It's Been a Long Road

So this is it….
Tomorrow is the true test. Has Liz’s work paid off?

The girl rehabbed herself into a frenzy (and by my girl, I mean me at times - but the point is, she did it.)

At the beginning, she was all for it. She never complained about workouts or not wanting to go do the exercises. And then she was released. In August, she was allowed to do "soccer-controlled motions." NO CONTACT. I set up a lesson with Coach #4 and she barely made it through the 45 minute session.

A couple weeks and lessons after that, I set her up to go practice with a younger team. She knew what her boundaries were. She knew what she was allowed to do and she knew what she wasn’t. I left the fields for 25 minutes tops, to go find some special school supply she needed the next day. Upon my return, she was scrimmaging.

I started walking out to the fields, to drag her off by her ponytail, but practice was over. She walked over and said, “I kinda hurt my knee. I sort of stepped too hard and it just hurt for a second.”

Me Thinking: “DO NOT PANIC. DO NOT START SCREAMING. Wait until we get in the car.”

But when I got in the car I asked her why she scrimmaged when she knew she shouldn’t have. Her response: “He gave me the opportunity, I wanted to play, so I took it.” Absolutely no remorse.

So, I had no remorse when I told her, that she wouldn’t be going back to practice until she was fully released, so I hoped she missed the elliptical.

She began working out twice a week with Coach #4 and hit the “Y” four times a week until she was fully released by Dr. Elrod. Then we went back with the younger team. She did better at every practice but I still worry about her speed and endurance….and footskills….and….

She is not worried at all. (Or so she says.) She just wants to play. She wants a team again. Evidently, I am not a good workout partner. (Incidently, I don’t work out while she’s there. I hold a timer and count.)

She’s definitely strong enough. I am excited for her return. She is ready to play.

When this first happened, someone told me that the rehab will go by so quickly. I haven’t felt that yet. It’s been a long,tedious, anxiety-driven road. And she, for the most part, was really accepting of it.

But tomorrow is a new beginning. New coach, new team, new uniform. We’ll see how it goes. It’s what she’s been working for. Fingers crossed. Toes crossed.

Unlucky

I was first introduced to the term “unlucky” when my daughter played for Coach #1. The girls were eight years old. The girls would shank a ball, make a ridiculous pass or score on themselves and Coach #1 would yell, “Unlucky! Next time….”

From that point on, I have said “Unlucky!” whether we were really unlucky or if she just weren’t playing well.

Lately, I have come to truly find out the meaning of the term. My family and I have endured some bad, bad luck.

When my kids were very small, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. About a year and a half ago, Sister #4 was diagnosed. She is a data-type girl and wanted to find out if there was a genetic relation to my mother’s cancer. Sister #4 tested positive for BRCA1 gene.

Lots of soul searching ensued and Sisters 1,2,3 and me had to decide whether or not to get tested.

In the meantime, I have had an extra large kidney stones (Hospital stay included). Hubs had a kidney stone. My boy had appendicitis and then Liz with ACL injury.

Sister #4 ended up with some serious treatment for her cancer diagnosis. Another sister ended up with gene. Another sister ended up without the gene and I had decided not to get tested,simply because I did not want to know.

AND ACL recovery is like a second job. I didn’t have the time or the mental capacity to deal with much more than being a Rehab Nazi Mom.

Anyhow, problems ensued and I ended up having the test and testing positive for the gene.

For a while - a long while, I tried to pretend like I didn’t test. I tried to pretend like I was going to live with these issues. I did a lot of research, talked to ALOT of doctors,and finally ended up deciding to have a bilateral masectomy with reconstruction and later I will have another surgery to have some other parts of me removed.

That’s pretty unlucky - wouldn’t you say?

Well, it gets better.

We packed up the boy and dropped him off for Governor’s school for the summer. On his 16th birthday, I drove his car to work so that Hubs could get my tags on my car. On the way to work, I rammed into the back of someone and totaled it.

Nervous breakdown ensued. Seriously, I ran away from home for a weekend. Funny now…. not so funny that weekend.

Finally get that taken care of…. (with the help of some dear friends). Turned around twice and my surgery date was here.

