Ben's latest injury

Ben was doing kids' night out at the gym on the 13th and he called me right before I went to bed to tell me that he rolled his ankle jumping off the ramp chasing the kids.  I went to pick him up and his ankle was HUGE!!!!!  Luckily, I got him in to the Urgent Care center 5 minutes before they closed.  They took some Xrays and said they thought it wasn't broken, just a bad sprain, but now he has a walking boot and crutches.

After a week, it was still swollen, so I asked one of my friends at SLU if someone could take a look at it.  Of course, as soon as I did this, he started to get a bit better.

He still wasn't putting any weight on it before we went to the doctor, but as soon as they confirmed that it wasn't broken, he took the car out and went walking.  Ever since then he's been walking on his foot without the boot on as if nothing ever happened.  Honestly, I think he just needed an orthopedic surgeon to tell him he was OK!!!!

Ben working at SLGC

Karin used to work for me years ago.  As time moves on, she got married and has two boys.  One of them is taking classes at SLGC.  Karin send me this picture of Ben with Oliver at the Mini Olympics on Sunday.
Ben in teaching mode!!!!

Ben's surgery #2

Ben had his second wrist surgery last Wednesday.  He's always so cheerful about the whole thing.  I thought he'd be more apprehensive this time since he knew what the recovery would be like.

He always looks so vulnerable lying in these hospital beds

His surgery took longer than the first time.  They had him all wrapped up to keep warm when I saw him after surgery-my baby.  They took out a lot of inflammation and the ganglionic cyst.  As far as we know, they have opened up his original scar and they went in the other side of his hand, so he'll have more scars this time.  Stitches out in two weeks

It didn't take him too long to recover, or to figure out how to use his phone with only his left hand!!!!

(yet another) wrist update

We had another full day of doctors/hospitals last week.  I took Ben to get the MRI done on his wrist on Wednesday morning.  It was pretty straight forward.  After that, we went over to Wash U to see Jan as she had her knee replaced on Tuesday.  Finally, we went to the endocrinology clinic to see about Ben's growth.  He is now 5 ft 5 in and weighs 122 lbs.  He's officially taller than me!!!!  They don't think he is going to grow much taller and he won't have to do growth hormone for too much longer either.  I think he's pretty happy with how tall he is now.

Dr G called me on Friday about Ben's MRI and said that the ganglionic cyst has come back and that one of the options is to do surgery again and remove it.  Ben has decided that's what he wants to do because he is tired of being in pain all the time.  I guess I need to schedule another surgery....

A trip to the doctor.....

I took Ben back to the doctor again yesterday.  His wrist is still not right and they are going to do another MRI to see if they can find out what is going on.  He was on top form and we laughed the whole time.  As we were driving out to the appointment, he was telling me that he was driving with Sam and pointing out all the hospitals he has been to.  He said "they open a new hospital, we get an invite".  Funny, but scary to think it's not far off the mark.  I think he is pretty healthy overall, but we have seen a lot of doctors.....
When we were in the office, the nurse called "Benjamin Skyler"  How many times has his name been changed to that?  He just looked at me and said "we should just ignore them when they say that.  Next time, we should totally do that....."
In the patient room, the sharps container on the wall indicated you could put scalpels in it.  Ben said "why would they bring scalpels in here?", I said "oh, you know, so they could do some minor digging around".  I'm such a reassuring parent......
The last funny conversation was:
Me:  Why does his wrist sound like that?
Dr. G:  Oh it's because of his gymnastics
Me (to Ben):  I bet orthopedic doctors really hate sports
Ben:  Blame it on the Greeks......

Wrist update

I took Ben to see Dr Goldfarb yesterday.  He said he was frustrated that Ben's hand wasn't any better (yes, so are we), but that it wasn't unusual.  We are going to take him back in a couple of months and if it's no better then they will do another MRI.  He needs to work a lot more on his scar tissue, I need to try and remember to help him with it.

