STRUGGLING WITH SERENDIPITY
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an impossibly uncertain future

12/28/2016

5 Comments

 
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(This blog tells my family's story. To see more, click "blog" at the top of this webpage.)

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Beth had another sleepover on New Year’s Eve with her best friends and a fondue feast at our house. Soon after, Dr. Miller asked Beth if she would exchange emails with a new quad, and I talked to an overwhelmed mom on the phone. I listened but shared little, only how everything had changed in comparison to the initial month and how I hoped for more progress.
 
I was sure that I wasn't a good role model for other parents.

The New Year and the time beyond seemed impossibly uncertain. My concerns encompassed the global and the trivial.

I was an equal opportunity worrier. 
​

Since 9/11, terrorism and nuclear weapons found their way into my nightmares. Any number of potential health problems threatened Beth—​and everyone I loved. When she ventured out into the world as an adult, what kind of welcome would she find as a quad? As a toddler, she was Cinderella to Maria's Snow White. Would they find their happily ever afters?

At a meeting in Toledo, Beth registered for the wheelchair games in May with the Raptors. She thought that she wasn’t good enough to sign up for the pool events, but others convinced her to try. Some of her friends also shared their earlier trips to another sports event, the National Junior Disability Championships, held every summer for kids from across the country. 
           
In February, Beth elected to have an eight-hour bladder surgery, paving the way for independence. As a result, I would no longer need to be with her every few hours.

​A week after she left the hospital, against my advice, she agreed to help Laraine with a new class of physical therapy students. Beth wore loose clothes to cover the temporary tubes from the surgery that protruded from her abdomen along with a small rubber bulb.
          
Laraine teased about going easy on her during the mat exercises. When Beth sat with her hands in her lap, she wobbled less than she had at the last demonstration. Careful with the tubes, Laraine refrained from pushing hard to test her balance.           
           
Beth also shared her ponytail progress with the students, but she still couldn't complete an additional loop of the elastic to keep it in place.

Not yet.
           
At the followup appointment with the urologist, he removed all the tubes and the bulb for good, leaving bare skin and a long surgery scar below her belly button. We celebrated with a shopping trip. She had fun picking out cute underwear and a bikini swimsuit.
 
Beth was disappointed with the doctor’s ban on swimming for six more weeks as she healed from the major surgery, not negotiable.

And her first swim meet ever was just ahead.

5 Comments
Will Stacks
12/30/2016 03:02:08 pm

It seems that Beth is an amazing and determined woman. So happy to read this blog and see her proceeding forward. My wife just sustained a spinal cord injury a year ago. She is at a facility called Center for Neuro Recovery South Florida. She's making strides to recover as best as she can so she can get back on with life. Hopefully she will be as strong and independent as I am reading here on this website. Keep up all the great work

http://www.centerforneurorecovery.com/

Reply
Cindy Kolbe link
12/31/2016 06:53:35 pm

Hi, Will. I'm telling our family's story from the beginning and this blog post is about a year and a half after Beth's injury. She has always been determined, but the really amazing part is ahead, when she finds ways to be independent and successful in competitive swimming, in college, and in her career, all while traveling extensively. I was lucky to share many of her adventures! I hope there are many adventures ahead for you and your wife, also!

Reply
Jill Howard
12/31/2016 11:58:27 am

This puts everything that is happening in my life in the correct perspective. It is unreal all that Beth went through and that your family went through, too. Love reading the stories!

Reply
Cindy Kolbe
12/31/2016 05:28:34 pm

Hi, Jill! Beth's injury puts things in perspective for me, too, especially when life feels difficult. It can be a good reminder to be grateful for many things that we often take for granted, things like walking or having fingers that work. Every day is a gift!

Reply
Burgers Cookbooks link
5/9/2023 09:31:17 pm

Thhanks great blog post

Reply



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