Two Fridays before my surgery, my mom went to the doctor and came home with bad news. The bad news got worse and the Friday I came home from the hospital it was ovarian cancer. Stage 4. My momma is sick. Very sick.

NOW - That is some unlucky BS if I ever heard it.

But I was looking for some pictures of her and I found one of her and my dad on a recent family trip to Florida. I must have stared at that picture for 10 minutes. I looked at every
millimeter of their faces and do you know what I realized…. I AM NOT UNLUCKY AT ALL.

My mom was my mom for forty years and counting. And my dad has been my dad. And he adores her. My family has done exactly what my mother and father have taught us to do in this situation. PONY UP. Help each other however and whenever you can. MAKE WHATEVER NEEDS TO HAPPEN - HAPPEN. They modeled this behavior for as long as I can remember.

My friends have been wonderful to me and have come from near and far to help us. People have been praying for me, my mom and my family that I haven’t seen in years. People have taken care of us. They insist on helping.

I want to thank the doctor at work that privately guided me through my surgery. To my boss and my co-worker that wouldn’t let me back out when I wanted to. To MPIC who was there always and still is. To my sweet girlfriend/sister that came down to spend a weekend with me before my surgery. To my sisters who have taken care of me and taken care of my mom and dad while I can't. To my kids who have lifted anything over five pounds for me in the last two weeks. To my husband that I love with all of my heart. I don’t know what I would do without you (or your humor). I am grateful for all of it…. and very, very lucky.

In other news, Liz is released. And watching soccer will again be in future.

Dear Soccer Gods,

If you could take one thing away from soccer, please make it this time of year – the time that you and your 13-year-old daughter have to make decisions that we don't want to make today or ever. The one decision I would like to procrastinate on-but the one that I want to be made so quickly just to get this sick feeling out of my stomach.

The decisions that change, not within the hour or even minute... Within the moment.

Please take away my memory of all the good times and friends we have made and let us make our decisions based solely on why we do this...

Oh wait, don't do that... Those memories are too good for a person to forget. It is those moments in time, those experiences, those struggles and those successes that have made my daughter the person she is - and despite having her mother as a role model-she is a pretty good person.

Show us something measurable to make my decisions easier.

Oh wait, don't do that, because the easiest thing to measure is our record... And it wasn't that good this season. And that is a memory I would like to forget.

Show me a way to measure the love of a teammate, the love of the game, the feeling of being successful - whether it is with the team or individually.

Turn my bathroom mirror into a foggy crystal ball, so that I can see the future and know that the time and money I have spent so far in this lifetime on soccer teams, soccer training, soccer travel, soccer coaching isn’t going to end with a daughter becoming the ‘star’ of “16 and Pregnant-Season 8” and has instead kept her from that and made her into a stronger, successful woman who can handle the pressures that come with being a mom.

Sincerely,
Me

PS – I would like to apologize to my daughter. For several weeks, I believed that this was all for not. I had a momentary lapse in judgment and stopped believing in your potential. And although, I don’t want to be the mom that wears rose-colored glasses, I owe it to you to wear a pair that are at minimum tinted a very light shade of pink.

I can only hope that even though this past couple of weeks have been rough on you and have tested the lines of friendships that you have been so sure about for years, you will have learned something that will really, truly matter later in life.

You have a rough road ahead of you and I love you just a little more for taking the hard road. (And I appreciate you taking my advice about taking the high road – sometimes that is the hardest road of them all.)

Love you,
Mom

Workin' It

This rehab stuff is like a second job. We have to plan for it and plan around it. Twice a day she spends 30-45 minutes building muscles and working on range of motion.

Her first workout of the day usually starts before she gets out of bed. She usually flips her comforter off of her body and starts her leg lifts - yelling 1,2,1; 1,2,2; 1,2,3. She yells it at me to make sure I know she's doing it (and to make sure I know that she doesn't want to do it right at that time.) By her third exercise, I usually go in and sit with her for a while so that she can zone out on Spongebob while I count/time her reps.

Some mornings I also get accused of counting wrong or starting the timer late. It's always before my first cup of coffee - so every once in a while, it's probably a legitimate gripe.

