Samantha: 25 Months, Week 5 {Daddy's Surgery and a Trip to the Zoo}

We made it back home really late on Sunday night after our adventure on the zipline and Ben's outing to the hospital.  Leaving Samantha with Grandma and Grandpa was a good decision, but it felt so strange being at home without her again.  We slept in on Monday morning, something you never get to do with a two year old, and then went to Ben's appointment at the hospital at ten o'clock.  Ben met with the hand surgeon, Dr. Hansen.  They unwrapped his hand and tried to move his wrist, moving and pressing on his fingers, causing way too much pain for Ben.  Based on Ben's reaction, the doctor didn't think he needed to do any more diagnosis and scheduled him for surgery the next day.  We were relieved that he could get in for surgery so quickly, as we were anxious to get some answers about how much damage was done and what would need to be done to repair it.

Since we were without Samantha, we decided to use a gift card to one of our favorite restaurants, Sweet Grass, and went out for lunch.  She's not a big fan of the food at this restaurant, and it is a little bit too quiet of a place for her, so it's better to go there when it is just Ben and me.  We had a nice lunch together, got Ben's pain medicine, and went home to rest Ben's arm.  Again, it was so strange being at home by ourselves.  We rested on the couch quite a bit, watched some shows and movies on TV, and had a nice, relaxing time.  Who knew that Ben getting his wrist injury would give us the gift of some much needed couple time.

Ben's surgery was in the afternoon on Tuesday.  We had to be there at noon to check in and wait because he was third in line.  He would go in for surgery whenever the doctor was done with the other two patients.  Thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long before he was called back to get prepped.  We had some complications with insurance that we had to deal with and then they took him back.  It was really strange for me because we were in the same waiting room and the same surgery area where I was with my miscarriage, just in opposite roles.  It brought back a flood of memories that I had suppressed for a couple months now.  I knew everything would be fine with Ben's surgery, but I was nervous about what they would find once they explored a little deeper into his wound.  I just found myself feeling so thankful for modern medicine and that Ben wasn't feeling any of the work they were doing.  We knew he would be pretty sore afterwards, but at least he would then be on the uphill climb and we would know what we were dealing with.

The doctor talked with me after Ben's surgery to tell me how it went, and I was pleasantly surprised with what he said.  The doctor in the ER thought that there was probably tendon damage because of the lack of mobility in his fingers.  However, Dr. Hansen did not find any tendon damage.  The wound went down to the bone, but there was no damage to the bone.  There is a patch of tissue that covers and protects the tendons in your hand/wrist, and that was torn up quite a bit.  The doctor repaired that and stitched him back up again.  We were pleased that there was no tendon damage because that could have been permanent, causing a lack of normal function in his fingers.  Despite the circumstances, things really turned out for the best.  Ben was sent home with a splint and bandage wrapped around his arm with directions to keep it dry, elevated, and iced.  He would go back in a couple weeks to have the stitches removed.

Once home, Ben rested in bed from the anesthesia, and I went out and got pizza, as Ben requested.  Ben's parents came down to drop Samantha off at our house, and we were so excited to see her.  We had been away from her for three nights, which is just as long as when we took our trip to Washington D.C., this just was not for as happy an occasion.  We missed her terribly, and our home felt back to normal once she arrived.  Samantha did really well with being gentle and careful around Daddy's arm.  She was concerned about him and always wanted to make sure he was doing okay.  Ben slept on the couch again, as he had since the incident, so that he could have enough room to prop his arm up and not worry about waking me up as he moved throughout the night.  Even when in pain, I still have a loving and considerate husband who looks out for my needs.  :)

The next day, Samantha and I had a busy morning while Daddy stayed home to rest and recover from his surgery.  We had an appointment at ten, and then I took her to a friend's house to play for a couple hours while I met my friends for a lunch date.  It was our last chance to get together before one of them moved away, and it was a great time of fun and fellowship.  It's amazing what girls can talk about when they get together!

Daddy was doing well recovering from his surgery, but he found how difficult it was to perform some basic household and daily tasks.  For example, it wasn't so easy anymore to help Samantha go potty or to take a shower.  He couldn't do anything that required him to lift or grip with his left hand, which greatly limited the ways in which he feels helpful to the family.  He was able to find software for the Mac that allowed him to speak and the computer would type what he said.  That was helpful to him and allowed him to keep working on his dissertation proposal, even if it was at a slower speed than he would have liked.  I couldn't help but feel bad for him.  I wish this hadn't happened to him, especially when he was so close to finishing and sending off his proposal.  But it is what it is, and there's no way you can turn back time.  We were just grateful that it was his wrist that got injured, and not his face or eye.

