on wheels

Well, we've made it through a full week of school with Katelyn on wheels. She got her new ride last Friday, was very hesitant to go out in it on Friday, did great on Saturday (well ... until we realized we were out in the sun too long without sunscreen), then the nerves kicked back in when it was time to go back to school on Monday. She was VERY worried about everyone staring at her ... and yes there was a fair amount of staring, but all in a positive way. Everyone at school has been so helpful and concerned about her. Her friends fight over who gets to unpack her bookbag and who gets to bring her things.


She's now enjoying all of the attention and in some cases getting a little too comfortable with it. While overall she has been very good with her manners when asking for help and thanking people for visiting or helping her, she definitely needed a reminder this morning. Her friend, Jackie, was helping her check back in last night's book and check out a new one when Katelyn looked at her and simply said "Jackie - card"....indicating that Jackie needed to get her the library card for her to check in her book.

Decorating this hot pink cast has also been quite the project. She has it nearly filled with signatures -- well the top half anyway, I keep threatening to roll her over so people can sign the back :) But simply signing someone's cast is no longer enough decoration. She has applied lots of glitter glue to add sparkles (thanks Becky) and even has a cool "gemstone" glued to it at the top. Very cool! Of course her toenails need to be painted pink to match and so far I think her outfits have mostly been some shade of pink....good thing she didn't get a green cast.

While she does still get bummed out about not being to do things, she's managing pretty well. Does this look like the face of "poor Katelyn stuck in a wheelchair"?

The only bad news that we received this week is that the initial timeframe was a bit off. The orthopedic doctor in the ER said 3-4 weeks with the cast on then she'd be ready to walk on it. At her appointment this week, her doctor informed us that the 3-4 weeks is just for this cast. Then she will likely get a shorter cast (below the knee) which hopefully can be a walking cast for 2 more weeks. Then she will get a removable boot cast for another few weeks. So a bit longer recovery time than we were told, but she should still be better by beach time!