Moving forward

Tomorrow makes 1 week since we found out Riley's surgery date. That means 1 week down, a week and a half to go. Time is a funny thing...I'm not looking forward to the surgery, so the week seems to have gone by fast, bringing me that much closer to the thing I fear. Yet, things weigh heavy on my mind, and there is so much time left in front of us, for me to dwell on what is to come.

And this past week, while talking about the upcoming surgery, I have had to smile, and put on a brave face, because that is what people expect of me. And so I do it, and I almostconvince myself that I'm brave. But then, it's nighttime, and I either can't sleep or I lie in bed for hours awake with my mind racing.

But I've started my "to pack" list, and I've started my "to buy" list...so I'm preparing myself. It's going to happen whether I want it to or not. Travis still doesn't know about the new visitation policy, so he is happily playing away the rest of his summer break days, without a care in the world. He starts school on Wednesday (the 26th). 2nd grade! Wow, where does the time go?

And Riley, in true Riley fashion, is still being a fighter. I mentioned how he's week in his trunk muscles, which will worsen with surgery and we will have to get him strengthened back up again. Well he also has low muscle tone in his legs. Imagine trying to stand or crawl with 2 spaghetti noodles for your legs and you will have an idea of what he faces. He could stand with help IF he locked his knees, which meant he was using his bones more than his muscles if that makes sense. And his pitiful pseudo-army crawl that he did, was really him pulling himself around with his arms and just dragging his legs. So his inability to crawl and pull up, and cruise, were not only a learning delay...meaning he hadn't LEARNED how to do it, it was a physical one...his body wasn't CAPABLE of doing it. Well, I think he heard the physical therapist say that he wouldn't make much progress before his surgery because take a look at him now in the videos below!

Riley says "Hey" (seriously...listen to him!), and notice he's playing on his knees


Then look what happened so fast I pretty much missed it!


Watch what he does before he drops to his belly


Saying bye bye, knocking and licking the door


Standing and PROUD of it! (notice him rubbing his hand on his belly off/on...a sure sign of skin irritation under his ostomy bag and sure enough, it was)


Cruising!!! (he tumbled just before this video, so was a little timid. take special note of the terrified look as he tumbles...he didn't get hurt!)



If you hadn't noticed..I made some changes to the blog. I added a twitter feed over to the left. This will allow me to post rapid fire updates during his surgery time. So just another example of how I'm getting prepared. :o)