On Thursday, Samantha and I went to a play date with some moms from church at a local park.  Samantha had a great time running around and playing, collecting rocks, and generally marching to the beat of her own drummer.  It's funny because at home she is always looking for us to interact with her and play with her.  But when we are in public, she generally goes off by herself to play, not even interacting with many of the other kids.

This next comment has nothing to do with the rest of the blog, but I don't think I've included it anywhere before, and it is too funny to leave out.  Now that Samantha is wearing big girl underwear, if it gets bunching in the back, she'll pick at it and say, "My underwear is crumbly!"

On Friday, we decided to do something a little bit crazy with a Daddy who just had surgery on Tuesday, but we wanted to test his stamina while we were out doing something since our Toll family vacation was coming up in a few days.  We decided to take a trip to the zoo, utilizing our nice family pass!  We figured if it didn't work very well, or if Daddy was getting sore or tired, we could just leave and it wouldn't cost us anything.  It was a really nice day, warm and sunny, and it was less busy since we went on a Friday instead of a Saturday.  We decided to let Samantha ride on the train this time.  (It costs money to buy tickets for the train, so we said this was a special occasion and that we wouldn't do it every time.)  It wasn't the most exciting train ride, but she really enjoyed it.

We also brought Samantha's bathing suit with us so that she could play at the splash pad.  She was so excited to be able to do this.  I think she played in the water for almost forty-five minutes.  She loved running through the sprinklers, standing under the buckets that pour water out on your head when they get full, and sticking her head in water spouts that come up from the ground.

Every time she would get her face wet in one of the water spouts, she would come towards us with this cute little look on her face, almost like she was thinking, "Ooh!  I got wet.  That was so fun!"  I love how expressive she is.

Here she is wearing her sunflower cover up after getting out of the water.  These are just some of the cutest pictures ever.

Samantha's favorite area of the zoo is by far, the oceans area.  She gets to see fish, dog sharks, seals, sea lions...

...and her most favorite, PENGUINS!  She could spend a long, long time watching the penguins swim around, looking at them from below the water, and seeing them swim under the floor in the tunnel that connects the two rooms of the exhibit.  It was really nice that it wasn't busy because she got to get close up to the glass and could stay as long as she wanted without feeling like we were taking someone else's turn.

After a full morning at the zoo, we got a quick lunch from Wendy's to eat in the car on the way home, and put Samantha down for a nap once we got back to the house.  That way it ensured a longer nap than the hour ride we had back home.

Later that night, as we were getting Samantha ready for bed, she wanted to pick out the underwear the she was going to wear the next day.  She has been doing this a lot lately, and it's so cute to see her sitting there laying out each pair of underwear on the floor of her room.  Then, when she's done choosing which one she wants to wear, she stacks them all back up again and puts them on the shelf where they are kept.  We just had to record this, and it's too cute not to include.  I think she likes wearing her big girl underwear.  What do you think?

On Saturday morning, we participated in a Bloomington tradition, the farmer's market.  Whenever we are in town, we try to go to this, even if we don't want to buy anything, as was the case on this day as we were getting ready to go out of town on Sunday for the Smoky Mountains.  We just went to see the festivities, to walk around and see what was available, and because Samantha loves it there.  On this day, they had some dancers perform some kind of mix between Irish dancing and tap dancing.  I'm sure there's a name for this type of dance, but I don't know what it is.  Samantha wanted to go over and watch them dance and couldn't take her eyes off them.  At one point, she even tried to move her legs up and down like the dancers were doing.  A lady standing near us made a comment about Samantha being ready to take lessons and join them.  I'm sure Samantha would love doing something like that.  When she gets a bit older, we were thinking of enrolling her in some sort of dance or gymnastics class.  

Samantha just loves it any time there is music on.  She loves to sing and dance.  Oftentimes she will fall asleep singing and wake up singing.  There is always a song on her mind.  I think it reflects the joyful soul that God has given her.  I hope she always feels comfortable expressing herself through song and dance.  I don't want feelings of self-consciousness to take the joy out of that for her.  

Dear Lord, I pray now that you would help me as a mother to encourage Samantha's confidence in the gifts you have given her and that she wouldn't be afraid to be herself, the way You have created her to be.