Brace Yourself: My Sewing Machine was Put to Use Twice in a Week

The first time was last weekend.

And THEN I used it again just now!  (I know!  Amazing!)

To sew THESE all on:

{Interesting note about that chair the sash is on.....in the store, the chair looked just about the same color as that scout sash.  And then we got it home, and it was NOT.
You can see how much of a difference the colors are in that picture.}

BACK TO MY SEWING.....
In the exhibit above, if you'll count, you'll discover that there are 21 merit badges......

Which means what?

I'll tell you.

It just so happens to be the [minimum] amount one needs to earn the Eagle rank.

And if you look closer, you'll notice (or not if you're non-scout oriented) amongst those 21, includes all 12 of the "required" ones to become an Eagle Scout, too.

{When I first bought this sash way back when, it was so long that I had to fold, tuck, and pin it to fit the boy....

now we've had to let it all down.  He done went and growed up!}

Which means what?

I GUESS HE FINALLY WANTED TO BE ABLE TO DRIVE!?!?! 

{We set forth a rule.  A driver's license comes after you get your Eagle.}

How else will we know our children are responsible enough?  Mature enough?  Accountable enough? to get behind the wheel of a car.  (We decided this is one way to know.)

So then, this was the scene in our Living Room during the month of October....

.....while he was doing his Eagle PROJECT.  

Since we don't even have any furniture in there, yet, there was plenty of room for boxes, bags, & Bambi to take over the room!  ;)

For his project, he collected new & gently used DVDs for a Children' Hospital.
He got the brilliant idea from yours truly....who had heard something similar in the past from a friend.... 
But, on Haylee & I's most recent visit to the hospital, it was brought to my remembrance how much it is needed!  Haylee, at age 11, was finally to the point where she did very well during that particular visit, but as I watched all the other toddler-aged children (and their parents) around me struggling, my own past "nightmare" hospital/Dr. appts episodes came back to me.....I knew then that the hospital experience wouldn't work without all the various donations they receive (from dolls, to markers, to books, to crafts, to DVDs.)

So, the DVD drive was born.

THANK YOU to everyone who donated!

 The day came when he was able to deliver them to the hospital.  He ended up with over 240 DVDs to donate!

He felt pretty darn good about it that day.  I don't know if it had more to do with the good, warm, fuzzy feeling you get from helping/serving others OR if he was just SO GLAD/RELIEVED/EXCITED he was finally done!  (Got-the-monkey-off-his-back type thing.)

Congratulations, Ryan!

You were a part of history in the making!  You gave me a reason to get my sewing machine out...TWICE in the same week! 

******
But, can I just say it was a royal pain in the butt to STICK TO OUR GUNS of not letting him have his driver's license until he got his Eagle.  Because it was sooo inconvenient for me to drive him everywhere!  So, then I stopped doing that after a "grace period."  And then it was just plain inconvenient for me not to have an extra driver to help me out!
I don't know if he even learned anything from the consequence of not having a driver's license until age 17 1/2.......except that I AM SERIOUS.  I am a [wo]man of my word!

Hopefully, Kyle has watched & learned!

hopefully.

The Things He'll Do for [the love of] March Madness

Once upon a time my husband's Young Men's basketball team at church went all the way to the Region Tournament.  It was one of THE BEST times of his whole entire life.  He has NEVER forgotten that memory!  He never tires of talking about, thinking about, reliving with the boys "The Glory Days." 

{Matt #32 on the front row, far right}

So much so, that one year for Christmas several years ago, I gave him a "Church Ball" DVD that had all the old video taped footage of games on it.  He considers that one of his favorite gifts of all time.  (Until I gave him THIS gift.)

Welllll.....Because of his past experience, which created an extreme fondness for Church Ball, he's always  wanted to keep on playing it - he can't give it up - even today, 27 years later.  His biggest error of judgement, though, is NOT realizing (accepting?) he no longer is playing with his 14 yr. old legs & body!

Which leads us to a couple of weeks ago, when during a game, he jumped up for a rebound, and when he landed, he just fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Then he yelled out.

Everyone stopped, including me on the sidelines, and stared at him laying there on the court.

