I hope we NEVER have to come back!

The Triangle Tilt is a lot harder to recover from than the Mod Quad. My child had had bones adjusted, shaved, and reconstructed. Her splint weighs a significant amount more this time than the last. I wonder if she will have stiff muscles from trying to stand upright. She's just so little and this thing is so big. You can see her trunk compensate for the weight and angle of the SARO Splint.

It was difficult for her at first; she was so much more aware of what was happening this time. She didn't complain, though. She doesn't complain. She just moves on. She's simply too busy, it seems, to be bothered with this one-handed business.

By the time Friday rolled around, we were ALL ready to get out of that room. We were bored to tears and sick of each other. I would be lying if I said I didn't shed some tears over the close quarters. There was simply nowhere for any of us to go in there. I was flying home with our precious cargo, and my husband would drive our car back home. It had been a blessing to have our car while we were in Houston, but I wished my husband could fly home with us. We simply could not afford the extra plane tickets for us all to fly, though. Instead, he dropped us off at Houston Hobby and was on the road before we were in the air.

The trip home was uneventful; a nice change from the experience we had flying in July. Aside from a gate change that caused me momentary panic, there was nothing to report. My child, though difficult to dress, was an angel, and my parents picked us up.

We had spent the week bribing our daughter to use the potty again, because she had stopped right before our trip to Texas. Our beloved dog had died, and our daughter missed her best friend. To make sure we knew it, she decided she would take matters into her own hands and rebel. So, we promised her a puppy. What can I say? We were desperate. Once you have had a potty-trained kid, you do NOT care to go back. It is an indescribable joy, to have a potty-trained toddler. She wasn't even 2 yet. I was not above bribery. It seemed to work. By the time we were on the plane home, every time you sat her down on the toilet, she would pee and say " I want a puppy." She got it. She knew what she was doing. Puppies come from peeing in the potty.

We were home by noon. It was wonderful to be back. We prepared for said puppy, visited all the toys we had missed while we were gone (I had put up all the toys requiring two hands before we left), and demanded to know where Daddy was. To my surprise, he was home before midnight that same night. While I don't recommend that you send your spouse on a cross-country drive alone, but I was seriously thrilled that he got home the same day I did. We were all so emotional and exhausted. We needed to be together, even though we couldn't stand to look at each other anymore!

Warning: Do not be fooled. A nearly two-year-old with an immobilized arm is NOT slower-moving than a two-armed tot. A child in this contraption has been given a weapon. There is now a club on her arm. Beware the spinning Triangle Tilt Survivor. There will be certain destruction. There will be climbing. There will be havoc wreaked!

We had survived yet another trial. We were home. She was going to be okay.

And maybe we won't need that third surgery after all. Guess it's back to waiting. Soon we will see what that arm can do.