pushing herself up to sitting, but last week she just went right up to sitting.she was quite pleased with this feat.
• Her grandmother came for a visit on Thursday and took her in to Waterloo for lunch with Andrew. Her appetite is definitely coming back as she ordered the dinner steak and wedges and got through half of it - then ate the rest for lunch the following day.
• Her grandmother brought her a couple of vitamin E treatment to to help the scar heal, but Avery has asked if she has to use them, because as I said above, it is a pretty cool scar. We will keep them on hand should she change her mind.
• She went out for another float - this time we confirmed she could in fact swim lightly, and that made it even better. I think we will try to get her in the water a little more often.
• She walked over to her friend's house to see if she could come over - it isn't far, but it was the longest walk she has done since the surgery. It is so much nicer now that the snow has started to melt.
• Yesterday she went to a movie. Another milestone as far as being able to be out and seated in one place for almost 2 hours, but she also needed a long rest when she got home.

So it is back to school on Monday. As odd as it seems, the new goal is for her to make it to the end of first nutrition break - we are suggesting she use the outdoor time indoors doing some homework. The goal is increased stamina and that break happens everyday, so she needs to be able to make it through it before we can add another class into her day.

So there - 3 weeks of progress, and more happening every day :)