February 15, 2010
Good news!!!!!
Walter had a check-up today. His leg has been deemed 100% healed! He will still have a severe limp for up to some months and the leg is weak, but physiotherapy and time will take care of those and the big lump on the bone. He may now walk, run, jump, climb, whatever he likes with no crutches! He can make it sore through such but can't do any damage to it anymore. Yay!!!!! Three days short of three months since the accident and we can finally say, "He's OK, folks!"
Posted by Katrina at 07:37 PM
February 07, 2010
Framing post! read and scroll down.
Don't forget the entries go UP! I repeat, UP! Read this one, then scroll down until you see THIS SAME MESSAGE AGAIN, and start reading upward to go in chronological order. I'll try to keep the blog up to date now.
There is so much to share. We'll have to gloss over it gently and quickly. Let's see...
July 2009-- Danny's entire department was laid off, sparking a massive battle against evil shenanigans to get the 2/3 of his severance pay we managed.
August 2009-- I started a 2-month temp job at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, working reception and eventually also doing translation and adding metadata to photos for the Image Bank.
September 2009-- we lost my beloved grandfather. He will be deeply missed. I will find time very soon to post a list of links to tributes to him. We were unable to go to the memorial service because...
November 2009-- Walter was on the way to school with my neighbor, and ignored her admonishments in order to play a game. This involved running into the street. He was hit by a car and his lower right leg was shattered. 5 days in the hospital, 9 weeks in a cast. A true nightmare for us all. He is on crutches now and doing well. It may take a year, but he WILL make a full recovery.
Huge amounts of detail have been and will be left out of this in an attempt to just start afresh with this blog. I'm going to post this notice at the top AND bottom of all the picture entries I'm about to upload. Since the above, I worked at a Limbo temp job of utter tedium at Mitsubishi and a fascinating temp job at the Netherlands Institute for the Neurosciences. Danny took care of poor Walter. Now I have just started a permanent position at the Institute for War Documentation, so things are marginally less Utterly Extreme now. Please write with questions, remind me of things left out, generally get in touch... Now for those pictures, in no particular order.
Posted by Katrina at 10:02 PM
After that duck again...
... this time with a camera. Yes, I have his picture, yes I'll upload it soon.
Posted by Katrina at 10:00 PM
Finally his cheery self again!
Posted by Katrina at 09:59 PM
This swing was actually pretty scary... Walter didn't think so but I did.
Posted by Katrina at 09:58 PM
Happy to be able to do some things without crutches (and tending to overdo it often).
Posted by Katrina at 09:57 PM
My favorite thing Walter's made recently
Posted by Katrina at 09:56 PM
Arguably Walter's favorite Christmas present. Behold Mandark and DeeDee!
Posted by Katrina at 09:55 PM
My Zygopetalum orchids are blooming!
Posted by Katrina at 09:54 PM
I have his picture; I'll get all his photos up soon. Meanwhile they are on Facebook.
Posted by Katrina at 09:53 PM
Finally genuinely out and about!
Posted by Katrina at 09:52 PM
The dog knows how to sack out.
Posted by Katrina at 09:51 PM
Look out! The boy's armed! (Don't worry, it's Nerf...)
Posted by Katrina at 09:50 PM
The REALLY snowy day... out the front window.
Posted by Katrina at 09:49 PM
Chasing a duck at the kinderborderij
Posted by Katrina at 09:48 PM
First time outside without a wheelchair since the accident
The facial expression is because he wants to get going, not pose for photos.
Posted by Katrina at 09:47 PM
Saskia is not sure about this gift...
Posted by Katrina at 09:46 PM
Supertoy!
One of my temp jobs gave me gift certificates for Christmas, and I used them to get Walter this cutting edge robot panda. I mean Santa did.
Posted by Katrina at 09:42 PM
It was a real hit! He'd never heard of one, but insisted he's wanted one "his whole life" once he started playing.
