Friday, November 20, 2015
Ethan's shelf
Ethan is in a shop class and he made a shelf. He cut it out by himself before he broke his leg and then he worked hard to sand it, paint it, weather it, varnish it and get it ready to turn in. He did a great job and it looks amazing. His teacher said he has been impressed at how well and hard Ethan has worked while on crutches.
Carving time!
We decided to wait to carve our pumpkins until it was closer to Halloween so they wouldn't go moldy too quickly. Ethan was excited to do brain surgery on his cute pumpkin.
Courtney did a great job carving her pumpkin. Courtney's is on the left, mine is in the middle and Ethan's is on the right, Bryan didn't carve his so I just put it out without being carved.
Spooky!!
Courtney did a great job carving her pumpkin. Courtney's is on the left, mine is in the middle and Ethan's is on the right, Bryan didn't carve his so I just put it out without being carved.
Pumpkin Patch
We needed to get pumpkins and as I was on my walk through Ivins, I saw a sign for a pumpkin patch and we decided to go. Courtney was at dance so she didn't get to go with us because it closed at dark. It was a cute patch and I am excited for this new tradition.
Ethan did a great job with his crutches going around the patch. We were able to find 3 pumpkins that looked great to buy. I'm sure we paid more than we would have in the store but it was fun to go around and pick our own.
Courtney ended up being sad that we went without her so Bryan took her to the store to pick out her own since the patch would be closed when she could get there.
Ethan did a great job with his crutches going around the patch. We were able to find 3 pumpkins that looked great to buy. I'm sure we paid more than we would have in the store but it was fun to go around and pick our own.
Courtney ended up being sad that we went without her so Bryan took her to the store to pick out her own since the patch would be closed when she could get there.
Getting his cast off
Ethan got his huge cast off!! Courtney wanted to go so I checked her out of school, picked Ethan up after school and went to the dr. office. Our good friend, Jenny, works there so she took good care of us. She gave us chocolate and water while we waited to see the dr. Ethan was taken in for xrays before they took the cast off and it was a huge difference.
This is the original xray from the hospital. There is a huge break and then all the cracks down the bone.
This was an xray taken the week after the cast was put on. They had to check to make sure his knee and ankle placement was good for healing.
This was the xray they took right before his cast was taken off. You can see little bits that look like cotton that are starting to heal.
After the xrays were done, Jenny took Ethan's cast off. It was so long that she kept having to take breaks so the saw wouldn't get too hot and burn Ethan. It was really loud.
Courtney chose to sit at Jenny's desk in the other room so the noise wouldn't be too loud for her ears.
When the cast came off we didn't really know what to expect. Bryan and I haven't had casts before and we really weren't thinking about what would happen. Ethan went to bend his leg and had excruciating pain all down his leg. He said it hurt worse than the original break had. His tendons were tight because his leg hadn't moved in 5 weeks and his muscles had atrophied. It was crazy that amount of pain he was in. Jenny explained that it was normal and had him lay down while I used a warm cloth to clean his leg and toes. He was more interested in having me scratch places that he hadn't been able to get to for 5 weeks. It was horrible to see him in so much pain again. Jenny explained that they xray before taking the cast off so the patient doesn't go through unnecessary pain. I am so grateful.
The dr came in to look at the xray and said it was looking good but decided that Ethan needed another cast (which we were expecting) but decided that it couldn't be a walking cast. We were bummed because we all were hoping he would be put in a walking cast and be able to ditch his crutches. But it wasn't healed enough for them to do that. We were all bummed! But the dr told us it would only have to be on for 3 1/2 weeks and then he could be put in a boot or tennis shoe, depending on how well he healed. That was better than I was anticipating. We were told in the hospital that the long cast would be 5-6 weeks and a shorter cast would be 5-6 weeks. So 3 1/2 wasn't as bad as it could have been. But it was sad for Ethan.
They put him in a bright green cast.
His old cast is now in our garage. He wants to burn it. Bryan wants to check the environmental impact of burning a cast. Courtney wants to scare people with it. And I just want to be reminded of how lucky we were that night that it wasn't even more serious and the great friends we have that have supported Ethan.
This is the original xray from the hospital. There is a huge break and then all the cracks down the bone.
This was an xray taken the week after the cast was put on. They had to check to make sure his knee and ankle placement was good for healing.
This was the xray they took right before his cast was taken off. You can see little bits that look like cotton that are starting to heal.
He had accumulated a lot of signatures. It was so long and huge that there was a ton of room for graffiti!
After the xrays were done, Jenny took Ethan's cast off. It was so long that she kept having to take breaks so the saw wouldn't get too hot and burn Ethan. It was really loud.
Courtney chose to sit at Jenny's desk in the other room so the noise wouldn't be too loud for her ears.
When the cast came off we didn't really know what to expect. Bryan and I haven't had casts before and we really weren't thinking about what would happen. Ethan went to bend his leg and had excruciating pain all down his leg. He said it hurt worse than the original break had. His tendons were tight because his leg hadn't moved in 5 weeks and his muscles had atrophied. It was crazy that amount of pain he was in. Jenny explained that it was normal and had him lay down while I used a warm cloth to clean his leg and toes. He was more interested in having me scratch places that he hadn't been able to get to for 5 weeks. It was horrible to see him in so much pain again. Jenny explained that they xray before taking the cast off so the patient doesn't go through unnecessary pain. I am so grateful.