About two weeks ago, we had a follow-up appointment with her surgeon. It went very well. The x-rays looked great. He watched her walk and looked at her muscle strength. They talked about how stable she her knee felt and he told her she didn't have to wear that gigantic brace anymore.

He said in five or six weeks she could come get fitted for her athletic brace and then she could start running. Liz said, "And playing soccer?" He laughed and said, "No. It will be a few more weeks after that."

She quickly said, "What day?"

He looked at a calendar and somehow, they came to July 31 as the day she would be able to start soccer-controlled movements with a ball.

I don't think either of us are really sure that means, but it is something for her to look forward to.

The next day she started on the elliptical. And even though I have been here every day to see every small tidbit of accomplishment - seeing her on the elliptical was - a proud mom moment.



So now, for her second workout of the day, she alternates between swimming laps or the elliptical.(FYI - Waterproof iPod - awesome purchase)

Everyday she swims longer than she did the day before. Everyday she maintain a higher resistance for a longer period on the elliptical.

According to the doctor, she can probably start practicing in August (or sooner) and by mid-September (give or take a week) full-speed games.

September seems pretty far away... but July 31 is just around the corner!


Calf Muscle - Photo taken May 27,2013
Definitely improved!

Week 2.5

So the doctor’s appointment went really well. They were surprised at her minimal bruising and lack of swelling. Three people told us it was really good sign that she was already at full extension. They took a couple of x-rays, which looked great. And they removed her dressing. The incision sites looked fabulous. They took out the stitches and the rest will dissolve.



He told her that she could start weight bearing and could come off the crutches when she was ready. Evidently, she was ready as we were walking out of the doctors office… But her leg was not. She wobbled a little and almost fell down. (Really Liz??) I cursed and she giggled and said, “Oops, that didn’t happen.”

We went straight to therapy. It’s sort of mixed bag of tricks for her injury. The protocols for ACL are not at all the same as the protocols for the meniscus tear.

She could do most everything the therapist asked, the one thing she couldn’t do was a straight leg raises in supine position. The therapist had to help her. On Saturday, so did I. But by Sunday morning, she could do it 30 times by herself.

On Saturday she went to her soccer game and Coach #4 gave her a clipboard and asked her to keep stats. The girls won! Some of us went to lunch afterwards and there were a lot of laughs. But when we got home the swelling was the worst I had seen it. She admitted to being in pain, so we elevated and iced for the rest of the night and Sunday morning, it was looking good again.

After Sunday’s game, (another win! Cha-Ching), she said that her knee really hurt and again the swelling was bad. We didn’t time the pain medicine well. (Rookie mistake.) And she was so tired. Four weeks ago, she could play a 70-minute soccer game and now, she gets tired after watching one.

I was afraid to send her to school the next day – but I did. She went to therapy that Monday too. She could bend her knee to 60 degrees and her balancing wasn’t great. Her therapist said, "If you don't get that knee to 90 soon, I'M going to have to get it there." EEK.

By Tuesday, she was off crutches! (As long as she wears her brace.)



At Wednesday's therapy session, she was at 78. Much improved!

This past weekend, the team had two state league games. One tie and one loss.
On Saturday, the girls owned that team. They just couldn't get it in the net. The Sunday game was brutal.

Yesterday at therapy, her PT added several new exercises. Liz said it was painful. BUT, she made it to 100 degrees and full extension! So the home exercises are working.


Physically, she's doing great. Mentally, the last couple days have been challenging. She wants to play soccer.

We found another blogger (www.runharperrun.com) that had ACL surgery two days before Liz. I was messaging him today and he said he was "trying to stay focused and positive, this injury is more mental than physical I believe."

Believe that.

And one last update... Calf comparison photo. (Taken today) You don't have to be crazy to see a difference this time.

One Week Down - Many to Go!

Wow!

It’s been a busy few days.

The first night was painful. Painful for her and painful for me to watch.

Saturday
When she woke up on Saturday, the only thing she wanted was that wrap off of her leg. Her foot was swollen and her thigh was swollen. It hurt if anyone touched her leg or her foot.

My sister is an Occupational Therapist, so I called her to come over to help change the dressing. While we were waiting, MyGirl just couldn’t stand it, so I slowly started taking the ACE Bandage off - only to find that there were three bandages wrapped tightly around her leg. We would take one off, wait a minute and then take the other one off.



