The Merry Month of May

 

It's birthday week around here... Jordan turns 13 on Thursday, and Rylan turns 7 on Sunday (what a neat Mother's Day! :). We have some very nice, laid back plans, so I am actually looking forward to it. Jordan wants to go to the Hibachi (a Japanese steakhouse) for his birthday dinner, and then he will play laser tag with his good friend Abbi this weekend, hopefully. Rylan has a small(ish) party planned later this week, painting pottery with her fellow Daisy scouts friends. We will have a family dinner out on Sunday at a Mexican food restaurant that Rylan requested.

Jordan wants his usual request for birthday cake: chocolate blackout cake. I will be making allergy-friendly dairy/gluten/artificial 'anything' free chocolate frosted cupcakes for Rylan's party, and then I get the joy of puzzling out how to make a 'pond' of blue cupcakes as a base for Silvermist (the Pixie Hollow water fairy) to sit on - on a lily pad, of course, for Rylan's official birthday cake with the family on Sunday. Way easier than a doll cake, (last year's effort). Not sure if my teenage son and nephews will be thrilled to eat pretty blue cupcakes off of Tinkerbell plates - and at a public restaurant no less - but there you go. That is the wish of a certain soon-to-be seven year-old girl, and since she is the only girl in both our families, she is given a lot of latitude. :)

Jordan is getting close to reaching his savings goal for an iPad. He was initially shooting for a laptop, but I think we have finally convinced him otherwise. His birthday money just may get him there this week. I just love super-easy birthday presents.

Rylan is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her Barbie Dreamhouse that is on its way from Amazon. I am so proud of this girl. She has been saving for months, and fully funded the purchase herself. A combination of Christmas money, allowance, chore money and tooth fairy money got her there. In fact, the final push was the surprise removal of two bottom teeth at the dentist this past Friday. She earned a whopping $10 dollars (such a generous Tooth Fairy!) for that. Get this - on Friday evening, Rylan speculated how much the Tooth Fairy was going to leave her. She laid the two teeth out on the counter to compare them. One tooth was tiny - practically one sneeze away from falling out on its own (in fact, the dentist did that one for 'free'...) and the other had a very, very long root. So Rylan figured that since the long tooth was the same length as 'four' of the little tooth, then it should be worth 4x the going rate for a tooth ($4 a tooth, in our house). So she did the math and figured that the Tooth Fairy would be leaving her $20. Ahem. I informed her that I wasn't positive, but I was pretty sure that the Tooth Fairy didn't base her payment structure quite like that... I did think, however, that the Tooth Fairy did take into consideration if you went through a painful tooth extraction when you lost your tooth. So, in the end, the Tooth Fairy must have calculated a 50% increase in payment for the extracted tooth, which I think is pretty fair.

So, here's to a busy, but fun week ahead. Hope you have a good one too!

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A diagnosis..sort of

My MRI was bright and early Tuesday morning. When it was over and I was preparing to leave, the technician told me that I would hear from my doctor in a few days. Surprisingly, he called that afternoon. He said the MRI shows that I have tendonitis in the rotator cuff, and a torn labrum. What's a labrum? It is like a cup of cartilage that anchors the top of your humerus into the shoulder joint. Picture this: a beach ball and a dinner plate. The 'ball' is the round head of the humerus and the 'plate' is socket. Ligaments are at work to hold the joint together, but the labrum functions to 'deepen' the socket.

 

Injury to the labrum can happen several different ways. Whenever you fully dislocate your shoulder or stress the joint so much that it becomes unstable (subluxation), you will tear the labrum (among a host of other things). If you fall and put you arm out to brace yourself, you could tear it as well. There is significantly less blood flow to cartilage, tendons and ligaments, so whenever you do have an injury, the healing process takes a lot longer than if it were just a muscle tear. A tear in the labrum will eventually heal, but it might reattach in the wrong place in the socket, or a torn bit can fold into the socket, causing a 'catch' whenever the joint moves.

