This past week had a lot of appointments. On Monday the girls and I drove home from Philadelphia after a short but lovely visit that morning with my dad, stepmom, and brother. That short visit was also a good reminder of how Sarah is notably allergic to cats other than our own even when she is on her usual daily allergy meds.
Tuesday morning I took Amy to meet with a neurologist, at the recommendation of her orthopedic doctor. Since she has hyper mobility in some joints and has scoliosis they want to know if there is an underlying cause that might influence other things later in life. The neurologist didn’t see anything concerning, but did suggest that we see genetics. That feels slightly stressful, perhaps because it brings back memories of when doctors sent us to genetics regarding Sarah. I’m not sure what I’m scared of, but I feel unsettled. Maybe underlying it all I’m always scared of pain, struggle, and death. Anywho, on that cheerful note…
Carl got home from his adventures in the Dolomites and Venice, bringing delicious chocolate, a sketch book for Amy that she is rapidly filling, and a striped gondolier shirt for Sarah. It is wonderful having him back, especially with a plethora of school events occurring. Thursday morning Sarah’s school had a St. Anthony program celebration at 8am so Carl drove her to school and stayed for the celebration. That was fortunate because if I had gone I could only have stayed for about 15 minutes before needing to leave to get to the massage school on time for teaching. This upcoming week also has multiple events for kids and parents – at least three events between the two schools, in addition to the usual weekly Schroth. For that I have to leave before Sarah gets home, but I need someone to be with her when she arrives so I’m glad that Carl can often work from home on those days.
Wednesday I picked up Amy early from school to go to Schroth therapy. It was an appointment for reassessment, as required by insurance. Amy has more range of motion in her back in some planes of movement, which the physical therapist said was good. Amy also has more stability in some ways, which is also good. And her wingspan is longer than she is tall, and has increased since she was last measured, which may mean she is in the middle of a growth spurt. That means it is all the more important to wear the brace and do the exercises. Wednesday I had two doctor’s appointments myself and all is well, but it was just so many appointments!
Thursday I picked Amy up from school at dismissal rather than having her ride the bus. When she rides the bus she gets home slightly before 5pm. But that day there was a BBQ at her school at 5:30, so basically if she came home on the bus we would leave home as soon as she arrived in order to go back to her school! My picking her up allowed for about an hour at home, during which time she did her Schroth exercises while intermittently playing with two friends who came over for that short bit of time. At the BBQ, I realized that Sarah and I could just make it to get her new glasses if we left right then. I arranged to have Amy go home with her bestie who lives a block away from us so that she didn’t have to leave her friends so immediately. Sarah was so excited to get her new glasses!
Friday I collected Amy early from school again to go to the orthopedic doctor for a follow-up now that she has been wearing the brace for over a month. While the brace is mostly doing its job, the doctor wants us to go back to the orthotist to get a cushion of some sort put in the brace to apply more pressure in one area to straighten a curve more. So, more appointments. And then we will go back to the orthopedic doctor a month after getting the brace adjusted. Interestingly, when I was waiting in the school office to get Amy, someone I had never seen before asked if I was there to get Amy. I asked how she knew who I was there for. She said Amy looks like me. While I can understand someone thinking that if we are standing right next to each other, it amazes me that someone who only knows Amy and has never seen me before, could see me and know that I’m Amy’s mom.
With a shorter work week than usual plus all of the appointments, plus two days when I taught, I only saw two clients! Given that my office is freezing, that was ok. I have asked for a new thermostat, but haven’t heard back from the building manager. What I know is that something hasn’t been functioning regarding the thermostat for the past year or so (after we got the thermostat unit currently in operation). The temperature is set at 76, but apparently it is 67 degrees in the room. It doesn’t matter if we have it set to cool or auto. And the office is humid so my salt lamp sweats a puddle on my desk and the doors stick. And yet it feels so cold that I need to wear long sleeves. If I turn the thermostat off completely then the temperature slowly goes up, but apparently that makes the office next door get too hot. How have I worked in this building for 14 years and am only now informed that the thermostat controls the temperature for the office next door?! And why is my space so cold and simultaneously humid?!
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