Maddie’s fall down the stairs at school earlier this year came full circle today when she finally went in for surgery to have it removed. That little piece that broke off when she fell has been causing quite a bit of pain for about the past 6 weeks or so. The procedure today was pretty routine and they even wheeled her back to begin about 30 minutes earlier than they intended to, so she was done earlier and home a little earlier than we’d planned as well.

After the surgery the doctor said the piece was actually a little bigger than he’d thought. It was about the length of an almond, though a little skinnier than an almond. And he said it looked like she really did fracture her knee cap back in January as well, though that part had healed up. There was no scar tissue in there (good) but he could see why the piece had been causing so much pain. Glad that’s out of there now.

She’s still in quite a bit of pain, but this time it’s from the surgery site. We’re hoping that in another couple of weeks this will all just be a thing in her past.

And now, just for fun, today’s schedule:

• 6am: Wake, get ready
• 6:30: Leave the house with Maddie and Chloe
• 7:00: Arrive at surgery center
•  (Meanwhile, Craig gets A5, R4, and Baby T ready for the day with the help of Millie. He drops Millie off at a friend’s house to do school work for the day, then he takes A5 to school, then Baby T to his daycare, and meets a friend who takes R4 for the day. Katie spent the night with a friend last night, so she’s not a factor in the morning shuttle)
• 8:00: Head back to the surgery prep center. Watch Maddie get the IV put in her arm and Chloe called a chicken by the nurse because she almost passed out during this process. Discover I apparently have a sensitivity to close range florescent lighting as I’m having trouble seeing for about 30 minutes (flashes and spots in my peripheral vision – serious bummer)
• 8:30: Shed a handful of tears as I watch them take Maddie back to the surgery area. Yes, I know it’s routine. But nothing will ever be routine to me about having one of my kids undergo surgery. That’s just the way it is.
• 9:15: Surgery complete, chat with doctor
• 9:45: Go back to be with Maddie while she comes out of it. She’s actually fairly coherent and super chatty.
• 10:30: Head home, get Maddie settled on the couch, give Chloe babysitting instructions for Maddie, go drop prescriptions off at Walmart, find out Walmart can only fill two of the three and make mistake of leaving those two at Walmart anyway. Still have to figure out what to do with the third. Go to our school’s north campus to switch the Volvo out for the Odyssey because I’m in charge of kid pick up in the afternoon.
• 11:15: Check on Maddie, pick up Chloe, drive her to school for the afternoon
• 12:30: Go back to Walmart to pick up prescriptions. Find out they still haven’t filled one of them. That ends up being a story too long and too stupid to waste the time writing about. Wait for prescriptions. Still haven’t had time to drop the third one off anywhere
• 1:15: Go home, check on Maddie, give her her pain meds, leave again to drop third prescription off and pick up some lunch for Maddie
• 1:45: Go home, check on Maddie; collapse in a chair for 15 minutes
• 2:00: Leave to pick up Baby T and R4. Maddie begs to come with me and I make the mistake of letting her.
• 2:30: We pick up the two younger boys then turn around and come back north to pick up A5
• 3:00: Arrive at school, wait in car for 10 minutes, go inside to pick up A5 (Maddie waited with the boys in the van)
• 3:20: Home. Get Maddie situated on the couch again, take boys and go pick up the third prescription
• 4:00: Home. Pull out leftovers from fridge, maintain the circus of small children and wait for Katie and Millie to arrive.
• 5:30: Leave the house with Katie, Millie, A5, R4, and Baby T. Maddie stays home
• 5:50: Drop girls off at choir, slap hands with Craig and call, “TAG” while handing him the baby, and then take the other two boys to a Halloween Party for foster kids.
• 6:00: Party with two little boys like we never have before
• 7:30: Pick up girls from choir
• 8:00: Get home, convince boys they need a bath, draw sympathy from Craig who takes the boys and gives them a bath
• 8:30: Read to boys, then hand them over to Craig who sits with them while they fall asleep
• 8:45: Sit on the couch for a moment and discover Millie isn’t quite done with her school work. Help Millie finish up her school work.
• 9:00: Comment about how nonstop the day has been and then find myself being hoisted over Craig’s shoulders as he carried me toward the stairs (where I then made him put me down…). Collapse in bed, watch an episode of Breaking Bad with Craig and call it a day.

Edited to add:

• 1:30am: Awake to Baby T babbling LOUDLY from his crib. Not crying, but definitely awake. Think, “He’s not waking the boys, so let’s let him babble himself back to sleep.”
• 2:30am: Still awake because Baby T is STILL BABBLING LOUDLY from his crib. Haul myself out of bed to make him a bottle. He goes to sleep, but now I’m awake.
• 3:00am: Zzzzzzzz