 

Several ligaments of the shoulder attach to the labrum, as well as the bicep tendon. The bicep tendon attaches to the labrum at the superior point of the socket, and then the labrum extends around in an anterior and posterior direction (front and back). If you tear the labrum at that attachment point (the superior region of the socket, closest to your head), it is called a SLAP lesion. (Superior Labrum Anterior and Posterior). I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I think that this may be what it is. There are several different degrees and locations of tears, but in thinking about my pain and the one injury that I can recollect in the past year, this makes the most sense. I was already hurting quite a bit in the shoulder when it happened. I had Colin up on the changing table, and as I stood him up to pull up his pants, he launched himself off of the table, to my right. I stuck my arm out at a 90 degree angle to catch him. Oh. My. Gosh. Did that ever hurt. I heard a 'pop!' I was thinking at the time that it was still my shoulder, and that I must have pulled more muscles when it happened. Now I wonder about that. Catching a falling object that weighs 35 lbs or so with an outstretched arm will put quite a strain on the bicep. My pain before this incident was limited to my shoulder and pectoral area. Now it involves my bicep and my shoulder blade too. I don't recall exactly when it happened, but it has been a few months.

 

So what does this mean? Most likely some shoulder surgery. I have an appointment this afternoon to do a nerve study. There might be an issue with my brachial plexus since that is a nexus point of pain and that I have numbness going down the underside of my arm. I also recently discovered that operating a can opener or nail clippers with my right hand is getting very difficult - I just don't have the hand strength to do it. The results from this test will go to the orthopedic surgeon to go over, and then we'll go on from there.

 

Now, if I could just get a handle on the pain while I wait, that would be great.

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Happy May Day!

 

 

 

I actually don't mind the snow - this is the only time our backyard looks semi-pretty. :)

 

It is also a great reason to stay indoors, sip cocoa and make a big pot of chili for dinner.

I'm going to miss winter, whenever it actually does leave...so I will enjoy this day immensely!

 

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Thoughts from inside an MRI...

 

This is like being pulled into a soda straw.

 

I'm not claustrophobic, but I'm changing my mind...

 

How am I supposed to breathe from my belly?

 

I should just close my eyes.

 

Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

 

Damn this machine is loud!

 

Bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap

 

Okay, I'm just going to drive myself crazy if I keep focusing on that.

 

My nose itches.

 

My shoulder hurts. It really, really hurts. I wish she would have put a small bolster under it or something.

 

Stop twitching!

 

Damn this machine is loud.

 

I wonder how much longer?

 

Coffee would be good right now. Mmmmmm. Coffee.

 

Breathe.

 

Is this safe?

 

What if this shows that I really do have an evil tumor after all?

 

Breathe.

 

Damn this machine is loud.

 

Focus on the news on the headphones... (NPR).

 

They are requiring Brazilian citizens to help cover 80% of the construction costs for the Olympics of 2016.

 

I would not go. Not in a million years. Too unsafe. What were they thinking holding it there?

 

I need to swallow. Can I do that?

 

Man this thing is loud...

 

I want toast for breakfast. Butter and honey. Mmmmm.

 

I should not have crossed my ankles. My ankles are too boney and now it hurts.

 

Jeez this is taking forever...

 

I wish I could know what is wrong with my shoulder RIGHT NOW.

 

How does this machine work anyway? I need to check Wikipedia as soon as I get home.

 

As soon as I get home I can have coffee. And toast.

 

Bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap

 

Sigh.

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Simple Woman's Daybook Entry

 

 

Outside my window... It is 7:46 a.m. and the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the snow is melting.  We got a total of 16 inches of snow between Mon-Thur.  All up and down the Front Range we got a thick blanket of heavy, wet and dirty snow.  The dirt came from the SW region of Colorado, where a large amount of dust is blowing in the atmosphere, due to extreme drought conditions.  The snow clouds came from that direction and picked up all of that dirt and dust, and then dumped it here, along with inches of fresh powder.  It has happened before, but it is still disconcerting to see dirty snow, as far as the eye can see.  Anyway, I think the remainder of it will melt off today.  Which is good, because it is supposed to snow again tomorrow. 

I am thinking... About a lot of stuff.  I said a lot of what was on my mind last night on my feather picking post, but it wasn't very nice, so I ended up deleting six paragraphs and left just a couple of sentences.  They seemed to sum it up well, but I am still deeply troubled.  Why?  Because multiple friends on Facebook keep posting links to articles from a "news source" called Natural News.  Here is the most inflammatory example: *caution - read with a garbage can on hand.  You'll need it for vomiting purposes. This was posted the DAY after the bombing.  ONE DAY, and Mr. Health Ranger thinks he's got it all figured out.  This is fear-mongering.  This is why we have a mental-health crisis in our nation.  This guy needs his mega-phone taken away and to be sent to the corner to think about what he said.  Here is a nice piece that sums up my thoughts on this matter pretty well.  I am pretty sure that the Facebook friends that post the occasional links to Natural News don't read my blog...but if they did, I would ask them to dig deep down and think about whether spreading around conspiracy BS is a productive and helpful pastime.

