All Hallows Eve

Today is the day ...

Trick or treating for LightBoy in the guise of Fimli, Gimli's second cousin (that is, a dwarf of MiddleEarth). He is beyond excited. I'm not certain what beyond excited is, but he's there.

LightGirl, on the other hand, has hockey practice. But things are are looking up for her too. She is, for the first time since late June, playing in the goal for practice. We think her knee can manage that. It's a short practice. She is also excited. I put together goodie bags for the girls who eschew trick or treating to come to practice. This is a surprise for them. It is also possible that I've put too much candy into these bags. I tried to balance it out with some lip gloss and nail polish and CoachWonderWoman is adding some sillystring (and more candy). But after all, Halloween really is all about the candy.

Here's LightGirl with GoalieGirl ... our new goalie. Yes, she is wearing LightGirl's jersey. She borrowed it for team photos that were taken last night as her red jersey has not yet arrived. They have become really good friends.

A Good Afternoon

After interminable waiting for an MRI and then for the reading of the MRI, we got the news yesterday that LightGirl does indeed have a tear on the anterior horn of the tibial surface of the left meniscus. Uhhhh ... okay. So, now we go see an orthopedist, right? Right. Her doctor gave me the names of three practices to call and the advice to call all of them and take the first available appointment. Okay. Where do I find the phone numbers? In the phone book. Huh? The phone book? That antique?

As chance would have it the first office had a cancellation for 1 p.m. this afternoon. Alrighty then. Dr. Gabriel Gluck. I recognized the name because I see his office sign every time I leave my place of exercise and think that his name is unfortunate. He has had a practice next to the hospital for as long as I can remember, because I've always wondered about his name.

When we appeared for her appointment the waiting room was empty. She was wearing one of her many hockey t-shirts ... this one happened to have the 2006 Stanley Cup champions on it. Some minutes later another patient arrived; a 20's-ish man and his tiny daughter ... who was adorable and outgoing with her tiny pink Crocs on and carrying a bright orange balloon. She started charming everyone in the place including LightGirl and I. Her dad mentioned that he wouldn't hold it against LightGirl for liking the 'Canes, but he was a Canadiens fan as he was from Canada. And so we began chatting about hockey and why LightGirl was even here, etc. We were happy to discover that Dr. Gluck was originally Canadian! Originally a hockey player! And loves to treat hockey players. Hah!!! What serendipity. Upon further conversation we also discovered that TinyCrockCharmer had been named for a hockey player and her father is a youth pastor at a local church. It was a lovely visit to the doctor's office and we hadn't even seen the doctor yet.

Upon a thorough examination which included more x-rays done right there at the office, we were pleased to discover that LightGirl will NOT need surgery for this. In fact, as it turns out, the meniscus tear is not the culprit at all. She has hyper-mobile ligaments and her knee cap (patella) had become unstable because of all the activity during her hockey camp. This caused a downward cycle of pain and instability between her quadricep and patella that continued until she couldn't use her knee because her quad became increasingly weak which caused further instability, etc. So, she needs physical therapy to rebuild the quad and stabilize the patella. With some patience and persistence she should be back on the ice in about six weeks. Yay for a good sports med doctor ... from Canada who likes hockey players :D

It was ... all in all ... a good afternoon.

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Here is a photo montage comparing LightGirl's first hockey game to her most recent hockey game. Her first game she played in late September of 2006. The most recent game was played this past Sunday. It is interesting to note both games were played against the same team. But it's clearly a different player in each picture!! Same girl, different player.