Archive for the ‘ Soccer Mom ’ Category

When Did Prom Invites Get To Be Such Productions?

12
Apr
2012
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom, Social Commentary 0 Comments

Yesterday I watched my child race into a massive headwind at the tail end of a 300 Hurdle race. She and the other racers appeared momentarily frozen in mid-air as they battled over the last three hurdles to the finish. After cheering her to a second place finish, a friend tapped me on the shoulder.  “I really enjoy how much you revel in your children,” she said.  Because of the wind I didn’t hear her properly. I heard the word “children,” and I thought I heard “rebel.”  I braced myself to learn what sort rebellious thing they had done.  She quickly repeated her ...

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I Will Never Be a BRECK Girl

27
Mar
2012
By Posted in Blog, Housewife, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

Last May after Keratin straightening My daughter ran into a soccer mom yesterday, someone neither she nor I have seen since the school season ended back in February. “How’s your mom?” asked the woman. “She cut off all her hair,” responded my daughter. I wish I could have seen the expression on the woman’s face when she heard this. If I had heard someone had cut off all her hair, I’d think she went a little nuts. Well, maybe I did. Last May I succumbed to my first hair process ever. I had it straightened. And for about five minutes ...

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The Long Hot Summer Recovery Process

27
Aug
2011
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

Bruce Valentine working with Willow in June According to Tucson’s best and Willow’s favorite physical therapist, John Woolf, Willow is rockin’ it as she recovers from her ACL replacement surgery. Because of her hard work over the summer in Wisconsin with two different physical therapists, a certified trainer and a sports medicine physician, AND her good-girl behavior (staying off the waterski / wakeboard and not running), she’s right on schedule to get back to soccer. Upon returning to Tucson in early August, she saw her surgeon, Dr. Tucker, and he cleared her to begin straight-line running. She had aspirations to return ...

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ACL Diary: Let’s Get Physical

17
May
2011
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

When Willow started driving, no one was happier about it than I. Primarily it meant that after 11 years, I no longer had to drive a carpool filled with smelly shin guards and crusty socks to and from soccer practice. A month later she tore her ACL, and after surgery, I was back to being her chauffeur. I wasn’t taking her to soccer practice twice a week, however. I was taking her to physical therapy. We chose John Woolf of ProActive Physical Therapy, as he came highly recommended by our surgeon, Dr. Tucker, as well as by trusted ...

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ACL Diary: Embrace the Brace

16
May
2011
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

Warning: Contains foul language At Willow’s pre-op appointment with Dr. Tucker, one of his assistants fitted her for the brace that would become a big part of her support system for the first stage of her post-op experience. It’s an uncomplicated device made partly of Velcro and plastic, but primarily of black, foamy material, on a par with a 7mm wetsuit, yet not quite as dense. Fitting her took less than five minutes. “How tall are you?” they asked. From there it was as easy as one, two, three. Two minutes later, a nurse came into the exam ...

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ACL Diary: The Ugly, The Bad and The Good

12
May
2011
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

Willow’s dad—the true videographer in the family—was out of town during the game when she tore her ACL. This is why I was behind the camera. I was recording for two reasons. One, so her dad could watch the game later, and two, because I was putting together college recruitment videos for Willow and another girl on the team, and I was hungry for highlights. Instead, however, I captured what can only be called a career lowlight. There was nothing pretty about watching through the focused lens of the camera as my daughter collapsed. My immediate reaction, captured on the audio, was ...

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ACL Diary: Clearing Hurdles

9
May
2011
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

The Surgery Itself Willow’s ACL tear happened during the first game of the 2011 AZ State Cup, which is the last tournament of the season, and the most important in terms of establishing team ranking. She was also in the midst of her school track season and had just posted her best time, three seconds off the previous week. Her event? 300 Hurdles. Little did she figure on a whole new set of hurdles ahead of her that would cover a span of months rather than yards. Clearing the hurdle over selecting what type of ACL reconstruction surgery to have, the next hurdle ...

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ACL Diary: Pain and Percocet

7
May
2011
By Posted in Blog, Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

“Has it really been less than three weeks?” On the news this morning, I heard that it’s been three weeks since Holly Bobo, the nursing student from Tennessee, was abducted in her front yard. These periodic abduction stories tend to upset my husband and cause him to worry about the safety of his own daughters. But this one, the story of Holly Bobo, really got to him. I’m not sure if it was because Holly’s blonde and beautiful (and bears a resemblance to Willow), or if it was more about the timing of the incident and how it coincided with fears over ...

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ACL Diary: Patellar? Hamstring?

6
May
2011
By Posted in Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

“Go With Your Gut” The first thing we learned is that shredded ACL ligaments cannot be repaired. They may, however, be reconstructed. It wasn’t until we saw the MRI images and our surgeon pointed out the barely visible frayed remains of Willow’s ACL, that we truly understood. Options for ACL reconstruction surgery presented to us were: • Patellar Tendon • Hamstring Tendon • Allograft (Donor Tissue) Given Willow’s desire to return to competitive soccer, Dr. Tucker ruled out allograft, indicating it was not the strongest option. He then explained the patellar and hamstring tendon techniques, citing both as ...

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ACL Diary: Making Choices

4
May
2011
By Posted in Motherhood, Soccer Mom 0 Comments

"Someone, Please Tell Me What To Do!" One of the complications of living in the United States, and I’ve often made this observation when facing a big decision, is that there’s far too much choice. I may have first had this feeling when doing something as trivial as walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store. Looking at an overwhelming wall of some 500 choices of commercial brands alone—and who knows how many generic—more often than not, I still end up choosing the tried-and-true yellow box of Cheerios. There aren’t as many orthopedic surgeons in Tucson as ...

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