When we stepped out of the taxi at our hotel in Boston, the first thing Rivers wanted to do was to touch the snow! It is the first time she has seen snow! It was terribly cold, and our suitcase didn't get delivered until the next morning, so we didn't have coats, but we paused briefly to take this picture.
Mimi took some pictures of me bathing and drying Rivers hair the morning of her appointment. Everything is just so awkward with a body cast. You have to find a new way to sit, bathe, play...everything which makes life interesting!
Just after they removed her cast, Rivers was testing her new found freedom and picked her right leg straight up off of the table. Then she bounced her hips up and down and tried to pick up her left leg, which came off of the table just a few inches. Usually, when she has her casts removed, she is very uncomfortable and has to take pain medicine for several days. We were thrilled and amazed that she could already move around a bit.
After they removed her cast, they cleaned out all of the Gortex and cotton on the inside, then lined it with a cotton lining and fitted her to be able to remove it. Dr. Kim said she should transition out of the cast and into her brace over several weeks. After she started moving around so much, I went down the hall to let him know what all she was doing already. He was so pleased and came back to see her. He said that she is to wear her brace 19 hours a day, but outside of that, she could move any way that she is comfortable. I have a feeling that she'll be walking in the next month! She is already talking about it.
After we left the hospital, we headed out to the mall and ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Rivers was exhausted and slept in the stroller until about mid-way through the meal. A nice man outside said that he hadn't done his "good deed for the day" and offered to take our picture in front of the snow covered bushes. We paused quickly and hurried into the taxi.
When we got back to the hotel, Rivers took a bath! Yeah! Then I shaved her legs to get the sticky cast glue off. She has really bad rashes on the backs of her legs and her back, but they're beginning to heal up. 10 week is a long time to be covered in a material that doesn't allow your skin to breathe.
It felt so good to hold Rivers close! We looked at her legs in the mirror, and she laid down on my stomach on the bed and just smiled and laughed. She was so excited!
When we got home, she crawled after Jackson on the floor. Then we got her ready for bed and put her brace on. Daniel agreed with how good it felt to hold her close again! We also found out in Boston that her knee surgery will not be until July. Rivers will have a CT scan in April, and hopefully it will show that her femur is in place in her hip. They want to allow enough time for healing before they tackle another obstacle. Honestly, it's great to know we'll have a break from surgery once we get past Jackson's.
