Well, we were 1 for 3 out of our Halloween plans this year. We had our party of the Saturday before Halloween and we all got dressed up and ready. Casey was so excited to have her friends come over. We put her into her wheelchair just as people were starting to arrive and she had a really hard time. Sometimes she is just miserable in her chair. Being that she is almost as tall as me now and over 50 pounds I can’t just carry her all night like I used to. She ended up missing her party all together. I was so sad that she had to go into her room and lay down to calm down instead of playing with her friends.
On the Friday before Halloween I went out really early to pick up donuts for all of her doctors. It was starting to rain, but not awful. After I got home we got Casey out of bed and were preparing to load her up and go deliver donuts to all of her doctors’ offices. We had the news on and the storm came in strong while we were getting our morning routine done. The news was reporting tornados South of Austin and the storm was coming our way. We decided it was not safe to take Casey out so she missed her delivery day too. I went out and dropped stuff off, but hurried to get home before the worst of the storm hit. When I got to the first stop (I had 5 clinics to visit in that building) they were evacuating the clinics to the tunnels for tornado shelter. Those 5 did not get their donuts. We ended up giving double to all of the other clinics. Everyone always looks forward to seeing Casey in her costume. I guess she can take the ones she missed some Christmas cookies or something instead.
On Halloween we laid low all day, then Casey got ready and went trick-or-treating with some of her girlfriends. She did really well. She made it to 5-6 houses and was so happy to be out with her friends. The weather was really nice too. This neighborhood is so great for Casey. She has so many friends and they all make sure she in included in everything.
Casey has been having some rough days and we have still been without a night nurse for 3 nights a week. We haven’t been up for doing much. Casey is taking this session off from dance. She was taking class on Tuesdays, but this year they only had Fridays. Her schedule makes Fridays really hard. We only made one and she didn’t quite get through it. We decided to sit out and hope that the Tuesday class is back next session.
We are planning all of our Holiday events. This year’s Special Needs Holiday Party is going to be the best yet! We already have lots of stuff lined up, donations made for door prizes, and lots of kids signing up. We still have more we are working on too. We are really excited about this party. We are doing our second Angel Ornament Party too. This one is really special to us and something I am so glad we were able to get started.
We have a new night nurse that worked on Halloween and is coming back this weekend to start covering our open 3 nights. I really hope she sticks around. I think once our nights are consistently covered again I can get back to doing a lot of things that have fallen by the wayside. Keep everything crossed that she loves working here, picks up on Casey’s needs quick and sticks around for a very long time. We have a new day nurse that may start working on Fridays and some weekends too. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel- FINALLY!!