Merry had her appointment with the orthopedic doctors yesterday. They took x-rays of her arm and leg and reported that she is healing up nicely...just what we would expect at 6 weeks. Her bones still have a ways to go, (it actually takes a full year to complete healing) but she was given permission to start weight bearing exercises! That means she can work up during the next month to full walking! We are looking forward to our appointment with the physical therapist on Monday and starting phase 2 of her recovery.

Well, hopefully we will see Merry up and walking by April! She has a 4 day trip planned for the end of April and she really wants to be back to normal by then. Thanks for your prayers!

Update on Merry

Merry is healing up well and we are anxiously awaiting the trip to the doctor on Thursday for x-rays that will confirm this fact and allow her to start putting weight on her arm and leg. Her brain must know it is about time, since she started to stand up the other day, and then realized that was a no-no and quickly sat down!

She is quite adept at wheeling herself around the lower level of our house and out to the vehicles. She has been at church several times, and this last Sunday she even climbed up into our 15 passenger with the help of a step stool! (We were taking Clankeeper to the airport for a business trip and so we didn't all fit in the mini-van. We normally take 2 vehicles.)

Thanks to a wonderful physical therapist, (and Merry's hard work at home) Merry has wonderful range of motion in her shoulder and elbow, as well as her knee and ankle. Once she can bear weight, she will be able to complete the range of motion as well as build up strength. The PT says Merry can expect 99% of what she had before the accident!

Today we visited a dermatologist to discuss Merry's scars, and what we could do to minimize them. I needed to see the dermatologist for some suspicious bumps and it looks like I might have a couple small spots of skin cancer. Nothing dangerous, but they need to come off. They are in two areas that always got sunburned when I was a child. Clankeeper had a bigger cancer removed from the top of his ear years ago...another spot he always burned. So don't forget that sunscreen folks!

Clankeeper is away this week on business. This is the second trip this year (they have 9 scheduled so far in 2008). Once Merry heals up and the weather gets nicer we can make better use of the time he is gone for some history field trips around Washington State, or perahps some big household jobs that wreak havoc on our schedule and habits. Last December we refinished the dining room table while Clankeeper was gone. I sure miss him.

Thanks again for everyone's prayers. We will update again after the x-rays and doctor appointment Thursday!

Another update on MerryK

MerryK endured having all her stitches removed from her leg and arm on Thursday, as well as the staples in her head. It was much worse than we thought it would be since she healed so nicely that the stitches were stuck in there, but she was strong throughout.

They also removed the temporary plaster splint and gave her a removable boot that she has to use at night to keep her Achilles tendon stretched out. Facing the unknown that was under the cast was scary but it turned out to look a lot better than we all feared. The metal rods that they put down the center of the bones in her leg and arm will remain there permanently. The doctor assured us that they rarely set off metal detectors and if they do, we just have to show them the scars on her knee and shoulder.

We have 4 more weeks until they will take X-rays to see how she is healing. If all is well they will give her permission to put weight on the arm and leg at that point. The time frame given for walking was 3-6 months. The bones should be fully healed in 6-12 months. We are hoping that with lots of prayers, hard work, being young, and some great supplements, MerryK will be on the short track.

Her pain med use is going down and her spirits remain good, although she yearns for a good stretch. We will be visiting a Physical Therapist this week to learn some new exercises so we can stretch out those muscles and tendons and prepare them for walking someday. The doctor explained to us that it really isn't about the broken bones...those are easy to fix...but that she really has a severe soft tissue injury that just happens to have broken bones underneath it. It will take time to heal and longer to feel normal again.

Thank you all for your supports and prayers!