Cast Away!!!

That, my friends, is the tiny piece of hardware placed in Emily's right femur and hip during her Superhip procedure six weeks ago. That x-ray was taken yesterday. Last night at about 10:50 PM, Dr. Paley e-mailed us the ok to remove her cast for good and begin weight-bearing and physical therapy. And there was much rejoicing. If I had more time, I would go into great detail about our plans for a nice retirement ceremony for this stupid, clam-shell, urine-stanked brace (think a large open field, safety goggles and three sticks of dynamite) but I don't. So, instead just think about our kid roaming free yet again. And smile a lot. Because we are.

It's go time!

To say the response has been tremendous would be a drastic understatement. Kate and I originally thought we'd order 50 shirts, try and sell them and maybe cover the cost of a cheap rental car while we're in West Palm Beach for Emily's three-month follow up. Wrong. People have been coming out of the woodwork wanting to help in anyway possible. This has been a most humbling experience.

But now it's time to go to work. For all of us. So many of you have come forward saying you want to get in on the latest "superhip" t-shirt trend. Can do. Here's what needs to happen next.

-E-mail me (timtredwell@yahoo.com) exactly how many shirts you want and their sizes. We'll have anything from youth XS to adult XXL. Some of you have already done this. Others have simply said "we're in" or "I'll buy a bunch." Encouraging, indeed...but we need hard numbers now. Even if you've already done so, please humor me and do it again. It's pretty easy to get swamped. Remember, I'm just a simple gym teacher.

-Please send a check, made out to Emily, Kate or Tim Tredwell (whichever one of us you like best.) Emily will have her first bank account starting with the receipt of the first payment. Even more incentive to get your order in soon!

If you're local (in Connecticut...or you're planning on being nearby at some point in the near future) it will be $10 per shirt. If you're in the continental U.S., please include an extra $5 for shipping. Checks can be mailed to:

49 Black Walnut Dr.

Middletown, CT. 06457.

I'd like to order the shirts by next week. The sooner payments come in, the sooner we can get you the shirts and the sooner everyone will know just how superhip you are.

I will never be able to thank you all enough. But I'll try.

Happy Birthday, Gray Area!

That's right, bubba. Two years ago today, a blog was born. We've shared a lot in that time. Together, we've experienced the highs, the lows, the laughs, the tears, the clever wit and the inability to formulate a coherent thought. We've done it all! If you listen closely, somewhere, a Hamden High School english teacher is weeping quietly to herself...

And after more than 100 posts and almost 9,500 hits from visitors stationed at every corner of the globe, I feel like we're just getting started. We've got at least another decade of this, so if you know any good fart jokes, it would really help us out if you could pass them along.

In the meantime, we've gotten a massive response to our fundraising query. While we've always been keenly aware that we're surrounded by some of the best people, sometimes it doesn't really take hold until three hours after a mass e-mail has been sent out and I've had requests for more than 60 t-shirts, offers of donations, tickets to auction (really, REALLY good tickets too) and so on. And that was just last night! Well, today the requests kept coming. To say we were overwhelmed would be painfully understated. You guys are phenomenal.

As a side note, many of you requested a t-shirt because you're generous, heaven-bound people who just wanted to help out. There was a part of me that thought, "that's awesome, but they DO get a pretty sweet shirt." It was then pointed out to me that, apparently, the funky, old school font I had hunted for, e-mailed to friends, posted on the blog and facebook was only showing up on MY computer. Everyone else was taking a gander at whatever standard "times new roman" default font their personal computer went with. Goody.

But thanks to Cousin Sarah, errors were corrected, images were salvaged and our shirt design has gone public...for real, this time. We're still taking requests, and should come up with a solid plan in the next couple days.

Thanks to everyone who's been there for us and continues to be.

More info!

Can you feel the excitement? Because it's in the air!