It was a relief and a nightmare because after we got them all off, we had to put on a compression sleeve. (NIGHT. MARE.)

That whole day she winced before we even touched her. But, when her friends came to visit, she would be able to forget about her knee for a few minutes and enjoy the company.

Sunday
On day 2, my sister came over again to help with the shower. I do not know what people do if they don’t have an Occupational Therapist for a sister. We weren’t allowed to get her leg wet; she couldn’t take off her brace and she couldn’t put any pressure on her foot. My sister brought two things with her that I never realized I needed - a shower chair and a hand-held shower.

Liz stood up and my sister “bagged” her leg in one minute flat – trash bag and papertape. Liz hobbled into the bathroom and sat down on the shower chair and my sister slowly lifted her leg over the tub. Liz couldn’t put her foot directly on the tub floor because the angle was painfully awkward. Right before my eyes, my sister pulled two tupperware containers of different heights out of nowhere and MyGirl had a shower foot rest too!

The shower lasted all of 10 minutes. Liz crutched back to her room, my sis pulled that bag off and helped her get dressed. Not a single drop of water on that brace. AMAZING – especially considering when Liz has two good knees there are no 10-minute showers happening at our house.

She was EXHAUSTED by the time she got back in the bed. We tried to do therapy that day too. It was hard and she just couldn’t do it – and I just couldn’t make her.

Monday
The next day was better and we tried the therapy again. We were able to get through it. I had to help her lift her legs and keep my hand under her knee. If she had said, “Mom, I just can’t do it.” I would have said that she didn’t have to do it - ever again. But she battled through and by the time we did it the second time that day, she did much better.

Tuesday
Therapy was much easier. She could lift her bad leg by herself and no one had to put their hand under her knee. My sister came over to give her another shower. The prep time was shorter but the shower lasted a bit longer. She was able to get dressed by herself too – it took ten long minutes, but she did it.

Tuesday night, Hubs woke up to find that she decided to unplug herself from her polar pack, lift her bad leg out of bed with her good leg, somehow snag her crutches and go to the bathroom by herself. WTHeck??? (When I found out, I almost flipped but at the same time I was relieved because I knew she had to be feeling better!)

Now, she’s doing pretty well – considering she hasn’t left her bedroom for six days. Tomorrow, physician follow-up appointment, stitches out and maybe, no crutches. At this point she has not been able to bear any weight through her leg, but tomorrow, he supposed to take her off of her crutches. We will see!

Can you believe we are only one week from being able to ride a stationary bike and 9 weeks from running?

Meanwhile, the team came in second place in the Bash in the Boro and has two state league games this weekend. Liz should be able to be there to cheer them on!

Day of Surgery

Well, yesterday went pretty well. Of course, there were a few bumps in the road, but hey, what are you going to do?

The night before surgery, we were going through the list of everything the surgery center had told us. Baggy sweatpants/Shorts, no nail polish, no make up, no body spray, no perfume, no food after midnight.

Some of her teammates stopped over to see her and bring her some gifts, which was great. She wanted sushi for dinner, which was fine with me...hubs wasn't quite as excited.

When we got back I put clean sheets on her bed and she took a shower with disinfecting soap - required by me, not by the surgery center. (Maybe a little crazy, but we will use any advantage for a good recovery) I would have preferred the disinfecting shower to take place the morning of, but Liz wanted to have time to straighten her hair in the morning even if it meant getting up at 4 am to do it. And she did... without a single complaint.

On the way out of town, I stopped and picked up my sister and we were off to Baptist. When we arrived, we registered and within 15-20 minutes, Liz and I headed back to the pre-op area to get ready. The nurse asked us tons of questions and told us exactly what to expect. Liz was funny and made a couple of sarcastic jokes at my expense.


Please, notice the straight hair!

Then the nurse told me about the option for a femoral nerve block. I had read about it when doing my research, but they hadn't mentioned it to me, so I didn't think it was an option for us. I was glad it was an option because it meant for the first 12-18 hours she would have almost no knee pain.