The dr came in to look at the xray and said it was looking good but decided that Ethan needed another cast (which we were expecting) but decided that it couldn't be a walking cast. We were bummed because we all were hoping he would be put in a walking cast and be able to ditch his crutches. But it wasn't healed enough for them to do that. We were all bummed! But the dr told us it would only have to be on for 3 1/2 weeks and then he could be put in a boot or tennis shoe, depending on how well he healed. That was better than I was anticipating. We were told in the hospital that the long cast would be 5-6 weeks and a shorter cast would be 5-6 weeks. So 3 1/2 wasn't as bad as it could have been. But it was sad for Ethan.
They put him in a bright green cast.
His old cast is now in our garage. He wants to burn it. Bryan wants to check the environmental impact of burning a cast. Courtney wants to scare people with it. And I just want to be reminded of how lucky we were that night that it wasn't even more serious and the great friends we have that have supported Ethan.
On the way home we stopped at Red Lobster for dinner. We were celebrating Ethan getting out of the huge cast. His muscles were still really tender and he was in pain, but he packed down the lobster like nothing was wrong!
The Cast
Time was almost up to get the huge cast off and Ethan was really anxious (I think we all were). He has had the multi-colored thing on for 5 weeks now. It was looking pretty warn out and his toes weren't looking too hot. I can't imagine what that would be like but he was such a trooper through it all. I know it was so hard to not be able to do anything but he made the best of it. And he is amazing on crutches!
Showing off his leg.
Showing off his leg.
Trick or Tri - Courtney
Courtney's turn was later in the afternoon. She was excited to be part of the group too. One of her friends from dance was helping because her mom is in charge of races for St. George rec. The girl was helping by counting laps of the swimmers. She really wanted to count Courtney's laps so she had her mom move Courtney to the front of the line so she would go to the first lap area (right in front of us) and she could count Courtney's laps. It was great for us because she was right there in front of us!
Here is our triathlete:
Here she is running to her lane.
Here is video of her swim:
We raced outside to be there for her transition. She did a great job getting a bright green shirt on so we could find her. And then she was off!
Running to start her bike ride.
Strong on the bike!
Look at that huge smile! I think she was having a lot of fun. And she finished in about 20 minutes...quite a lot less time than it takes the guys because there's is so much longer distances.
Crossing the finish line. Soccer really helped prepare her for the run because she wasn't out of steam when she crossed the finish line.
Great job to the triathletes....
Here is our triathlete:
Here she is running to her lane.
Here is video of her swim:
We raced outside to be there for her transition. She did a great job getting a bright green shirt on so we could find her. And then she was off!
Running to start her bike ride.
Strong on the bike!
Look at that huge smile! I think she was having a lot of fun. And she finished in about 20 minutes...quite a lot less time than it takes the guys because there's is so much longer distances.
Crossing the finish line. Soccer really helped prepare her for the run because she wasn't out of steam when she crossed the finish line.
Great job to the triathletes....
Trick or Tri - Bryan, John and Andrew
After getting home around 2 am Bryan got up and participated in the Trick-or-Tri with his dad and Andrew. It was a crazy morning but they did a great job.
Here is Bryan swimming. It was great that he was able to swim right in front of us so we could watch him easily which turned out to be a good thing because the woman counting wanted him to do an extra lap. But I had been counting so I was able to tell her that he only had one more lap to go.
Transition to bike from swim. It was raining in the morning so Bryan was nervous about his bike. It doesn't catch the chain as well when it's rainy so I took my bike up for him to use in case it was wet. It ended up being perfect weather so he was able to use his own bike.
Bryan looked good on the bike.
Transition from bike to run.
Dad's transition from bike to run. He is so fast!
Here is Bryan doing his run. They did the loop twice so we got to see him once when he was doing the first lap and then we went to the finish line to see the end.
Courtney wanted to help Uncle Andrew do his best run. I don't know what's wrong with the photo but it looks like Andrew doesn't have arms. Weird!
They all did a great job and it was cool because the results were instantaneous so you could print out your time. The only thing that changed was your ranking.
Here is Bryan swimming. It was great that he was able to swim right in front of us so we could watch him easily which turned out to be a good thing because the woman counting wanted him to do an extra lap. But I had been counting so I was able to tell her that he only had one more lap to go.
Transition to bike from swim. It was raining in the morning so Bryan was nervous about his bike. It doesn't catch the chain as well when it's rainy so I took my bike up for him to use in case it was wet. It ended up being perfect weather so he was able to use his own bike.
Bryan looked good on the bike.
Transition from bike to run.
Dad's transition from bike to run. He is so fast!
Here is Bryan doing his run. They did the loop twice so we got to see him once when he was doing the first lap and then we went to the finish line to see the end.
Courtney wanted to help Uncle Andrew do his best run. I don't know what's wrong with the photo but it looks like Andrew doesn't have arms. Weird!
They all did a great job and it was cool because the results were instantaneous so you could print out your time. The only thing that changed was your ranking.
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