Ok, maybe there's no actual excitement in the air, but I feel like there could be. This morning, Kate and I were discussing the financial details of having a child with PFFD, and started to steer the conversation in the direction of fundraising. We are fortunate enough to have good jobs, insurance and supportive people in our circle. But even with that, frequent flights and extended stays in West Palm Beach will begin to take a toll. While we are truly blessed to be in such a position, I would feel dirty just trying to set up a fund for Emily without people getting something in return (we could auction off time to just hang out with her but that doesn't seem right...especially these days. GOD is she two.)

So this is what we're thinking....t-shirts! Everybody loves 'em. Everybody wears 'em. So let's sell some! The design would be a simple, white, short-sleeve tee with a light blue "superhip" (as seen below) printed across the chest.

For those of you who have been playing along this whole time, you know that "superhip" is the name of the surgery Emily just went through this past August. For the rest of you, it's just another good way to advertise to the rest of the world how groovy you really are. Everyone's a winner!

I'm thinking $10 a shirt. If we have to send it to you, we'll need to tack on a little extra to cover shipping, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm sorry for the jump in price, but shipping's expensive. Take it up with the Post Office.

Right now, we're just trying to gauge interest. If you like this idea, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail at timtredwell@yahoo.com that says how many you want and the sizes. If enough people are on board, we'll make it happen.

That's all for now. Hope to hear from you really soon!

Stay tuned...more info to follow.

All home. Together. Finally.

I think the standard intro here is "what a long, strange trip it's been." But, frankly, that quote is overused by high school yearbooks and dirty hippies and I'm too tired for this nonsense.

The simple fact is we're all back home and I could not be happier.

It was a difficult and emotional two weeks capped off by Dad's 16+ hour drive through mostly monsoon-like conditions. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I dropped Kate and Emily off at the airport Friday night. Rightfully nervous, Kate took control of our precious cargo while I aimed the car north. Emily was merciful and slept the entire flight, landing in Hartford around 9:30 PM. I believe I was in northern Florida at that point.

Just being home seemed to lift Emily's spirits. She had her grandparents, her toys, a full fridge...and really, what else do you need?

Meanwhile, I took a slightly longer route. A brief stop in Columbia, SC allowed me to spend time with our friends Matthew and Melissa (and FINALLY meet their precious daughter, Olivia.) This allowed me to recharge a bit before the home stretch on Sunday.

But no matter how long it took, or what traffic I hit, or how hard it rained, or what detours I had to take (are you getting the picture or am I painting with too broad of a stroke? The drive sucked) NOTHING made it better than walking in the door and hearing Ems say "wanna go see Daddy?" I'm easy. I know.

And things have improved. Drastically. She is happier. More mobile. More like the kid we've always known. She is still capable of getting plain surly, but show me a two-year old in a lower body cast who DOESN'T act out periodically.

It's been about 26 hours since I walked in the door and I'm starting to feel almost normal. And if things are back to normal, that means I'll probably go on a month-long blog hiatus. If so, I apologize in advance. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures. And thank you all for helping us get this far.

That's the happy girl we know.

Piper taking care of her favorite patient.

"There is nothing fragile about that hip."

That's the quote of the day. Who said it? Who else? Dr. Dror Paley...the only guy whose opinion really matters in this case.

And it really could not have come at a better time. We are fried. All three of us. Emily is ready to get up and go (that's frowned upon at this point) and like any good two-year old, she's giving us the business by just screaming that she wants to get down, wants to get down, wants to get down, wants to get down...you get the idea. Of course, we're mortal human beings...there's only so much Kate and I can take, especially when that's happening in the wee hours of the morning.

Got up today, dragged around the room for a bit before getting ourselves together and heading over to the hospital for our one-week follow up. This, of course, means we have to take another x-ray. Want to guess if she was a fan of the idea? (Here's a hint...she wasn't.) Then wait for Paley to come see us.

While waiting for Paley, Caroline Eaton came in the room and looked genuinely afraid as Ems just let it go for a long, long time. "I've never seen a reaction like this!" Super.

