Thursday, June 5, 2008

Brody has straight wrists! The tendon transfer, or relocation, was a success. He also has a rod screwed into his radius bone from his wrist to his elbow to help stabilize everything. Casts til June 24, then splints.

Three: the number of patients at Shriner's Salt Lake the Memorial day weekend.

The deserted hotel in the movie The Shining: What the hospital felt like during the deserted weekend.

3: the number of people who swore to me that Brody does already have thumbs. Of course, 2 of these folks were children, but not little children. They couldn't believe they had been playing with Brody, and had never noticed his absent thumbs.

Perla (with a rolled "r"): The adorable little girl, age 10, who played with us over the weekend. Perla was there for surgery on her foot. I think she had a club foot, based on her mom's gestures. She spoke as much english as I speak spanish, which is to say, none. And whenever her mom would tell Perla (I am assuming) that I don't understand spanish, Perla would then just repeat whatever she had just said, but more slowly, as if that would help. Then she'd look at me like I was crazy for not understanding her. She was quite charming. Perla and her mom and Brody and I were essentially on a 3 day long double date and I am so thankful for that. It's amazing how much you can understand another person through essentially charades. Brody was Perla's little doll - and she and her mom made him belly laugh so hard that he couldn't breathe. I'm pretty sure Brody understood most everything Perla and her mom said to him.

Blue & purple: Brody's cast colors. At Shriner's, it is quite gauche to have only one cast color. It is a rite of passage when a Shriner's kid picks his or her own cast colors. There are about 10 colors to choose from. I picked red and blue for Brody, to continue the Superbrody theme. They were out of red however. So purple, for royalty, was chosen.

David & Trevor: The 2 teenagers staying at the hospital who adopted Brody as their little pal, amazed at how cute Brody is, and letting him wear their baseball caps and play with their cell phones.

Two: Number of words Brody said for 36 hours after surgery, which were "No!" and "Owie!"

My inspired parenting moment: Brody says please, in sign language (rubbing his side) when he really really wants something. So when he refused to take his pain meds, I said "Please?" and signed him "please". It worked twice.

Favorite moment: Brody and I on the swing in the playground. I held him while we swung. He promptly fell asleep on my shoulder. Then later in the afternoon, we returned. And this time we just swung for about 30 minutes. It was quiet, and we could hear the birds singing. Then Brody started barking, and a discussion of various animal sounds ensued.

Beso: this is "kiss" in spanish, which I learned from Perla. Brody is at the stage where he likes to kiss everyone. Which, for you out of staters, makes this an exceptional time to visit Brody. One day he kissed me 7 times in a row. And I didn't even have to ask.

Moment I started to cry: Saying goodbye to Perla's mom. Whose name I never knew. Perla was in surgery, and Perla's mom and I hugged goodbye in the hallway, and she kissed my cheek. I am astounded at the connection I had with this woman, whose language I did not speak. But we both knew what it feels like to see our child suffer, worry during surgery, and take pride in their triumphs.

B: Ball? (pointing at ceiling)
Me: No, that's a fan
B: Ball!
Me: No,that's a FAN. Can you say FAN?
Brody: Ball!(pointing & smiling)

Then I noticed that he was pointing to the ball, at the end of the string on the fan. Brody only sees the good in life. A lesson for me.

1 comment:

Hef said...

Here I am crying, once again, while reading your words. I freaking love Brody. He's amazing (I know, I know, I need to find a better adjective for Brody)