I think I can honestly say that I have this trip down to an art. The long part of the trip always "seems" to be the going, so the fact that we stop in Columbia to spend the night cuts the long part down exponentially. Friday morning we got up at 4:30 a.m. in order to be on the road by 5 a.m. as his appointment was at 8 a.m. You would think by now that I know that in early morning traffic (which there is barely any) that at most the trip between Columbia and St. Louis only takes two hours, so as you might have guessed...we got there early (like an hour early). The clinic had not even opened yet but lucky for us....the cafeteria had, so the boys and I enjoyed some of the Shriners Hospital cafeteria food. I have to say that as hospitals go, their cafeteria is really very good and not real expensive. The boys filled up on biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and fruit and I just drank my coffee.
Once breakfast was completed....we found that the clinic had just opened and we were the second ones in line. We headed back to the "shop" were all the orthotic equipment is fitted and made and we were the first ones there. Davids new AFO's were ready to go and the young woman working back there checked to see if there might be any places they could rub his legs. After a thorough once over...she also gave David a new pair of tennis shoes. Shriners has the best shoes for kids with braces as they fit easily over the foot part of the brace. Most off the shelf shoes don't work so easily. So while I had her there I also asked about some new stabilizing braces for him. The ones he had were given to us after his surgery so that they would help to straighten out his legs at night. We now use them to help keep his legs straight while he is in his stander. BONUS! They gave us new stabilizers. With all of this we were in and out in about 45 minutes and back on the road. It was a very short visit for an 800 mile round trip.....but worth every mile in our journey to get David walking and independent.
The trip home always seems to fly by and other than a gas/bathroom stop...we pretty much don't stop until we hit our driveway. Someone asked me what we do on such long car rides and how well does David handle them. The answer is...David does wonderfully. He seems to love taking trips and he usually never sleeps on them. This trip however.....he took several catnaps. I think his teen years are beginning to catch up with him. We do a lot of music listening when we travel. We all love music and we sing, listen and laugh a lot. It makes the trips go much faster and it keeps us all entertained!
So for now....we wait. David continues with daily stander therapy and the new equipment will help a lot. We are hoping that the next few weeks hold a growth spurt so that we can get surgery over with before school starts, but if I have learned nothing in this journey...it is that my plans and God's are often two different things. So if there is no growth spurt, then we will not be heading down I-70 to St. Louis again until October.
As a whole...David is doing very well. He is handsome, smart and even starting to talk a little more. He is an amazing kid with an amazing future and I think I am a very lucky mom!