It should be noted that we are REALLY spoiled by this kid. She was the happiest, most mellow kid on the planet for the first 20+ months of her life. That ended last Thursday. Now, we can all understand why she's so upset (although if anyone told us we had to lay on the couch and watch TV for six weeks, a lot of us would probably be ok with it) but it doesn't make it any more fun to deal with.

So there we were, walking her up and down the hallway in the stroller, hoping and praying she'll decide to calm down, just for the sanity of everyone on this wing of the hospital.

Tony, the ortho guy, came in, removed her hard cast and replaced it with a soft cast...essentially a clamshell brace which can be fastened with velcro. Emily did not share our enthusiasm. Eventually she would wear herself out and take a nap on the exam table. The next 25 minutes were the most peaceful, most wonderful minutes since they began keeping track of time. I wish I were exaggerating.

When Paley came in, amazingly, Emily did not stir ("I have that effect on kids" he said with a grin.) He looked at her leg, her incision, her x-rays...and used words like "beautiful," "great," and "fantastic."

"That is a perfect Superhip," he said. Which is pretty funny...cuz, ya know...he did it.

(Hey, I've said it before...as long as he gets results, he can high-five himself, call me names, punch me in the junk...whatever he wants.) He also dropped the quote featured in today's headline which was pretty comforting, considering it led to a conversation about what was now considered kosher...like taking Ems swimming, giving her an actual bath...just no weight-bearing activities for another five weeks. At that point, take a new set of x-rays and, barring anything unusual, she should be free to ditch the brace and wreak havoc on Camp Sweatpants like Godzilla in Japan.

Now we're back in the timeshare...for one more night. We've already been to the pool, had a nap and started to pack. 24 hours from now, the ladies will be in the air and I'll be bearing down on the Florida/Georgia state line.

Things are looking up!

Remember all those good feelings this morning?

Yeah, they're a distant memory.

Emily has been a monster today. Not that I can blame her, but at the same time, there's really not a lot we can do (ever try and explain that to a two-year old? I see you out there nodding...how'd it work out for ya? Uh-huh...poorly is correct.) What does she want? She wants to be outside...playing...on the beach...without a cast on. How much of that can we make happen? Um...none.

For now, she sleeps. But it's only a matter of time before mighty Kong awakens from her slumber.

45 more hours...

Getting her appetite back?

I don't know what happened last night, but by 11 AM, Emily has eaten half a peanut butter sandwich, cheerios, a generous helping of raspberries, popcorn and washed it down with plenty of milk. I know she had a rough night and Kate had a difficult time calming her down...but whatever she did gave her the munchies. I'm just sayin'.

An almost normal day?

We're getting closer to normal. Not close enough, but closer.

I got up this morning and went for a run (painful, to say the least.) By the time I got back to the room, both the ladies were awake and ready to rumble. Today's adventure? The mall! We strapped Ems into the stroller and got to it. I think we were in the Gap for about seven minutes before Emily started flipping out. We learned. No stopping. Shop on the fly. Missed that outfit the first time? Too bad, sucker! Keep it moving!

The fun part was Kate projecting her desire to get a little lunch at the mall on Emily as we walked by a Ruby Tuesday.

"Emily said 'eat'!"

And she did. However, I put the timing of the statement and the location of the restaurant as pure coincidence. Nevertheless, lunch out was a welcome break. Emily even forked some salad to her own mouth. Clearly, a little independence made her feel better. She probably had more to eat today than she's had in the last five days. I'm no expert, but believe that's a step in the right direction.

An afternoon nap for the child allowed Kate some much-needed time at the beach. I'd like to believe it allowed her to re-charge the batteries, but I think it might have made her more anxious to speed through the next five and a half weeks. Right now, she's dozing off next to Emily on the pull-out couch...and Ems is kicking her saying, "Mommy! Wake up!" You can almost see Kate's tolerance-o-meter move into the red zone. I'm thinking one more viewing of The Incredibles might end with her sending furniture through the window like a drunk rock star.

Nevertheless, we push forward. I can't BELIEVE tomorrow is only Wednesday.