PEARL RIVER, LA. (Monday, Aug. 10, 2009, 6 a.m.) – Another weekend has ended and once again it was way too short.
My weekend saw my wife and I attend a new parents social at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Slidell where Pam met some of the parents whose children will be in her pre-K class and I met Camryn's pre-K teacher and other parents.
Despite my initial misgivings and concerns, I thought the event was nice and went over well. And I thought I did fairly well controlling my appetite – I ate a little of the pasta salad, ate some fruit, ate some cheese and drank a couple of Diet Cokes.
No beer or mixed drinks for me. I'm three weeks into a Weight Watchers diet, I've lost about seven pounds so far (well on my way to a goal of losing 50 pounds) and wasn't about to screw that up. My mother graciously offered to watch Camryn and Matthew at our house while we attended the social.
We were home by 10 p.m. – that was Friday.
On Saturday, I piled Pam, Camryn and Matthew into my Ford Fusion, took a ride in torrential rain, ate lunch at a so-so Mexican/Cuban restaurant in Covington, visited Pontchatoula and then returned home. It was a nice, uneventful outing – well, until I took Camryn with me to Best Buy and she insisted I buy her a Dora the Explorer movie (the one where she rescues a mermaid, I think).
Sunday was even less eventful: A trip to Rouses to buy groceries (no more Wal-Mart on Saturday for me) and a trip to my mother's house to fix her computer (a bad modem).
And now onto the new week. The big news: Matthew will have his full-leg cast removed on Wednesday. I have arranged to take a personal day from work on Wednesday and will take Matthew from Pearl River to the Children's Hospital in New Orleans for his cast removal.
This is an important procedure. If his casting went well, then it's possible he won't require surgery to permanently correct his club foot. It's also possible that Matthew may require a second cast on his leg, more than likely after he gets a short reprieve.
I hope and pray that the casting negates the need for surgery.
Matthew has weathered the cast amazingly well. While obviously uncomfortable for much of the past two weeks – and desperately wanting to get in the tub for a bath each night – our son has been a great sport. He obviously doesn't understand what's happening – hopefully he will appreciate it years down the road.
We took some great photos of the folks at Children's Hospital putting the cast on Matthew's leg. I plan to take more photos on Wednesday to document the removal. And then – if everything works out – I'll post a complete photo gallery-slide show of the entire process here at my blog.
Until then … have a great week.
Copyright 2009 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