Then the anesthesiologist comes in. He was a calm, mid-50's guy with an English accent. He's going through the drill of asking Liz all the normal questions and pulling needles and gauze pads together out of drawers and then asks how she injured her leg. She said, "Soccer." He stopped what he was doing, looked at her and says, "Socca is my LIFE!" He asked what position she played. They both played center midfield so that gave them even more to talk about. It was probably calming for Liz, but in my mind, I'm thinking, "Umm, about this surgery..." (He was actually very good and would request him again.)

I had to leave when they actually started the IV and femoral block, but then I got to go back to pre-op until they took her back for surgery. The medication made her a little emotional and little loopy. One nurse asked her if she felt drunk and she said, "Umm, I don't know, I've never had a drink before."

Her surgeon came in and talked to her. He marked the knee for surgery with his initials and wrote "NO" on the good knee. He told us the surgery would take about an hour and half, maybe two hours if he had to do some extra procedures.




They came and got her and I started the countdown.

So we went to the waiting room - to wait.

The doctor came out and gave us a rundown of how the surgery went. The ACL replacement went well. He started drawing pictures of her knee and explained that her meniscus was torn in several places. He thinks she had a couple of those tears before the ACL tear and the ACL injury basically shredded it. He had to choose whether to repair it or remover 80% of it. He said that since she is so young, he thought that most of it could be saved. So, he stitched it up, took some blood from her arm, extracted the platelets from the blood and packed the platelets around the meniscus to help it heal. Then he brought out the pictures he took during the surgery. He took a picture of meniscus opposite the injured side of her knee that is fine. And a picture of the stitched up meniscus. I thought it was amazing.


Torn Meniscus


Repaired Meniscus

He gave us some exercises for her to start the following day and said we could see her in recovery in 50 minutes. I started the clock. At 48 minutes, every time someone came out the door and they didn't call "Tank Family," I felt like I got punched. Then it was 60 minutes, then 70. Finally, at 78 minutes, they call, "Elizabeth Tank." As we are walking back, the nurse told us that she is having a lot of pain in the back of her knee. (The femoral block only covers the top and sides of the knee.) When we made it to her recovery bay, I felt my face make "that face" that I make when I see something I am not supposed to be seeing. She was visibly in pain - ALOT of pain. Our English anesthesiologist came over and explained we may have to give her a sciatic block, but they would try to push some IV pain meds first. Her pain level went from 10 out of 10 - to 8 out of 10. More IV meds - 5 out of 10. More IV meds - 2 out of 10. The nurse looked at me and says, "I'm going to step out to give you some privacy and let her get dressed."

Umm, Huh?? Really? 30 minutes ago, we were planning on another block, now we are pulling our car around? In about 15 minutes, we were headed back to Murfreesboro.

We got her home and set her up in the recliner and plug in her polar cooler. It's not working. Reconnect all the tubes and switches... still not working. FRICK!!! I got back in my car and drove back to Nashville to get another cooler. On the ride home from Nashville, I plugged in my iPod and listened to Aretha Franklin's version of "Bridge over Troubled Water" 11 times. That cooler worked - Thank God!

She had some more teammates come by. And her coach and her trainer. Her block was still working and so were her oral pain meds, so she was in a great mood. Before her coach came, she said,"Mom, take this sprite, I don't want coach to see me drinking this." I said, "You just had surgery, he won't mind." She said, "Mom! We are in season."

Her team played a game last night at 8 pm in club's tournament. We were getting updates and she was teary for the first half. They ended up tie-ing. Tonight will be better!

Her block wore off at about 10:30 pm. Needless to say she had a rough night - ROUGH. It's 9 am and she's sleeping now though.

Today - dressing change and home exercises begin. CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR US!

Surgery Ready

The Monday I found out that Liz had an ACL tear, I sat down and started reading about surgeries, rehabs and recovery times. Good grief, there are a lot of opinions out there - a lot.

I read some personal stories that made me hopeful and some that made me sick to my stomach. But, I read enough to have an idea of what would be happening to MyGirl and the questions I needed to ask.

I waffled so much on whether we should use a Sports Medicine Orthopaedic or a Pediatric Orthopaedic that it made my eye twitch. As a matter of fact, I think my eye twitched so much I was winking at people for three days. Well, we decided on Sports Medicine and I was very lucky to be able to get into to see the surgeon in less than 48 hours. It helped that I already had the MRI.

