What a wonderful 2 days!! Count 'em, 2!! Ty and I are back home after only 2 days of therapy! And he now has a new tool! We got his prosthesis yesterday and had therapy and he took to it like a fish to water--mostly he forgot he was wearing it! But he did not try to rip it off, so that right there is a feather in his cap! I must say that staying in a hospital room with a one year old is a real challenge...add to that the adorable four-year-old roommate we had who was in pain all during the night and crying...and a massive metal cage/crib not conducive to calm sleeping...and add the fact that same four-year-old roommate and her mother spoke NO ENGLISH!!! The bathrooms in the rooms were only for the patients so I had to schlepp Ty down the hall with me to go potty--or wait until he fell asleep (which was about 10 pm!). Needless to say, we are both a bit sleepy today! Ty slept all the way home! Even so, it was an experience I will never forget--in a good way! Please don't take my comments as complaining--I can handle just about anything for a night or two--and I found myself counting my blessings as I witnessed firsthand parents whose burdens were far greater than my own. Non-ambulatory children, those suffering with cerebral palsy, missing multiple limbs, just massively catastrophic injuries and birth defects...I mean Ty missing a hand is barely a blip on the radar in terms of what could have been. And every parent there had the same knowing expression on their faces--each of them had been through the moments of realization, denial, acceptance, and embrace. I know that look because I have seen it in the mirror occasionally on my own face. And I realize that most parents will never know some of the purest versions of the universal parental feelings--pride...some of these parents feel pride from their kids learning to feed, dress, and toilet themselves--at eight years old!! Can you imagine? Joy--at watching their children enjoy themselves in spite of their pain, frustration, anger, and immobility. I just catch a glimpse every now and then of the intensity and depth of those feelings...I just feel like so many of my concerns have been petty...
Anyway, I am deeply moved and changed from these two days and I want to share some of my photos with you--enjoy
