We Are Home

Well….we are home….our trip was long….and slightly boring…. We arrived in Portland on the 16^th around 1pm and went directly to the Shriners Hospital. We check into the room we were to be sleeping in, there were a few rules that disappointed us, like no food or dink in the rooms, not even bottled water, and our beds were labeled with our names and we were NOT to sleep in any other bed. They gave a 10 inch television that was mounted securely to the farthest corner of the room (even the alarm clock was screwed down), we wondered who made them do this, who would be petty enough to steal these items from an organization that helped so many children.

Anyway our room looked like any other hotel room and we weren’t going to just hang out. So we talked to a few people and secured some toothpaste and some other items we were not allowed to carry on the plane and we headed out in search of some entertainment.

Shriners was built on a huge hill about half way up. If you continue going up the hill there is a medical school, dental school, and a VA hospital. When I say hill I mean mountain.. So we decided to HIKE or roll Tay up the hill to find some food seeing how if we hiked down there were no sidewalks and after a long walk I was not going to push her back up the darn hill.

So we set off on our adventure….we saw amazing architecture, buildings like we have never seen in Alaska….

Their gardens and foliage were just stunning….many of the plants are the same as in Alaska but ours aren’t anywhere as big….

I have this tree in my yard…but I thought it was supposed to be a bush/hedge.

We saw a few thing that reminded us of home….

And a few things that just blogged us…..what in the heck is a flex car?

After we reached the top of the hill we found what we wanted….”A slice of heaven”….the only restaurant on the hill….which make no sense since we were on a collage campus…we though Fast food would be a necessity. But nope there was only one “Quicky mart”, one pizzeria, and a bank. So for dinner we tried something different a Panini…boy was it yummy…we couldn’t eat it all so we camouflaged it and snuck it back into our room for a late night snack.

After the walk I needed a rest to we went back the hospital and iu splet while tay watched TV. After I woke up we went out to check the cityscape. Shriners had a playground on the roof and what a view we saw. They are building a sky tram from the bottom of the hill to the top…so next time we visit we aren’t stuck on the campus. We sat and watch for a while then decided it was time to sleep.

Next morning we got all packed up again, gathered our food garbage and checked out of our room. After breakfast we headed to the motion lab… this was great fun. Tay enjoyed herself the staff was awesome and the Physical therapist was no terrorist. We came to find out that this is the same technology used in making movies….

They hooked her up to the sensors, shot their video and then compared it to the way a person should walk. With this data they then could tell exactly what bones were out of alignment and the degree they need to move them. They also hooked up electrodes to tell them how them how much electricity her legs were firing off. This will tell them which muscles are getting to much signals from the brain

After the film we saw the doctor….he told us pretty much the same thing the doctor in LA said…. But more….

• Rotate both femurs (upper leg bone) out
• Rotate both tibia (large calf bone) in
• Lengthen both hamstrings
• Shorten the lower ligament to patella, bringing it back to its proper place. Right now it is position above her knee joint.
• And shorten both femors, there is a major nerve behind the knee (they can’t lengthen nerves) and if they stretch her out then that nerve will be damaged and she could loose feeling in her lower legs. So she will loose a little bit of height.

I am thankful we went out of state for this because the LA doc didn’t mention the last two procedures and it could have meant some major damage. The doc at Shriners is booked solid until February so we have a few months to ponder and research.

We high tailed it back to the airport so we could do some shopping and get some food. Our flight home was much more exciting then the flight down… and we are thankful to be home.