Sunday: For MawMaw, Lauren, and I, the twelve hour trip to Baltimore was as long as could be. Poor Lauren must have asked "are we there yet?" about a hundred times. At last, we arrived at our Baltimore hotel around 9pm.
Sunday evening: After getting settled in to our beds and falling asleep around midnight, we were startled awake by the fire alarm going off just before 4am. We put our shoes on, grabbed our purses and Lauren's blanket, and headed out the door. We got out to the parking lot just as the fire trucks were arriving and decided to wait out the evacuation in the van. After three hours in the van, Lauren's new question was "can we go in yet?".
Monday morning: We got an update from one of the fireman that the alarm and evacuation were caused by carbon monoxide in the hotel. They were finishing up the process of checking all areas of the hotel and said it was okay for us to go in to the lobby area and have breakfast while they finished up with our floor. The doors were wide open and there were huge fans going. Finally, we were allowed back to our room a little after 8am which gave us about an hour to nap before getting ready for Lauren's appointment.
Monday: We checked out of the hotel and headed to Lauren's appointment with Dr. Standard. Lauren impressed me with how well she cooperated for her first set of standing x-rays. They had her stand with her right foot on 3cm of wood blocks since her last LLD (limb length difference) measured at 2.6cm. We didn't have to wait too long before seeing Dr. Standard and his resident. Lauren was in such a giggly, playful mood and totally charmed their socks off. Also impressive, considering she hardly had any sleep!
Dr. Standard said Lauren's current LLD is 5cm. The news took me by surprise that her difference had almost doubled in less than a year. It meant that she's is eligible for a lengthening sooner rather than later. Dr. Standard now recommends one in the next year or two. He said the big change in length was probably due to a growth spurt that girls go through at Lauren's age. Since we were thinking of her only lengthening being when she was more like middle-school age, this really throws a wrench in our plans. Dr. Standard also mentioned a minor procedure that he'd like to do in which he would release a tendon in Lauren's foot and help her to not walk with her toes curled down anymore. We talked about him possibly doing that with the eight-plate removal surgery.
For some good news, Lauren's eight-plate is already doing it's job. Dr. Standard wants to check on it again with x-rays in December but he said that we could have them done locally. This will be nice since the babies will be less than a month old at that time! We were given a script for a taller (3cm) lift to be put on Lauren's new shoes. Dr. Standard said he thought Lauren would be fine not having an ankle brace this time around because her ankle is looking good. Depending on how the December x-rays look, we'll probably need to bring Lauren back sometime next spring.
Monday evening: After the appointment, we headed out and Lauren was asleep by the time we hit the toll road. We stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial since MawMaw was interested in seeing it for herself. It was a quick visit as we made it there just before dusk. Needless to say, we were more than ready to settle in to our Pittsburgh hotel that night.
Tuesday: Totally exhausted! Seven hours on the road. Then, home sweet home.
No comments:
Post a Comment