After seeing the surgeon, I felt so much better. I can't decide if it's because of what he told me or because we now had a plan. I needed a plan. He was confident, but not arrogant. He was knowledgeable, but didn't talk over my head. He spoke directly to MyGirl and answered all my questions.

He examined her and was happy with her range of motion and lack of swelling.



He showed us her MRI and pointed out where the ACL is supposed to be. He used a model to show us how the twisting caused the ACL to snap and the bones to smash together which caused bone bruises. He showed us how the bones pushed out and caused the strain on the MCL and the meniscus to tear.

We talked about using a patellar tendon from a cadaver to replace the ACL. We talked about using her own patellar tendon. We talked about using part of her hamstring. We decided on using her own patellar tendon. It was all very--doomsday.

Then he told us about the recovery. I wrote:
Two weeks of range of motion/ strength training physical therapy before the surgery.
Have surgery
Crutches for one week
Begin Thereapy, walk for one week - no crutches
Add Stationary bike and elliptical
10-12 weeks - running
5-6 sprinting/soccer controlled movements Assess and prepare to play. (I don’t remember if that was 5-6 weeks later or 5-6 months after surgery but I will find out.)

Her spirits were better than they were when we heard the awful news and he had given her a new brace that made her a lot more mobile and that she didn't need crutches.



She went to watch practice that Wednesday night in the snow AMA (against mom's advice).

I texted: "It is snowing."
MyGirl: "I know, I love it."
Me: "Do you want to go, or stick it out?:
MyGirl: "STICK IT OUT"

I don't know why I didn't want her to go/stay except that there was a small part of me that wanted her to live inside of a snow globe that I carried in my pocket.

I sat in the parking lot and watched her kick a ball - it almost looked like a dribble. I almost had a come-apart in my car. (Thinking: Would it embarrass her if I drag her off the field by her ponytail?) Since then, I have calmed down. That massive brace stabilizes her knee and it's not like her ACL is going to tear any more...

She went to her first therapy session the next day. About 30 minutes in, I got a text from hubs that said: "Stretching hamstrings. First sign of tears."

That may have made my eyes water - you know, the pollen has been really bad - in my car - on I-24.

Now, it's been two weeks - four therapy sessions with the physical therapist, home therapy twice a day and pool therapy three times a week.





Check out these pictures. It's crazy how fast things happen. Her therapists told us that we wouldn't believe how much muscle loss she will have in such a short amount of time. The first photo is from Monday, March 25, her second therapy session. Just 10 days post injury, there is a noticeable difference in her calf muscles. The second picture is from today, April 2 - just eight days later - a huge difference. I see it at least... but then again, I'm borderline crazy some days.




As of yesterday, there was no noticeable swelling. She can bend her injured knee 130 degrees on her own (Good knee is 135 degrees) and she can fully extend her leg. Her hamstring stretches are no problem and she can pedal a stationary bike for 20 minutes non-stop (no pain, no tears).

She is ready for surgery. I just hope I will be by Friday. Fingers Crossed.