Our gymnastics days are over (at least for now)

Well, after 5 years Ben has decided to quit gymnastics.  I'm not exactly sure why he's decided but probably several reasons.  His hand is just not healing as well as we had hoped it would.  He says it still hurts a lot when he does gymnastics and sometimes just everyday life.  I think he's also tired of the large number of practice hours, falling further behind and he doesn't fit in as well with the group of higher level boys.  I told the gym he will not be back after this week, in fact this may be his last day with the move etc.  His coach told him he can come back any time he wants, so it may not be the end, although I suspect it is.

Maybe it's for the best, but I am very sad about it.  I loved watching him do gymnastics, going to the meets, everything.  I have to become resolved to not watching him compete in the Olympics (!), but as he said a few years ago "Mum, that's your dream, not mine...."

Last week of school

This is the last week of school. Last week for Maggie at Hudson. Last week for Ben at Hixson. Possibly the last week in the school district.  I walked to school with Maggie and the miscreants on Tuesday morning.  You have no idea how long it took!!!!

Ben got his teeth cleaned and his stitches out on Tuesday.  His hand looks so much better now.

This is the last week of many things.  I deleted a bunch of folders in my email-Hudson, Hixson, Hudson PTO, Girl Scouts, Scouts and Girls on the Run!!!!  Life will be freer for the time being

They're in, they're out, they're in again.....

I took Ben to Wash U yesterday morning so that they could take the cast off his hand and remove the stitches.  It was more swollen than I expected it to be, but it still looked pretty good.  They took his stitches out and I made an appointment for in a month's time just in case we needed it.

Well, apparently a month is a little too long because it took less than 10 hours before we needed a doctor again.  Ben fell off his bike and landed on his hand.  He came running into the house dripping blood on the floor-he busted the whole wound open again in its entirety.  Obviously, it wasn't healed enough to cope with the life of a 14 year old boy.
I had to take him to the Urgent Care Facility and they started him on i.v. antibiotics.

They have stitched his hand up again.  He has more stitches than he had before (9 vs 7).  Let's hope it holds better this time.  I felt so sorry for him.  I was so mad when it happened and he was afraid that we were very angry with him.  I told him that I had no idea that anything like that would happen, I thought it was much more healed than that.  He hasn't been that upset for a long time.

I cannot help wondering how on earth all of this seems to happen to us.  What are the odds that he would fall of his bike the same day he had his stitches out?  That has never happened before.  Friedrich Nietzsche said “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”  Some days I wonder why on earth everything seems to be so complicated for our family.  I wish something would go smoothly once in a while.  I just keep telling myself that we have each other and everyone is safe, that's all that matters.

Ben's wrist surgery

Ben had his wrist surgery on Wednesday. He was pretty excited about it.  He had to read all the instructions thoroughly while we were in the waiting room

They took him back into the pre-op room on his own. By the time I saw him again, he had an i.v., oxygen and an EKG hooked up.  They also gave him 2 injections in his arm to block the nerve.  He was pretty groggy, but he insisted on talking to me the whole time, and getting me to take pictures!!!!

This is Ben in the post-op room.  He was really groggy and completely wrapped up in warm blankets.  It took him a while to wake up, but he said he was doing fine.

I should have taken a picture of him in the wheelchair, but I got one in the car!!!!

He's looking pretty good for someone who has just had surgery!!!

He did pretty good the day of the surgery.  We even went for a walk to Tilles Park so he could get some fresh air.  He is in some pain, so he is having to take pain killers regularly.  He can't go back to school until 24 hours after he takes his last Vicodin.  Hopefully, that's not too long

Update on Ben's wrist

We had an MRI done at Wash U on Thursday afternoon.  The results indicate that he has a stress fracture of his hamate bone, several ganglionic cysts and a tear in the cartilage.  Our options are to leave it alone and hope it repairs (unlikely) or to have surgery where they will take out the hook.  Ben wants to have surgery to repair it.  The doctor says he ought to make a full recovery after surgery.

