The Mergenthaler Family

Today was exciting and disappointing at the same time. EXCITING: 1.  The specially fitted brace finally arrived. He got it put on around 11:00 a.m. 2.  Ricky's new nickname is Iron Man. We are considering using permanent marker to make his brace look even more like the actual iron Man suit.  3.  Ricky can stand and walk and the X-rays taken with his brace on show that his back remains stable in the brace.  4. Visitors. Ricky had a great day hanging with his buddies. They really helped keep his spirits up and helped him stay distracted. They also brought him some super thoughtful things.  DISAPPOINTING: 1.  Although he got the brace at 11:00 a.m., he waited until 2:30 for physical therapists to help him out of bed and down the hall to get pictures. 2.  We waited and waited and waited for the neurosurgeon to look at the X-rays and say, "looks good." 3.  Finally, after 6 pm we got the report that "Yes, X-rays looked good, but Ricky still couldn'...

The low oxygen is no longer a mystery. Blood tests confirm that everything is okay and that Ricky simply needs to practice some deep breathing.  Often, when a person experiences trauma, is in extreme pain, or is sedentary for a long period of time (in Ricky's case all three apply), the person will breathe in short, shallow breaths. Ricky has been avoiding deep breathing since the accident. The MRI scans from yesterday show his lungs as kind of flattish (I know that's not really a word, but hey, it's 11:30 pm). In order to remedy this, Ricky needs to fill those lungs with air. That's extremely difficult when it hurts so bad to breathe, but if he wants to get those "dumb oxygen things" out of his nose and if he wants to go home, he needs to do just that. We have been trying to make a game of it. He is much better at it when he has visitors. He's a good performer for company. When our whole family was in the room tonight, it was the happiest I saw him all day...

Ricky had a bad fall on New Years Eve. He went skiing for the first time and towards the end of the day fell from a ski lift. According to a friend of our who was riding behind him, we are guessing it was at least a 30 foot drop to frozen snow. We were first told he had three fractured vertebrae with no spinal cord or nerve damage. Yesterday, a more detailed report told us he has seven fractured vertebrae.  He is expected to heal and make a full recovery, but it has been a rough couple of days. When he fell, he was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital in Dubuque (about an hour and a half away from our house). The next morning, they transferred him by ambulance to the hospital here. He was so brave to ride in the ambulance without Dad in there with him. Dad followed behind in the car so we wouldn't have to make an extra trip to Dubuque to pick it up.  During the ambulance ride, Ricky kept Dad's phone with him so he could talk to Mom any time he felt nervous or lonely....

Some people were a little sad when I stopped keeping up with the blog. I am sad too. There just aren't enough hours in the day. However, it is important to keep a record of all the fun we have as a family. I love my family. Each member of my family blesses my life in some way. They keep me busy and make me laugh. So, I have been thinking of a way that I might be able to make time to post a little something at least once a month. Guess what?  There's an app for that!  I found a way to post from my phone. I can write when I am sitting in the car waiting for practice to be over or at piano lessons. I can upload pictures from my phone. We shall see if this works . . . So, Christmas 2013 . . . How was it? It was slow to get started, but turned out pretty great. We weren't able to get a tree until ten days before Christmas. By then, pickings were pretty slim, and by slim I mean crooked with large bald spots.  It was very, very cold and we were short on time, but we got a t...

I have just been to busy to keep this blog up to date, so Makayla has decided to take things into her own hands.  I'm OK with it.  In fact, I'm guessing most of you have given up reading this anyway because it has been so long since I did anything with it.  Are blogs a thing of the past?  I like that they are an avenue for us to keep in touch with family and friends, but I have fallen out of the habit of posting pictures and stories even though we always have a lot of amusing stories to tell. Anyway, below is Makayla's first post on our blog.  She did a great job . . . . This summer has been so much fun. We visited friends and family in Washington, Utah, and Colorado, it was like having a HUGE family reunion on both sides. Starting with visiting Grandma and Grandpa Mergenthaler and our cousins. We had so much fun taking walks to the beach.... ....And having lunch with grandma and grandpa at the park. The kids especially LOVED the zip line, ...

The kids are back in school, which should mean I have a lot more time on my hands.  Unfortunately, that's not as true as it would seem.  It is true that I have less noise and chaos during the day, but I still have just the same amount of things to do.  So, in short, I am still working hard every day, but maybe with a little less stress and chaos invading my every moment . . . a little.  Back to school means back to me spending at least an hour a day helping the kids with homework--especially reading and math.  I'm hoping to help Ricky make significant progress this year, but that will take a lot of time and work for both of us.  Sometimes I think I might have learned enough about teaching strategies for children that I could compile a book.  I still have a lot to learn, but I think we are learning what works for Ricky (and the others) and what doesn't.  No matter what, it is a serious time investment.  It has also stretched my com...