<p>Hi again everyone. I must say that again, I am overwhelmed with the warmth of my CC internet buddies. It is just amazing. I should have posted more recently but have not, my bad. I actually have not been able to keep up with everything and everyone on CC lately though have read selected posts but am so behind here in reading as much as I normally would have liked particularly as it is such a climax to the CC year for families with seniors. I have read many of your WONDERFUL success stories and trials and tribulations and have missed some along the way. I have not kept up with posting as much though. I also participate on CC's Musical Theater College Forum since that set of "friends" are all going through the same very specific type of college process as my graduating child has gone through which differs in many ways from the normal parent discussions here and so I have tried to keep up there too but that misses you guys, my original and solid core of CC friends. I also want to tell those of you on this forum who have sent me emails and even gifts to my child, that I feel embarrassed at how long it is taking me to get back to each person and it tops my to-do list. I have been addressing the pile of about 50 thank you notes my child has written and I have my own to do still. You know who you are and please forgive me the time it is taking. My time this past month (wow, I just realized it is a month today since her accident!) just has not been "my own" so to speak, or simply life has not been the "normal" routine. </p>
<p>So, to update you....forgot where I left off last time but anyway....she was on ordered bed rest for ten days at home following the ten at the hospital and we had a hospital bed rented and set up in the living room. That already was a great step. She had numerous friends coming over each day and it went pretty well but of course meant lots of waiting on someone who cannot do for themselves. We had visiting nurses for a bit and I have learned to give my child a daily shot each day in her stomach no less and she hates it but has gotten used to it (we have a routine, don't ask). It is hard to see your child suffer or be in pain but overall, each day got better and better and she was able to do more and more. Then she got off bed rest about 12 days ago (thankfully during this ordeal, lots of happy college news kept coming and I shudder to think opening lots of let downs during an already down time, and what that might have been like). Her first venture out of the house a week ago was to get a new haircut (hey she is a teen girl, afterall). She is on crutches and is not allowed to put any weight on the leg where she broke the pelvis. She got to move back to her room upstairs and manages to get around given the circumstances and the pain too and the hip precautions she is under. She has had followup visits with the doctors....lots of things are now passed and done with ....like liver is healed (that doctor says she is done with him, she can plays sports now if she likes, lol, yeah right, on one foot...but that part is not his domain). Basically the things she is left with are the two things we knew would take a while....the fractured pelvis (it's a long process but involves full recovery) and also her lower back had a de-gloving injury that takes a long time to heal (thank God it is only that now because the what ifs with that did not sound too great but it seems she is at a low risk at this point) and so that is painful and so is the hip but she is still on pain meds which help but still hurts if sits a while, stuff like that. </p>
<p>Then she went to dress rehearsal and opening night of our school musical at the end of last week and it was bittersweet for her. She wanted to go really badly because that was the show she had been rehearsing for and in which she had many good friends, including a boyfriend she was to have played opposite from and her best friend who took over for her role in the show due to the accident. However, it was sad for her as well because this was to be her last show on this stage, having played leads there since seventh grade. She even said on the way to the show how she knows I would have normally commented about how this was the last show, etc. etc. like I did last year at this time with her older sister, as we got to her last game, last recital, etc. There was mention of her in the program and her career on this stage. Most of all, given the small nature of our community, people were overjoyed to see this child alive and vertical at the school...as so many turn out to watch and were amazed that she was able to come. That part was great. </p>
<p>Then, and I know this might sound unreal after only being out of the house for two days and it only being 3 1/2 weeks since her accident, we took her to NYC because we thought she might be able to handle it and she had been invited to some events at the college she had decided to attend and it was this past weekend. My husband and I both went and we went all the way by car, so that one could drop her off and one could help her...she was able to go into all events on her crutches and then we rented a wheelchair to go from building to building at the university in the city. </p>
<p>She has decided to go to NYU/Tisch and got into their BFA program for musical theater which is called CAP21, though she was happy about all her acceptances. Her best friend from summer camp also was there and spent the night in our hotel room and that was a treat too. She may not be going to this college, not sure yet. Anyway, the first event was by invitation to selected admitted students to Tisch and that was good and there were some parts for parents, some for the kids. We also got to talk informally with kids in the program and that was beneficial. Then my D was also invited to a luncheon for University Scholars at Tisch, something she had been selected for recently. There were deans and admissions people at this, about 15 admitted kids and their parents and about a half dozen current Scholars at it. This was an interesting thing and I am glad we went cause it seemed very exciting. They explained how they chose these 15 kids...how it was not just scores and grades (made sense to me cause while hers are good, they would not stand out to this extent among the applicants), but they went through the pile of 1000 admitted kids to all of Tisch, narrowed it to 150, and then down to this group...looking for kids who had drive and who were leaders and involved in their community and who they saw as future leaders in the arts. The more they spoke, the more I could see how this was a perfect "match" for my child as far as this little "program" goes. We did not even know such a thing existed until she got the notification but now that she has, she even said that unknowingly, her whole application really dovetailed with what this was about....her annotated resume, her essays and her recs all spoke to this kind of profile....particularly several activities she had done in recent years. Anyway, this is like a little "niche" or family within a much larger university. Actually Tisch is a subset of the university, then drama is her department and then she will belong to her studio, CAP21 which has about 60 kids per year in it, but then she has this little group (Univ. Scholars) that totals 70 kids across the four years and these faculty/deans associatd with them. University Scholars have no additional coursework or homework but they do meet every other Friday and it is like a seminar but with invited guests in the arts and they go to shows and other arts things in the city often centered on a theme like Leadership in the Arts, and so forth. Then during spring break of freshman year, the freshman Scholars go with these deans/faculty to a community in Appalachia in Kentucky, called Appalshop, which is a center where they have gotten arts going in this neck of the woods. They spend a week with these arts people in that community and the current students said it was a lifechanging experience. It is all expenses paid. Then in soph or Junior year, they go on an all expense paid trip to another country (this year it was Viet Nam and it has been places like Brazil, Cuba, Ghana, in the past...they are looking now into Russia) over winter break and they work with those in the arts there. The current kids spoke of their incredible time in Viet Nam. Also there were other perks or advantages to being part of this group....bonding....also close ties with these deans/faculty....someone who advocates for them when they need something at NYU, stuff like that. Seemed really great to my daughter. Then got the sweatshirt, the car decal, stuff for the GC, she's going!</p>
<p>Then she got back in time for the final curtain to the school show, late cast party, overnight, um....very very long day...nuts. So, she has missed four weeks of school and we are in the midst of working all of that out with them (has not been that smooth but am confident it all work will out and there is a big staffing regarding it tomorrow, fun)...She is under a certain law for kids in this situation and the person administrating it is aligned with our wishes so I think once we get everyone on the same page, we can work out the details. She did a little school the past three days, but has yet to make it through an entire day, maybe tomorrow. Luckily we have school vacation next week. </p>
<p>TO BE CONTINUED BELOW>>>>>>>></p>