I am thankful... That things have calmed down in Boston, that the remaining suspect has been caught, and that healing can begin.  I am thankful that my cousin Jeff and his wife Chris are safe.  Chris crossed the finish line several seconds before the first bomb blast.  Jeff was keeping pace with her on an adjacent street when he saw/heard/felt the bomb.  He had no idea if she was okay, but for the next hour he was afraid of the worst, as he searched and searched for her.  He finally received a text message from her that she sent from a stranger's borrowed cell phone that she was okay and they reunited shortly after.  What a story.  Our local TV station interviewed them, along with several other Colorado runners.  It was surreal to see them on TV.  It was painful to hear their story - anyone's story for that matter, about how frightening it all was.  You just want to reach out and hug them..protect them.

From the Learning Rooms... We had a blue-banner week, thanks to the snow.  There is something about being holed up in the house due to a never-ending snowstorm that feeds the urge to read, write, and multiply fractions.  It also helped that we didn't go anywhere for three days.

In the kitchen... Shredded BBQ pork sandwiches are on the menu tonight.  Yum.

I am wearing... robe and pj's.

I am creating... nothing at the moment..

I am going... the grocery store, eventually.

I am wondering... WHY? I think the entire nation is wondering the same thing.

I am reading... Married to Distraction: Restoring Intimacy and Strengthening Your Marriage in an Age of Interruption by Edward Hallowell and Sue Hallowell.  Dr. Hallowell is also the author of Driven to Distraction, an awesome guide for parents of children with ADHD.  My husband has ADHD too.  Now first, let me preface this by saying that our marriage is very happy and healthy, thankyouverymuch.  I am just intent on keeping it that way.  I picked this book up at the library because the title intrigued me.  Sometimes my husband's ADHDness drives me batty, so I thought maybe there would be some helpful words of encouragement for me, his partner.  Sorta yeah, but the book is more about how to maintain a daily, almost ritualized focused connection, without interruption or distraction.  I think every couple could use that in their relationship, so that is why I am mentioning this book.  At the end of the book is a small section devoted to a "30-Day Reconnection Plan".  Here are a couple of sample sessions:

The idea is to 'meet' on a daily basis, for a 30 minute uninterrupted session to talk and share.

Day 4
"Before you meet for your present time today, think of the five smartest decisions you've made in your life.  They can relate to anything, from business, to dating, to school, to friends, to hairdos!  Just let yourself reflect on these five smartest decisions.  Write them down on a piece of paper.  Bring that paper with you to your present time.

When you meet, begin by guessing what is on your partner's list.  Don't be surprised if you're way off the mark.  It is simply useful for each of you to see from the other's perspective."

Day 14
"Before you meet for this session, pick some piece of art that matters deeply to you.  I define art broadly to include literature (prose, poetry, anything written), music, sculpture, painting, dance, film, video, origami, anything that is the product of artistic imagination.

Bring this piece of art with you to the session.  If it is a piece of music, bring your iPod or some other means of playing all or a bit of the piece of music.  If it is a painting or sculpture, bring a photo of it.  If it is literature, bring it with you so you can read some of it aloud.

During the session, share some or all of what you brought, as time allows.  You should save time to discuss the other person's selection, so each "presentation" should last no more than ten minutes."

See?  These sessions are a gold mine for good discussion fodder.  Every couple could benefit from this.  These are early-days dating discussions that are probably long-forgotten.  It will be interesting to revisit them.  Tastes change over the years, and you may find out all sorts of new things about your partner you never knew!  I can't wait to start.

We had a 'date' yesterday.  We needed to replace the battery in the van, so we left Jordan in charge of the kids for a bit, and drove over to Sears at the mall to get it replaced.  We walked the mall during our wait.  Then we picked up the van and drove to a small cafe to have some coffee and pastry.  It was nice.  I am so glad that we have reached the point where we can slip out for an hour here and there to have some time to ourselves.


In the garden...  Well, before the snow came, the peas were just starting to poke up through the soil, along with a couple of spinach leaves here and there.  The snow is just about melted, so I will go out in a bit and inspect them.  In the mailbox should be a package from Burpee - carrots, turnips, parsnips and lettuce.  I've never planted turnips and parsnips before, so we'll see how that goes...