Great Western Invitational 2015

Ben and I went to Oswego for the Great Western Invitational.  It was another great trip, but absolutely freezing cold.  It was quite a drive up there on Saturday morning because the wind was so strong.  Ben did pretty well, I think he was better that at Houston, on the whole.  He didn't do high bar again, his wrist still hurt too much after his parallel bar routine.  I told him he needs to focus on high bar and leave pbars alone until his wrist is better.  He was still happy with his scores, so that's all that matters  

Vault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ6mv8opqHE&feature=youtu.be
Parallel bars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSIS3P_Rqtw&feature=youtu.be
Floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjyVcpE6y3I&feature=youtu.be
Pommel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtVnwJ2NStw&feature=youtu.be
Rings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBBI9MiH5CI&feature=youtu.be

Houston National Invitational 2015

This was Ben's first meet of the season.  It was the 5th meet for the rest of the team.  We didn't know if we were going or not until 4 days before we left, so it was a bit of a rush.  Ben had really wanted to go to Houston and had worked really hard to be able to compete in some events.  We spent most of the time with his friend Liam and his Dad.  They were on the same flights as us.  I had told them we were going down to the Space Center when we arrived and they decided to come with us.  We also ate dinner with them on Thursday night-the boys wanted steak

Ben was really nervous about the meet, but I think he slept OK.  He certainly didn't eat much for breakfast though.

The meet was a huge one.  They only invited teams that were really good, so SLGC was lucky to be invited. However, that meant that they were up against some huge competition.  There were at least 4 gyms from California, including #1 and # 2, also one from Mexico and one from Argentina.  The meet was held at NRG arena, the place was huge.  No wonder Ben was nervous.

Floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LOS3E_EJqQ&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=1

Vault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abBjeBBmtg4&index=2&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA

Pommel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAVsNv32_ZQ&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=4

Rings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmIDWLKccVo&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=3

Ben did pretty well.  He got 5th place on vault and was middle of the pack with other events.  Not bad considering he's been out for so long.  He didn't do high bar and only half of parallel bars.  He hasn't got all his skills back yet....

Trip to Houston Space Center

While Ben and I were in Houston, we went to the Houston Space Center.  I thought Ben would like to see it, plus I wanted him to have some idea of the space program.  It's so different to when I was that age and every launch was a huge event.

One of Ben's team mates went with us and they had a great time in the kids area, landing shuttles and sitting in simulators like this

One of the astronauts made this bench

We took the tram ride and stopped at the old Mission Control.  The current one is on the floor below

I think the boys liked the training center the best

This is Orion, the newest space project.  

A robonaut!!!

This is Memorial Grove.  There is a tree planted for each fallen astronaut.  There are trees planted on the other side of the road to commemorate civilians who have passed away

The last stop was at the Saturn V area.  It was really amazing to see

The verdict is in.....

Ben had his bone scan on his wrist yesterday.  It pretty much took all day because he had his injection at noon and then his scan at 2:30.  We went back to the doctor's office and even I could tell that the scan showed that his wrist was completely normal, or at least like the other one!!!!  The doctor can't find anything at all wrong with his wrist.  He said the good thing is that Ben hasn't injured his wrist in any way.  His only suggestion is for Ben to work his way through the pain/discomfort.
As soon as we got home, Ben spent the rest of the evening on his hands!!!!  Maybe a lot of it is in his head and now he knows there's nothing broken/torn/etc, he's more willing to work on it.  Sam is going to try to take him to see the guy who does his training and see if he can give Ben some pointers on his form.  I also got a PT referral for Ben, I'll see if I can get him in soon....