Beware of the Ides of March

This blog is likely going to change tones. I'm almost positive that my readership of 10 will decrease to three-which is fine. Because as we all know, I write this for myself. MyGirl, my sweet, snarky, 13-year-old girl, endured a knee injury Saturday. Turns out it was an ACL and Meniscus tear. We don't know exactly what that means yet, but we know it ain't good. It's heart wrenching. As soon as she fell, she yelled, "Oh no! Oh my god, No!" I dropped my stuff and started running towards her because I know her and I have never heard her yell like that before.... Ever. Well, except for that one time that she broke her leg. I pulled up to practice just in time to hear her cry out, be carried to my car and make it to the urgent care before it closed -broken leg. As a baby, she cried incessantly-for two and a half years. But after that, the crying stopped. She rarely cried when she fell down, smashed fingers or even the time she got a black eye from running into the service counter at the primary school. I was not the kind of mom that would give my baby Benadryl to calm her own, but I was definitely the kind that would drop her off at Grandma's to get a break from the crying. Mamu always had the patience when I did not. She would always do things for Mamu that she wouldn't do for me- namely, stop crying. Anyway, she hurt herself, the Coach #4 called for us to come and get her, and there we were. She heard a pop. (Dang!) I knew we had to get her off the field, I knew I couldn't carry her more than five feet, I knew she was going to the ER. There are two things I will never forget about that day. One: one of the dads and his friend came down to help carry her to the car. The gate was locked and the had to lift her over a five-foot chain linked fence. Liz reminded me today that I said, "Someone should take a picture of this." I don't remember that... But it does sound like me. Second: the overwhelming support her teammates have given her and their parents have given me. I'm not very big on feelings. I'm getting better at it.... I figured out over the past year with all of the bad luck we have had, people love my kid (both of them actually) and that means that I have done two things right in my life. Today, MPIC called to check on me. I tried to hold back but I cried. (I was due.) She shed a few tears with me and said, "She is strong and she will be fine and she has you behind her." Choking back tears, I said, "And you." (Water works) When MyGirl thinks for a second that she can't do something, I will push her. All of our friends will tell her that she can. And when she really thinks she can't do something, we will call in the last resort - Mamu. Today, we cry and sulk and lay around and watch movies. Tomorrow- the road to recovery begins. P.S. Dear God, thank you for the friends and family I have. Thank you for the friends that MyGirl has. Thank you for giving her a team. Thank you for my husband who has tolerated my anxiety and helped me remain somewhat composed. Thank you for giving me a daughter that will make the best of this situation and a son that will help her and keep us laughing as we Forrest Gump our way through it.

Chapter 4 - The Next Generation

Okay – I’m back. It’s been such a long time that I feel like I should start fresh and delete all the old posts. But, I won’t, because I read through some of the old ones and I am kind of funny - and modest... definitely modest.

Well, I don’t even know where to begin.

If I were to write a blog to catch you up on how the girls did last year, it would be titled, “The Ties the Bind.” Last spring, they tied so many games in state league they almost missed an opportunity to play in the state tournament. But they eeked in and finished third in the state.

And although it was disheartening and sad on that Saturday, the girls played some FANTASTIC soccer during the state tournament. They were ballers. It was an intense game and we were ahead for a little while but alas, it ended in a tie. They tied the team that won the tournament.

The fall season came and went. They missed their high school friends for part of the fall season and were so happy to be reunited in November. Three tournaments entered - two championships and one finalist. Not a bad way to end an “era.”

Coach #3 has moved on. The girls miss him but still see him around. There will always be a place in their heart for Coach Bill. (And for Coach Chris.) They are good people. And good coaches. And another team will enjoy the fruits of their labors as they make another team of champions for our club.

We now have Coach #4. I don’t think I’ll ever forget our first parent meeting with him. (If I remembered it the next morning, I’m sure I can remember it forever.)

We were in Atlanta and the soccer tournament directors hooked our team up with two early games and we were done playing soccer and back to the hotel by 2 pm.

The SEC Football championship between Alabama (Roll Tide) and Georgia (Go Dawgs) was being played that evening. The game started at 4 pm (I think) and we had scheduled our parent meeting at 7ish. Plenty of time to have a cocktail or two (or six).

Well the football game was awesome. And Coach #4 was a little late. Even though most of us were rooting for Georgia and they lost, (Sorry Merry), we were all in a pretty good mood. So we headed down to the pool deck (with coolers in tow) and found our seats. And that’s when Coach #4 put the big trick on us.

I had envisioned him standing in front of us, telling us about his family and how he got interested in soccer. But instead, he turned it around on us. We all had to go around and tell him about our family and how our daughters got interested in soccer, their strengths, their weaknesses and our hopes for the team.

There were some funny moments, some serious moments and some complete ridiculousness. (Two-and-a-half hours of it.)

If loose lips sink ships, there is an armada of ships somewhere twenty-thousand leagues under the sea right now.

Coach #4 - Welcome aboard!

The girls worked hard for him over the winter and they had their first outdoor games this past weekend. I’m just going to glaze over the play-by-play for those games and start fresh again later.

Coach K says, "It's a process." And so did Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in Moneyball. I love me Coach K, but Brad Pitt is much easier on the eyes.