SS and I had appointments Friday.

Friday morning I had a follow up appointment for my foot.  The cortisone shot I got last month did not help much. But Dr. T disagreed with me, even though I have been in a lot of pain, she felt that it helped with the swelling.  Besides, other than surgery it is my only option right now. So I took another needle to my big toe joint. And this time I really felt it, yikes that sucker hurt. But unlike last month I do have some relief. I did forget to mention that we found out last month that my big toes do not bend due to arthritis (go me!), and that is the main cause of my pain. Especially since both feet hurt and I did not hurt my left foot. I am waiting for approval for an MRI, Dr. T wants to make sure that there are no fractures on my right big toe.  Highly unlikely since the left also hurts but she wants to make sure. Because the only option right now is surgery, and the recovery is long, I might be in pain for a while. I have no desire to wear a boot to work for two months,then have four months before full recovery.  We will see what happens.

I rushed from my appointment and had some shopping to do before picking SS up early from school for her appointment. SS had her PACE (pre-anesthesia consultation and education) appointment.  SS will have a brain MRI April 25 at Loma Linda University Medical Center. No matter how many times we reassured SS that it was going to be the easiest appointment ever, the girl was not buying it. Poor thing was a hot mess, worked herself into a frenzy for nothing.

SS was playing with a sibling group of five. YIKES! and the oldest was SS's age. Holy freaking madness. Of course the oldest was expected to take care of three younger siblings, while mom did her business with the infant. This is a pet peeve of ours, your kids, your responsibility. Seven year olds have no business raising their siblings. OK, getting off my high horse now, but it was disturbing to witness.

SS tops the scales at 39.5 pounds, so that half pound came from her shoes (her doctor weights her with shoes). And apparently the girl grew a temporary extra leg. SS is now 44 inches in height, and P's comment was that she is only two inches away from riding Big Foot Rapids at Knott's. At least the man has his priorities straight.

After vitals we waited for the consult with the nurse practitioner and SS went from absolute boredom, to getting too anxious. Not only that, but I knew we would be getting into her birth history, something SS knows very well. However, who wants to hear about being found, and the subsequent results?  And while I have become very good with the language I use, I can't control what people are going to spew out of ignorance.  I thought about having SS go to the waiting room with JJ. Then I realized that this is her history, and we have protected her privacy, even from relatives. But medical appointments are different, and one day SS will have to do her own medical history, and needs to get used to this.  it helps that I'm a pro at this now and no longer get emotional.

By the time the nurse joined us  SS went from bored to terrified and was almost in tears. I almost did sent her to wait in the waiting room. Thankfully the nurse, while having no knowledge whatsoever about adoption from China, did not have foot in mouth disease. She could not understand the term found, and I was able to get her to understand, without making SS upset, or embarrassed. And of course we had to get into the ugly stuff as well.

I neglected to bring SS's iPad but JJ came prepared with his Nintendo, and a treat, a Lego Star Wars game. We could have been discussing dissecting SS and she could not have cared less.  Once she got that game on her hands, she was in her own little world.

Happy girl after the consult was over. As SS is getting in her carseat she said "Mama, you said it would be OK, but I was scared. You were right Mama, that was easy, it was fun." OK, slow down there missy, fun is going a bit far.

When she came home we could have never foreseen that SS would end up at LLU. In one of those deja vu moments, that is where JJ had his neuro consult and testing. The little guy was only three, the concern was that he appeared to have had a few petit mal seizures. I spent so much time at that hospital is not funny, both for JJ and later for myself. I do trust them, and I know they are a top notch facility. We are more worried about the risks of general anesthesia than we are about the MRI results. The nurse assured me that they have extensive experience with anesthesia and children. The youngest she recalls was four hours old. Hard to believe, but these are the folks who did the baboon heart transplant.  Still, this is our child and we worry.

While in the waiting room I looked up a taco joint we used to frequent. We had a friend that we went hiking with often, and one of the closest trails was in Redlands. We would stop at Cha Cha's after a vigorous hike to refuel. And yes, my lazy first born went along on four hour hikes starting at age four and kept up just fine. The taco shop was named after the owner's parrot,Cha Cha, and she would spend opening hours in a huge case outside. I was very happy to find out that Cha Cha's was still open, so we headed there for dinner.  Cha Cha is gone, but the place is still there and aside from better tables the way I remember it.

I was very surprised that JJ, who has a scary memory like SS, did not have a recollection of the place. We would stop at leasT once a month, so that is weird for him to draw a blank. Although our appointment was at 2:00 p.m., traffic was a nightmare.  I was not looking forward to the freeway drive home. Then I remembered a short cut we used to take between Moreno Valley and Loma Linda, but could not recall how to get there. Our hiking friend lived in Colton, at the beginning (or end depending) of the short cut. I wanted to do that rather than be stuck for God knows how long in bumper to bumper hell. I texted P about it, he recalled me driving him through it once but no idea how to get there. He then mentioned the nudist community in the middle of the canyon. That was it for me. I recalled the name, looked it up, and through the magic of the Internet JJ and I got a trip down memory lane.

But things change significantly in fifteen years. The Reche Canyon drive was quick, and not much to see but brown, as JJ said. There was a religious retreat up a hill, the nudist ranch, about two houses, and at the end as you take the hill up to Moreno Valley, a house. I remembered it well, because they had a little kid, about three, who was frequently out on his dirt bike. Holy has that place changed. It's completely developed, and a lot of vegetation. I have fond memories of riding through that canyon with JJ on a motocross bike, and not the type you pedal.Good memories, and now I get to share with SS.