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Friday, July 6, 2012

A memorable Olympics year

Whenever it's the year for the Olympics, my mind always goes back to the most memorable Olympics year in my family's history.

It all started during the Winter Olympics. (I know, I know, it's the Summer Olympics not the Winter Olympics this month)   My three young daughters were enthralled by the figure skaters and sat glued to the television every time a skating event was broadcast.  They imitated those beautiful, graceful skaters, jumping and  twirling around on the floor, imagining themselves as Olympic champions.  And then, my four year old daughter had the bright idea (during naptime of course) to try a triple axel from her bed.  Unfortunately her landing was far from perfect...she broke her leg.   Off to the hospital we went and then to the Orthopedic surgeon's office where she got a lovely bright pink cast from her toes to the top of her leg.  Fast forward thirteen long weeks and the final cast was off and she was back to her usual energetic self.  Maybe she shouldn't have been quite so energetic because while running down the hill next to our home, she tripped and fell and re-broke the same leg in the same place.  Back to the hospital and back to the Orthopedic surgeon's office for another twelve weeks in a cast.  What we didn't know at the time was while we were at the hospital, someone had also come into the emergency room with a case of chicken pox.  Guess who came down with chicken pox ten days later?   Yup...four year old daughter in bright blue cast...and how that cast itched her!  Poor kid!   This is where the domino effect began.  None of the other seven children had had chicken pox so ten days after that, all seven came down with chicken pox too.   You'd think that was enough.  Nooooo...two kids had complications from their chicken pox, one was hospitalized with pneumonia and the other one got a bacterial infection that almost hospitalized him too.  Oh, and the four year old was still itching in her cast.  That was the most crazy month I've ever lived through!  I had one daughter in the hospital who needed me there for her, one very sick boy at home, one daughter scooting around on the floor with her casted leg in the air (the doc said no crutches!) and five kids in various stages of fevers and itching misery.  Whenever I think back on that time, I wonder how we managed to get through it, but we did with only some little chicken pox scars to prove it.

And it all started with Oksana Baiul and the Winter Olympics...

Oh, and in case you're wondering - I do believe in vaccinations for kids.   It was a few years later before the chicken pox vaccine became available to the public.  Funny, my kids didn't need it  :)

6 comments:

  1. That whole year sounds sooo much more awesome when you tell the story! :-) Oh and I thought it was Oksana Baiul that was the cause of all this....we don't like Michelle Kwan. ;-) <3

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  2. Replies
    1. Any guesses as to which darling daughter started it all? :)

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  3. I'll never forget the person who partitioned and rationed out the fudge popsicles because she wasn't as sick as the rest of us...

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