"Happy Knee = Happy Mary"

Mary's quote of the day was "a happy knee makes a happy Mary". 


Last night was better. She was up only 3 times 11:30, 3:30 and 6:15. Two of the three were very short. The longest time was at 3:30 because she was really uncomfortable. Luckily that was Daddy's shift. :-)


She was in better spirits today.


Tonight she was really sore in her left hip, and glutes. Probably from a combination of her body getting used to the new position and the additional leg lifts and side kicks in Physical Therapy. She really likes to be massaged when she is sore. 


I told Mary now she knows what Mommy and Daddy feel like when we say we are sore. I told her since she is almost 10 she is getting old just like us. She disagreed.


She is also stating parts of her leg feel numb. 


The wheelchair had been staying in the car and used only when we are out and about but we brought it back in the house tonight so she could sit at the kitchen table with us for dinner since she can no longer sit in a normal chair with her new straight leg. 


She is curious what Dr. Scott will say when we see him in 2 weeks. (Me too!) I mentioned getting 5 cm vs 7 cm and she said I hope not since we are doing this she wants 7 cm. I showed her the difference on a ruler so she could see 5 cm was a lot and 2 more cm wasn't much more. I told her Dr. Scott straightened her leg for the overall health of her whole leg. We certainly don't want to create problems while trying to achieve length. 


Our good friend who is a doctor confirmed tonight that it is much better to have a straight leg so the ligaments remain straight vs. a bent knee where the ligaments get "short" and it is really hard to get them "long" again. 


She summarized the manipulation procedure on Tuesday well. If she would have had a straight leg from the time she got the fixator put on it would have been better but to get used to having the fixator on and learning how to do things on her own, to be able to sit in a regular chair, etc., then have it taken away was hard. I just said how happy she will be when we get the piece off her thigh and foot and she can move her knee again. That's when she said the quote above "a happy knee makes a happy Mary".