Becky has surgery!! And life lately.

Two weeks ago Becky had emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder. 

Ally was at practice like every Friday night and she was coming home via the carpool. We had Beth over for dinner. Around 5pm Becky's back started to hurt. She thought she just tweaked it taking out the trash. But the pain didn't get better with Advil. Over the next 2 hours the pain got worse so at 730 we decided she should go to the ER. We agreed Beth would take her and I would stay home for Ally.  After a serious of tests; EKG, X-rays and an ultrasound they diagnosed her with a gallstone and told her she needed to have surgery within 24 hours to remove her gallbladder. We got the diagnosis around 12AM and then it took awhile to approve and schedule the surgery and admit her to a room. It was about 130am when she got to her room and Beth got home to her house at 2am. I went to sleep at home around 145 and Ally of course was up very late as well. It's hard to go to sleep when you are so worried. 

Ally was especially worried because this seems eerily like Grandma Barbie to her. But we talked about how mama is young and in good health and this surgery is the most common surgery done. I explained the whole thing to her at her request, what the gallbladder does, how your body doesn't need it etc. And then she admitted she was grossed out. 

Now two weeks post surgery Becky is feeling much better and will return to work this coming week.

Sisters in the ER

Ally’s selfie she texted to Mama before surgery.

Post surgery! 

Becky spent 2 nights in the hospital. When she got home the cat and dog were happy to snuggle with her on the couch every day.

But those two are happy to cuddle with anyone:

Ally and I stopped at a local bakery one afternoon.

She got a giant chocolate chip cookie

I got a pretzel roll shaped like a bunny.

We brought Becky white bread. Which she loved with butter. I think it helped settle her stomach post surgery.

We filled over 250 plastic eggs for our Easter party tomorrow! 

We had some kitchen work done last weekend and Ally loves the new clean counters. 

She is so beautiful!!!

State Meet!!!

Ally’s  state meet for level 4 was March 10, 2018. The state meets are scheduled by age so the whole 15 girl team is split up among the 7 sessions. 

Ally had to compete solo in her session. 

She was quite nervous but had a great meet, especially considering she was still in a lot of knee pain.

At this meet the girls march in with flowers and each team is announced.

After the awards with her flowers and 3rd place medal.

Level 4 States 3/10/18

Floor. 8.6

Vault  8.5

Bars 9.375

Beam 8.5

AA 34.975

3rd place bars!!!!

Honestly it wasn’t Ally’s best meet of the season. But Becky and I have never been more proud. Ally’s huge smile afterwards made it all worth it. She was happy to have won a 3rd place medal. 

She did her best and competed with pain and was proud of herself.

Since the meet Ally has continued physical therapy and cut way back on all running and jumping. No gym class, no running at recess, and at practice she only does bars.

This past week she had a follow up at the orthopedist, x-rays and an MRI. We’ve learned that Ally’s knees are a little mis-shaped which is leading to her knee cap moving around a lot. This movement is compounded by her hyper-flexibility. Consequently the cushioning (fat pad) behind her knee cap is getting pinched. This is a pretty painful condition that can take a long time to heal. We have some gel lotion to rub in her knees 4 times a day and continue with PT to strengthen her surrounding muscles and teach her to use her knees with better form. 

The doctor said Ally should continue to reduce the stress on her knees and suggested Ally stat using the elevator at school. She also said Ally could start back at practice with tumbling and jumping and running as much as Ally could tolerate the pain. 

We will see what Ally is up for. Right now Ally is pretty frustrated and upset with the pain. But she loves gymnastics.

It was also good to learn that Ally doesn’t have a serious injury and her knees look good except for these two small issues. And it’s NOT because of gymnastics that Ally has pain. She probably would have this pain if she did any sport at the level she does gymnastics. If she was a runner who ran daily or a soccer player, her body mechanics would have come into play. So in a way it’s good that Ally learn how to correct her motion now while she is young. 

This past week her gym was invited to hear Aly Raisman the two time gold medal Olympian speak at a local college. Ally went with some of her teammates.

Katie, Mari, Ally & Eliana

Afterwards they had a group picture with Aly Raisman

Ally is the circle on the left and the Olympian Ally is the circle on the right!

Perspective

It’s been a really tough day. I got some bad news about something personal, a very close friend of a friend succumbed to his 4 year battle with brain cancer. He was 42 years old. Some not great work things happened. A snow storm is coming sometime tomorrow. 

It’s been a day. 

But it’s still pretty amazing to be Ally’s mom.

Dressed for school in hoodie, high top sneakers and faded skinny jeans. The epitome of a tween.

The long hair. It covers the writing on the back of her sweatshirt. It was meet swag from earlier this year.

Cloey was hanging out in Ally’s room recently, I love how Cu-pug is in the background. 

And I found my favorite Ally picture from Florida 

So. It was a rough day. But we are together. And life is pretty good.

Florida Part 5 the last day

We did manage to get some ice cream our last night together. 

This after being silly on our way out 

Aunt Martha and I do look related don’t we?

The next day, our last day I took Becky to the airport and then met up with Aunt Martha and Ally on the beach. It was a perfect beach day. We had front row cabanas and there was a lovely breeze. Ally and I stayed out for hours. 

With my pants on for sun protection I stayed on the beach.

Aunt Martha and Ally waded in the ocean. 






This is literally what Ally did for hours. 

Later that day after showers and some silly conversation we watched Pitch Perfect 3.

It was a nice way to end the vacation. Rest and relaxation were our goals and we achieved them. 

It was nice to spend the time with each other and Aunt Martha without all of our usual commitments and activities. Soon enough we were home and back to work, school, gymnastics, ballet, church etc.