Thursday, January 11, 2007
We left Muscle Shoals Airport at 7:30 A.M. in a private plane and flew to Shriners Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.
We loaded Meadow's new pink-and-black wheelchair, specially made for her, with her name, Meadow, engraved in pink lettering on the front of the black seat.
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| Meadow's Wheelchair |
We loaded the diaper bag and my camera bag, which I take everywhere to document Meadow's experiences and our own, into the plane.
We flew from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Lexington, Kentucky, in a six-seat plane; Meadow had to be buckled into her car seat.
Meadow sat facing the sun, so she closed her eyes and slept for most of our flight.
Lora spent the first fifteen minutes filling out paperwork for Meadows's doctor's appointment.
Everyone put on earphones so we could talk to each other and discuss the flight plans, speed, altitude, weather, skis' right-of-way, landing, and takeoff.
We arrived at the Lexington, Kentucky, airport about 8:30 A.M., where we were greeted by a shuttle van that took Meadow, Lora, and me to Shriners Hospital.
The pilot and his associate rented a car, they spent the day sightseeing, and they ate lunch downtown.
As we were riding to Shriners Hospital, I started talking to the driver.
The driver described the city of Lexington, talked about horse racing, and mentioned his family.
The driver said I have enjoyed many years working as a driver for Shriners Hospital.
Shiner's Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, specializes in human bones.
When we arrived at Shiners Hospital, we loaded our baggage into a large red wagon, and then Lora registered Meadow for her appointment.
A nurse greeted us with a pleasant smile, then proceeded to take us to a room where the weight, measured the length and head size of Meadow.
We were then taken to an examining room, where Meadow was dressed in a white hospital gown covered in blue animals and the words, "Splish Splash I was taking a bath!"
There was a mural painted on the examination room wall with a Lion with a bushy mane, a dark brown monkey holding a bright yellow banana, swinging from a tree, and a Giraffe peeking its head into the examining room. In the distance, we saw a black-and-white zebra standing in a green field.
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| Meadow |
The doctor walked into the room and greeted us with a handshake.
The doctor asked many questions about Meadow's medical history; he examined Meadow's bones and sent her down for X-rays.
We sat in the lobby waiting for Meadow, and when she returned, we were taken to a different room.
The mural in this examining room was a brown Camel wearing a red cap, a Monkey wearing red shoes, a red shirt, and yellow socks, standing in a puddle of water, with its hand around the camel's neck.
The doctor came in and told us that Meadow had AP and lateral spinal skeletally immature with no measurable scoliosis, and both hips were concentrically reduced.
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| Meadow |
It was 25 after 2, and the cafeteria closed at 2:30 P.M. We were given two vouchers for lunch, and we were allowed to each get a plate.
We had been so busy with all of Meadows's doctor visits that we had forgotten to eat lunch, and we were both very hungry.
We met with a Social Worker after lunch, where Lora explained to her how she had struggled to get equipment and physical therapy for Meadow in the area where we lived.
The nurse said you should not be having those problems, so she called the CP Center and made some connections.
The nurse called the shuttle van, which we met in front of the Shriners, and we were taken to the airport.
The airplane was loaded, and away we flew.
We flew over Nashville, Tennessee, and the city's lights were awesome.
It was windy, so our return flight took a little longer.
We arrived at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, airport, unloaded the airplane, loaded Lora's red truck, and Lora drove us home.
Meadow!
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