Not a good idea

I WAY overdid it today. In the last five weeks, I have only been out of the house for PT and the cul-de-sac party. Today was open house day at the middle school and high school. We left the house at 3:30 to go to the middle school for a meeting with Hannah's resource teacher. The meeting went really well and we really liked the teacher. She or her assistant will be in every single class with Hannah, offering help and making sure her IEP is followed. They also help all the students, so it doesn't get embarrassing for the special ed kids, which I think is great. This was my first time driving in more than 5 weeks. It was a little tricky because I had to sit on a fluffy pillow and try to keep my left thigh off the seat as much as possible.

When the teacher meeting ended, we had to go straight to the high school for Luke and his best friend, Stephen B., to pick up their schedules and meet all their teachers. We got there when there was only about 30 minutes left, but we managed to see all of their teachers and still get out of there only about 15 minutes after it officially ended.

Then we had to head back to the middle school for Alex and Hannah's open house. That was a little chaotic, since they had it set up differently this year and no one knew what to do. It was also very crowded, so it was a lot of fun maneuvering the wheelchair around the crowds. I can never figure out why groups of people will stop in the middle of a doorway or hallway to talk, when they are clearly blocking everyone else. We went to see Hannah's teachers first and they all seemed pretty nice. Steven was on the same team as Hannah, when he was in 6th grade, so a couple of the teachers remembered him, even though he was there 7 years ago. Some of Alex's 8th grade teachers also remembered him. I guess they tend to remember the kids who excel and those who are troublemakers. I won't say which group Steven is in!!! Then we headed over to the 8th grade hall, with Alex pushing my wheelchair. Hannah had pushed me when we went to her classes, as Luke and Stephen B. had headed straight to the choir room to hang out with their most beloved teacher, Mrs. Stone. I think I mentioned before that Alex was extremely embarrassed to have me in a wheelchair to begin with and pushing it was apparently the last straw. He was so obnoxious that I had to restrain myself from jumping out of the wheelchair and smacking him across his smart-ass little mouth! Since I don't want to model violence, my other option was to make him pull over a couple of times, while I quietly, but firmly told him to knock off the attitude and behave. That didn't work, by the way. Anyway, we got to meet all of the teachers and he only abandoned me once, when he suddenly zipped down another hall, yelling over his shoulder as he ran, "I'll be right back, I see some friends." He was around the corner before I even realized he was going, so I had no chance to yell, "Don't leave me here!". So there I sat, in the middle of the hallway, waiting for him to come back. The hallways go in kind of a square, so a few minutes later, I see him ahead of me, walking away, not towards me. Luckily the hall was pretty empty at that time, so when I hollered to him, he heard me. He had been walking quickly away with three girls. By the way, he had already hugged at least 25 girls by this time, we had to stop every few feet, whenever we heard those high pitched screams of "ALLLLLLEEEEEX!" So he hears me yell his name, turns around and yells to the girls, "Oh my gosh, I forgot my mom!" Thank you, son. At least he apologized for forgetting me, so that lessened my urge to smack quite a bit!

We got out of the middle school at 7:00 and by this time, my leg was KILLING me. That probably contributed to my desire to commit physical violence! It had started to get sore about halfway through the high school open house and by the time I got home, it was so painful I could barely make it up the driveway and stairs. I went straight to my room and plopped on the bed, where it has continued to ache for the last two hours, even though I've taken a double dose of painkillers. Ugh!

Tomorrow we only have the elementary school open house, with only one child attending, so that should be quick and easy, thank goodness! I just hope my leg is feeling better by then and I haven't set myself back. I didn't really have a choice, we had to go to open house and Mike is at work, so he couldn't do it for me. I have to say that Luke was very sweet to me the entire time. He wasn't at all embarrassed to push me around his school and he kept asking if I was alright and was I hurting. He was really worried about my pain when I was driving and kept asking if I needed more help. That sort of made up for the kids who treated me like a leper. Although, I also have to say that Hannah was fine with me, once we actually got to the school. She didn't act embarrassed at all.