Posted by Katrina at 09:41 PM
Checking out a Christmas present
Posted by Katrina at 09:40 PM
Awake on Xmas morning!
Posted by Katrina at 09:39 PM
Our original plans for the holiday card didn't work out so well.
Posted by Katrina at 09:38 PM
Smart boy! Missing foam letter? No problem!
Posted by Katrina at 09:37 PM
Too snowy for wheelchairs, too slippery for crutches. This was the only solution!
Posted by Katrina at 09:36 PM
Walter found a frost-edged leaf
Posted by Katrina at 09:35 PM
It got frosty!
Posted by Katrina at 09:35 PM
Trimming the tree
Posted by Katrina at 09:34 PM
Sinterklaas brought presents!
Posted by Katrina at 09:33 PM
Walter explains his troubles to Sinterklaas, in his classroom at school
Posted by Katrina at 09:32 PM
At home, green cast.
Walter's casts were, in order, white plaster, green, orange, red, purple, white plaster (temporary after the cast-got-wet event), black.
Posted by Katrina at 09:29 PM
Finally home; Nightmare Day 6
Posted by Katrina at 09:28 PM
It's a really good hospital
Posted by Katrina at 09:27 PM
In the hospital after the accident
This is Day 3. I never want to see anyone go through days 1 and 2 again as long as I live. All uphill from Day 3.
Posted by Katrina at 09:25 PM
It's pretty where we live!
Posted by Katrina at 09:24 PM
Isn't that boy looking sharp!
Found this jacket for no money at all because people were too lazy to repair a zipper.
Posted by Katrina at 09:22 PM
Walter's first Jack O' Lanterns!
He drew the faces on there, I cut them out for him.
Posted by Katrina at 09:21 PM
Birthday party
This is about half of them. The Dutch custom is to leave your kid at the party and go away... that was a hectic day.
Posted by Katrina at 09:19 PM
At school on his birthday
Posted by Katrina at 09:18 PM
5th Birthday Pinata
The boy wants Dikkie Dik, the boy gets Dikkie Dik!
Posted by Katrina at 09:17 PM
One ceiling in the building I work in
Posted by Katrina at 09:16 PM
The famous stairs in the building I work in
Posted by Katrina at 09:15 PM
The building I work in
Posted by Katrina at 09:14 PM
Walter and Kraiwin paint the bakfiets interior
I'll get some pics of the exterior, which I painted with cave paintings, up soon!
Posted by Katrina at 07:25 PM
We're sorry the blog lapsed again!
There is so much to share. We'll have to gloss over it gently and quickly. Let's see...
July 2009-- Danny's entire department was laid off, sparking a massive battle against evil shenanigans to get the 2/3 of his severance pay we managed.
August 2009-- I started a 2-month temp job at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, working reception and eventually also doing translation and adding metadata to photos for the Image Bank.
September 2009-- we lost my beloved grandfather. He will be deeply missed. I will find time very soon to post a list of links to tributes to him. We were unable to go to the memorial service because...
November 2009-- Walter was on the way to school with my neighbor, and ignored her admonishments in order to play a game. This involved running into the street. He was hit by a car and his lower right leg was shattered. 5 days in the hospital, 9 weeks in a cast. A true nightmare for us all. He is on crutches now and doing well. It may take a year, but he WILL make a full recovery.
Huge amounts of detail have been and will be left out of this in an attempt to just start afresh with this blog. I'm going to post this notice at the top AND bottom of all the picture entries I'm about to upload. Since the above, I worked at a Limbo temp job of utter tedium at Mitsubishi and a fascinating temp job at the Netherlands Institute for the Neurosciences. Danny took care of poor Walter. Now I have just started a permanent position at the Institute for War Documentation, so things are marginally less Utterly Extreme now. Please write with questions, remind me of things left out, generally get in touch... Now for those pictures, in no particular order.
Posted by Katrina at 07:10 PM