I am hoping... For a good week.  We have no 'extras' this week, so the schedule looks pretty good.  Rylan's dance class was cancelled last week due to the snow, so I expect a make-up session will be scheduled soon.  I am also making an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to look at my shoulder, so I hope I get an appointment this week.

I am looking forward to... A package from Rainbow Resource.  A curriculum order is always fun!  A workbook for Owen (ETC Book A), a student workbook for Jordan (History of US book 4), and something else... forgot what it was.

I am learning... not to Google images of bombings.  You can't get that stuff out of your head once you see it.   Don't do it.  Seriously.

I am hearing... 'Sweet Disposition' by the Temper Trap. Love this song.


Around the house... It is now 8:51.  (The more I type, the more my shoulder hurts, so I am slowing waaay down)  Jordan is watching Sponge Bob, and everybody else is sleeping... I think.  I'm not really sure, actually.  I have my headphones on.  Go me!  :)

We have nothing planned for today.  Dean and I are doing the receipts later, to see where we are in the budget.  We are a week away from payday, but our state refund just arrived (enough to ease the pinch you feel before payday, but not enough to dance around and throw dollar bills up in the air), but we might be able to buy another box or two of flooring and put it in today.

I am pondering... the likelihood of...

(HA!  When I was proofing this, I noticed I never completed my thought. I have no idea what I was going to say, so I guess I am not pondering anything - other than what it was that I was going to say at that particular moment...)


One of my favorite things... the patriotic fervor that sweeps over a crowd when good things happen -  when people work together.  The Boston and surrounding municipal PD's, the ATF and the FBI did an incredible amount of work this week.  They acted swiftly, they protected the community, and they responded heroically when things got dicey.  I love our country.  I love our laws that were designed to protect us.  I appreciate those who work tirelessly to see that our citizens are protected, that our rights are protected and that laws are followed accordingly.  I think that the way things went down in Boston is a reflection of the positive changes in law enforcement that have taken place since 9/11.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Nothing special to report here...


Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

Colin, Owen and Rylan, 4/13/13, Fossil Creek Reservoir

To read more entries and visit a variety of other blogs, go here...


Feather picking...

My past week does not even compare with the events in the lives of others, but in my personal little world of One, I feel like a completely plucked-over chicken.

 

 

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Snowfall

This is Abby, our 8 yr old husky enjoying this morning's snowfall. I had very little notion that it was going to snow - it didn't smell like snow last night... I actually like those mornings when you wake up and there is a few inches of snow on the ground.

"Well look at that!? It snowed last night!"

Of course - I'm not the one that has to drive to work in it, so I may be of singular opinion here. I also enjoy the reaction from the kids when they wake up and see the snow. They instantly start hunting for their snow boots.

It's true that there are a thousand different types of snowfall. This one is heavy, thick and very wet. The flakes are small and coming down very close together. The air is muffled, but the streets are more slushy than snowy, so you can still hear the wet tire sound when cars drive by.
My favorite type of snowfall is the heavy snowfall with gigantic downy flakes. It doesn't happen very often - I can't even recall when we had one in recent years. My most favorite snowfall memory was a huge storm in the spring of 1992. I was living near Old Town, on Mountain Ave. It was a magical snowfall. By midnight a good 8 inches blanketed everything. I was itching to get out, so I leashed up my husky, Kai, and we went for a walk - just the two of us. Nobody was out except for the occasional car, lumbering down the road, with the layers of snow crunching and squeaking under the tires. It was not very cold at all, so we walked for a good hour. There was so much moisture in the air that the sky had a light, amber haze from the street lights glowing through the snow. The snow muffled all noise. All I could hear was my own footfalls, and the occasional jingle of Kai's collar tags. It was astoundingly beautiful. My only regret is that I can't turn to someone and ask, "Hey, do you remember that one snowfall we had where we got up and walked around during the middle of the night?". My beautiful Kai is long gone, but she loved the snow. She would go outside, curl up into a ball, and let the snow cover her for a bit. She was the perfect companion that night - it's like she totally understood why we were out there, rather than at home, in bed. She stood stock still, along side of me, as we stood on a couple different street corners and just watched the snow. I stood there, thinking, "I want to remember this. This is so achingly beautiful. I want to remember this snow. I want to remember how Kai kept me company on this beautiful, snowy night."

And I do. I'm thinking of you, Kai..



11/24/90 - 6/14/04

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