Musings from Missouri (part 1)

have car and suitcase, will travel...

We're currently five days into our eleven day medical trip in Missouri.  Grateful for the prayers, love and support of many of you I thought it's time to update you on how things are going in Lucy's current medical journey......

shuttle bus from parking to airport
just us and our luggage on this run

On November 4th we flew from BWI airport to St. Louis, MO.  Lucy continues to be a great traveler (thanks to our friend, Benadryl who helps with car/plane sickness).   Having a disabled child allows our little family of three to "preboard" onto a plane which is incredibly helpful!

Guess who always claims "window seat?"

Our flight was seamless and shortly after claiming our luggage, we were at the rental car company re-packing our things into our white Ford Focus.  (as parents to eight children, it's so "odd" to be a family of three in a compact car).  Approximately twenty minutes or so from the St. Louis airport is our "home away from home".  Haven House is a big blessing to us out of town folks who need to use medical facilities and have a place to chill and call our own close by.    While we've never stayed in a Ronald McDonald house, from what I understand Haven House is similar.  Our room was different this time then when we stayed for a night in October on our first trip.  It is even more comfortable and "homey".  Wasting no time in setting up our pad, we unpacked our belongings into drawers and cabinets and set up housekeeping.  Of all the luggage we brought, I'm so very grateful that Daddy thought of and with some dissembling was able to bring Lucy's little car!   Without it she is very immobile because the way she's casted currently (the position they have her foot) she can't crawl very well nor walk.  Instead we have a happy little girl who's able to all but fly up and down the corridors here at Haven House.  We're quite happy in our temporary home for the next eleven days.

Welcome to our pad!

Yup, we took the twin beds and jammed them together
so we could snuggle!

Cozy, huh?

Lucy showing you our snack table

Several doors down the hall is the community kitchen and living room for our "wing" of Haven House (which by the way is referred to as the "oriole" wing).  This is where you'll find me blogging as internet in our room is very spotty because of it's distance from the router.  That's a.o.k. because we've become very comfortable in our living room and kitchen area too!  Our room has a great recliner and Merle and I in anticipation of some "down time" brought along some books that we've wanted to read for quite some time and we've been enjoying our old love of reading again!

Puzzle girl doing her thing in our living room area

Puzzle #1 of the day - complete

"Our" kitchen and living room set up!

Wednesday morning, November 5th was Lucy's scheduled appointment with Dr. Dobbs.

Sayonara pretty tie dye cast

Still so traumatic with removal of casts 

Lu's foot after cast removed

waiting for drs. has become a fairly common past time of ours

hangin' out on the bed waiting some more

Dr. Matthew Dobbs is such a caring and compassionate specialist

I was anxious to hear what Dr. Dobbs thought in reference to the position of her talus bone (in other words how close to the horizontal position it should be in from the series of castings that had been done with Dr. VanBosse in Philadelphia.)  We received very good news!!  Dr. Dobbs would re-cast Lucy only one more time before surgery instead of the twice that was scheduled!  Wohoo!  Miss Lucy chose orange as her pre-surgery cast color.

Not far from the St. Louis Children's hospital is the FREE St. Louis zoo.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we decided to pay a visit to our animal friends there......  part two to follow....