The wrist saga continues

Took Ben to doctor #3 this morning.  They cannot find anything wrong with his wrist at all.  He looked at the MRI and said he couldn't see anything to indicate a problem with bone or surrounding tissue.  He's having a bone scan done tomorrow, I doubt they will find anything.  He still says that his wrist hurts immediately if he puts any weight on it.  His gymnastics days may be coming to an end

Ben's gymnastics injury

Ben has had trouble with his wrist for several weeks.  He was still doing gymnastics for a while, but then Sam took him to the sports medicine doctor who X-rayed his wrist and thought it could be a bruised bone.  He didn't do any gymnastics that involved his wrist for another 3 weeks, but it did not get any better.  I took him back to the same doctor last week and they sent him to get an MRI.  In the meantime, I found that they had a sports medicine department at SLU and had tentatively set up an appointment for Friday.  When the results of the MRI came back, they wanted Ben to see a wrist specialist and so it was perfect that I could take him to SLU the next day.  The MRI indicated that maybe he had a tear in his triangular fibrocartilage complex (the ligament up the little finger side of his hand).  We saw a great wrist doctor at SLU and he did a lot of manipulation.  He thinks the original diagnosis of a bruise on the bone is correct and he gave Ben a wrist brace.  He is supposed to wear it for 4 weeks and take some ibuprofen regularly.  After that, we'll just have to hope that it has healed and he can do his regular gymnastics again.  The doctor said that this injury doesn't mean that it will be weaker in the future or more likely to be injured in the future.  I talked to Ben's coach on Friday and he thinks Ben is doing fine.  He is a little behind but has improved his twists with being on the trampoline.  Ben is still happy to go to all the practices so he is still holding on and keeping his enthusiasm up.  

Ben's SLGC coaches do the ice bucket challenge

The ice bucket challenge is all over the Internet.  I was skeptical about it until I heard this morning that they have raised over $41 million for ALS research.  Ben's coaches accepted the challenge, and someone videotaped it.  They are such great guys in all respects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIPGJlr6cUY

Justin Spring gymnastics camp

Ben left for gymnastics camp this morning.  One of his team mate's mothers is taking them and bringing them back because one of her work offices is there and she can work from there next week.
As we were dropping him off, this was the conversation

Me: It's OK Maggie, we'll find things to do and you won't be annoyed all week
Maggie: Oh, I'll be annoyed by Bob (imaginary friend), he can be really annoying
Ben: No one is as annoying as me.....

Last week of school 2014

Wow, what a whirlwind week. Combination of Sam being out of town and last week of school.  The kids had all kinds of things going on all week.  I spent the whole week driving in and out of the garage!!!!
Maggie had her last gymnastics session on Monday.  We decided to pull her out, at least for a while.  I don't think she's enjoying it at all and she cheered when I said she didn't have to go back.
Ben had a band concert at Moss Field on Tuesday night.  They did a fantastic job.  7th grade played first and then 8th grade.  We went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream after the concert

On Wednesday night, Maggie had a Girl Scout trip to the Botanical Gardens.  We found out 5th cake.  Only 245 left to go!!!!

We were dodging the rain, so the girls did an information program inside before we went out for a tour of the garden.

The irises are the best I have ever seen.  A benefit of the cold Winter-they are all blooming at the same time

I don't know what these are, the look like a type of ornamental onion and they are spectacular

The Girl Scouts sitting on the sheep!!!!

The lego exhibit starts this weekend.  We saw a couple of pieces but most of them are in the Climatron

Maggie had a softball game on Thursday night.  She still steps out of the base when the ball comes to her, but actually managed to get a hit on Thursday.  She's got all the moves that she sees on TV (apart from the swing!!)

The last day of school rolled around and they brought home all their school stuff.  Honestly, there's always so much of it and it takes for ever to plough through it.  I want to just dump it all in the recycling without looking at it!!!!  Ben filed most of his, he'll probably never look at it again!!!!!

He has an awful lot of books by his bedside for someone who doesn't like to read....

The peonies are fantastic this year.  I always cut them and bring them inside, unfortunately they don't last very long.

So, now we have an 8th grader and a 5th grader.  They will be Top Dog at school next year!!!!