As Mommy and sissy drove in for the weekend, Anne saw all the lights at the FL State Fair and asked if she could go. That turned into our outing for Saturday. The girls had a great time. Anne couldn’t get enough of seeing all the animals and Nica loved all the rides. It was a little difficult to find rides she could go on but we managed to do it. Our biggest problem is that Nica has become accustomed to the way Disney lets her go on rides. If Nica is in her wheelchair and no one else is waiting for a handicap accessible car then they just let Nica go around 2 or 3 times without getting off. She just didn’t understand why the carnies wouldn’t let her do the same thing. One did let her ride twice, the carousel operator let her go twice when he saw her crying about getting off. The amazing thing about the carousel is that Nica was on a regular horse and she was holding herself on. Tammy was there as a safety net, but that was all. It was great to see her holding on. There’s video at the bottom. I shudder to think what would’ve happened before the surgery and rehab. She really has come so far in such a short time. Nica also felt she needed a new plush clown fish and she proceeded to tell us unceasingly. It seemed like every game had one as a prize. I had won her a rainbow colored fluffy plush dog but she chose to trade it in towards the fish instead. She still talks about how she traded her rainbow puppy for a fish. It’s a fun conversation if you get the chance. She decided to name the new clown fish Marlin as, like Nemo’s dad, this fish is a paler orange and both front fins are the same size. It was so sweet to see my girls on those rides together, being normal sisters. If you just saw her on the rides, you’d never know Nica has CP. She sits better, has better control of her hands and arms and her legs are slowly improving too. Quality of life is what we wanted to change for Nica. We wanted to expose her to more opportunities and help realize more of her hopes and dreams. At three, her dreams might seem small, but she dreams of the things so many of us take for granted. She talks all the time about taking walks with Anne. She can’t wait. She wants so much to be able to ride a tricycle all by her self, and she wants to wear herself out going up and down the slide at home. I can’t wait to mark each accomplishment on the calendar and when she’s older show her how much she’s overcome.
We’re scheduled to go home on Friday 2-17-12. It’s kind of weird thinking about it. We got to St. Pete ACH on Jan. 4th and Nica and I have slept in a hospital every night since. 44 days. Nica’s so ready to go home. She misses everyone so much. She asks to go see her OT, Heather Tanguay, and her ST, Debra Beckman, more regularly, not to mention Miss Jena, her swim teacher. Most of all, she misses having Mommy and Sissy everyday. The last couple of weekends were really hard for her to let go of. She just didn’t want to accept that Mommy and Sissy had to go back home. It’s begun to effect her performance in rehab. The neuropsychologist here, Dr. McCain, says Nica has all the signs of hospital-itise. For me, going home is kind of an odd thought. Any one who knows me knows I’m not a big fan of change in my life. When I buy new shoes, I scour the web to find the exact same shoes I just wore out. Hospital life has become comfortable now, and I like the slower pace of not having to go any where to do anything. Not to mention, we’ve made so many friends among the staff here. Overall, it’s been a great experience filled with excitement, frustration, and triumph. Returning to the daily chaos that is my regular life is going to be a bit of a culture shock I think. Knowing that I’ll get be with my beautiful wife and eldest daughter everyday again is a comfort I look forward too. To Joel Ryals and all of our service men and women, I have a new respect and empathy for you all. Thanks for your sacrifices.
State-Fair video