Then he started to pound the floor with his fist and chanted, "It's Bad!  It's Bad!"

The other guys reached out their hands to him to help him back up.

But, he informed them HE COULDN'T MOVE!

In the end, all those guys found one of the 6 ft. long folding tables at the church and transferred him onto that (amidst his yells of pain for them touching/moving his leg) and carried him out, Pallbearer Style, to my make shift Hearse (mini van with all the back seats removed or folded down into the floor.)

(Nice dinosaur-cell-phone pics)

We then spent the next couple of hours in the E.R.
{Complete with more yelling as they roughly handled his leg}
The E.R. was very familiar with Church Ball injuries - they all guessed correctly when they found out he'd been playing basketball that evening.

The Findings:  A Ruptured Patellar Tendon

They sent him home with his left leg in an immobilizing brace and pain killers, and instructions to contact our Orthopedic for necessary surgery (Who has a personal orthopedic?  Not us.)

Which led to Matt going under the knife four days later.

Pre-Op room at TOSH

Both Matt & the Surgeon had to each confirm & agree (with a written "yes") which leg would be cut open.

Can you tell that there's no "shape" to his knee?  The knee cap in floating up in his quad.

Miss B says Matt looks like "a Baker" with his required sterile head wear on!  ;)

It took him a [longer than expected time] to come out of the anesthesia.  When they finally allowed me into the Recovery Room, his eyes showed NO SIGN of recognition when I came into his view at his bedside!  And then the Effects lasted for a while..... 

I (the instructions were for "a responsible adult" - and he got ME) had to stay with him for the first 24 hrs. to monitor his state.

He was cold and requested the heater, and then he was hot and wanted the A/C.

He thought I was going up hills and down valleys on the ride home even though I was driving straight on the freeway.  

He said a lot of wacky things and asked all these questions that I finally just started replying, "Don't worry about it!" to him.  

At one point, he started playing his Japanese music through his SmartPhone and he held it up to his ear and was singing along (in Japanese) out loud.  

But, I think the funniest thing had to be when he was sitting in the La-Z-Boy and he, all of a sudden, says, "Do I have a THIRD nipple?" as he's feeling across his chest.  Then he lifted up his shirt and found this:

Apparently, the surgery team had failed to remove all the probes from his body before they released him!  ;)

Over the last couple of weeks, I've added another title to my duties:  Full-time Nurse.
I've been administering all his medication, (& documenting all his meds intake since I can't remember it all in my distracted brain), assisting with transfers, hooking up his ice machine, unhooking his ice machine, refilling his ice machine, aiding with bathing, toileting, dressing & grooming, chauffeuring, guiding him up & down stairs, calling the Dr. with reports of too much pain, calling my Pharmacist friend for advise on a better pain meds plan, calling the Dr. back with my suggestions for new meds - which they TOTALLY hate - and which makes Matt/me look like we are "addicts" asking for drugs, remove dressing wrap on knee (while wearing blue sterile gloves), perform infection inspection, re-bandaging his incision site, reposition for comfort, put on socks, take off socks, turn off the lights & tuck him into bed.

THUS the lack of New Posts to this Blog!

That first week, post-surgery, I felt like I had a newborn again, because I was setting my alarm to wake up every three hours to give meds, or take him to the bathroom, or change the ice.  And then when we or I tried to go anywhere, it took twice as long because I had to do a 10-point check list and get all our equipment before I was ready. 
Thank goodness we had people bring us in dinner the first several evenings since I had no time for that!!

It also happened to be the beginning of MARCH MADNESS, and since he had to be down anyway......he didn't miss a game!  Hmmmmm.....great timing!  Was this REALLY an "accident?" ;)   j/k.

He has to be in a straight-leg brace to immobilize his leg for 6 weeks, and then be in rehab for four months.

These days Matt can be seen wearing sport shorts or pants (the only clothes that work over the brace) and attractive panty hose (full-length compression socks), hobbling around on crutches.

He's come to reconsider if [Old Man's] Church Ball is even worth it.  What?!?  I never thought I'd hear him utter any such thing!  ;)