Hoppy Birthday To Me!

Thursday was my birthday and it was a blast. Since I know I lead such an interesting life that you all are just dying to have, so here is the play by play.
After only about 3 hours sleep (no I wasn't sleeping due to excitement) I went upstairs to hang out with Fred. Who had generously taken Thursday and Friday off to help me with everything. Fred was so very excited about my gift that he made me open it first thing. I slowly opened the small box that had been sitting on our piano for almost the last month. Upon opening I fully understood his excitement. Fred managed to find my dream music box. I have loved music boxes since I was a very small child but I am extremely picky about the quality of the music and how the box is made. Hence why I never owned any. Until my birthday :) And what was the song that my box plays? My favorite lullaby "Hushabye Mountain". That song comes from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" which if you've never seen it you need to. The box its self is maple with a daisy like flower on top. Officially the flower is Edelweiss but it's part of the same family. And one thing that made it really cool was the fact that Fred thought of it all on his own based on a comment I made months ago. He knew I loved music boxes but that I was really picky about them too. Then back in May when we saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage (wonderful play by the way) I leaned over at one point and said "The would perfect. A real music box that played Hushabye Mountain." That was it. Never mentioned or brought up again. It took Fred a lot of work to find it, eventually he found it at Music Box World, UK. What a sweet husband!

Next was a bunch of errands. There were a couple of last minute things to pick up for the party. Can you believe that I almost forgot the

chips for the dip? Fred also took me out to lunch at Subway :) Ahh birthdays on a budget. But I really do like Subway and very rarely get it especially with no complaint from Fred about going there. Once home we had to start setting up for the party! And if you haven't figured it

out it was a Frog Themed Party. Mom asked if people thought I was sickly obsessed with frogs. First off what do I care? Secondly, I've liked frogs since I was 9 years old why stop now? Mom laughed and went back to whatever she was doing. But yes there were frogs all over the place. Earlier in the week I had scoured some coloring books for frogs. Colored the pictures I found and mounted them on poster board. I think they came out pretty good looking, especially since they were coloring books from the dollar store. Honestly I can't take credit for thinking of doing that. One of my nieces sent me a coloring page of frogs that she did, and I wanted to put it up for my party. Then I got to thinking why not do a whole bunch of them. 6 year olds can be so inspirational. One of the pieces I was particularly proud of was the sign we put on the door. I used coloring pages for the bugs and frog. Then I printed the message I wanted off the computer so I knew the size was right. Then I traced the letters and filled the poster letters in with marker. Yup it was stinking awesome! Sad that I had that much time to put into it but awesome out come.

Next was a bunch of errands. There were a couple of last minute things to pick up for the party. Can you believe that I almost forgot the

chips for the dip? Fred also took me out to lunch at Subway :) Ahh birthdays on a budget. But I really do like Subway and very rarely g

et it especially with no complaint from Fred about going there. Once home we had to start setting up for the party! And if you haven't figured it out it was a Frog Themed Party. Mom asked if people thought I was sickly obsessed with frogs. First off what do I care? Secondly, I've liked frogs since I was 9 years old why stop now? Mom laughed and went back to whatever she was doing. But yes there were frogs all over the place. Earlier in the week I had scoured some coloring books for frogs. Colored the pictures I found and mounted them on poster board. I think they came out pretty good looking, especially since they were coloring books from the dollar store. Honestly I can't take credit for thinking of doing that. One of my nieces sent me a coloring page of frogs that she did, and I wanted to put it up for my party. Then I got to thinking why not do a whole bunch of them. 6 year olds can be so inspirational. One of the pieces I was particularly proud of was the sign we put on the door. I used coloring pages for the bugs and frog. Then I printed the message I wanted off the computer so I knew the size was right. Then I traced the letters and filled the poster letters in with marker. Yup it was stinking awesome! Sad that I had that much time to put into it but awesome out come.

We of course played games too. The first one was a matching game. I had typed out about 16 things having to do with frogs ie "This is the only place frogs don't live" then on the walls were little frog cut outs with the answers. Once you found the answer you wrote it down on the piece of paper. In this case the answer was "Antarctica". It was fun to learn some off the wall facts about frogs. I think my favorite thing that I learned was frogs can only see moving things. The second game was what Fred and I called 25 Questions. Fred and I had come up with 25 statements about us. We read the statements to everyone and our guests had to decide whether it was Fred, Me or both of us. Some were obvious and other were very difficult. It was a lot of fun.

The rest of the night we spent talking, laughing and eating our hearts out. Our last guest left around 10:30pm. I was passed out by 12am. Which if you know me is early. Not only did I fall asleep quickly I stayed asleep too. 12 hours baby! I woke up in time for PT. Which they told me unless I'm going to be in super crowded areas or at risk of people grabbing my shoulder I don't have to wear my sling. Wahoo! After PT Fred and I went out to get my free birthday ice cream at Bruster's Real Ice Cream. I received the coupon in my e-mail from 102.3 The Max (I'm signed up as one of their loyal). It was for up to four 5oz ice creams. Since it was just Fred and I we figured they would only give us two but nope we got all four. They make their ice cream so there were some fun flavors. I had Pumpkin Cheese Cake and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough; Fred had Stick in the Mud and Carmel Apple. Yummy in the tummy all the way around.

364 Days until the next one!

Complications

First off let me show you the surgical photos. The first one is of my bone spur. Each of those little bumps is a spur, which had to be ground off. The second picture is the fluid that was in my shoulder. That nasty stuff they suctioned out so clean fluid could move in. That's what the third picture is.

As for the complications:
Of course I can't do anything the easy way. That's what got me into this predicament in the first place. I had to have complications with the surgery. Nothing too major. But not exactly fun. The first one wasn't really what you would call a complication more of an annoyance. When I went in for surgery they put a nerve block in my shoulder so I wouldn't feel my arm after the surgery. This cuts down on the pain, but sadly since I'm thin and healthy it only last about 12 hours instead of the anticipate 18-24 hours. I felt very jipped. On top of that the prescription that they gave me wasn't strong enough without using my Cryocuff 24hours a day. At least the pain kept me from moving around too much. Saturday Fred and I went over to my parents to see Janelle and Julie while they were visiting. We also had the opportunity watch General Conference as a family. Okay I slept through most of it but I did try to stay awake. Here is where the first complication showed up. In the form of a rash. I was starting to itch around my bandages and then the rash complete with lesions and bumps showed up all up and down my arm. So we took off the surgical bandage, only to see that indeed I was reacting to the adhesive. And the betadine they used to clean my skin for surgery had soaked into my skin and my body did not like that. Janelle and Mom scrubbed down my arm best that we could with alcohol. Fred had to work that night so I stayed over with my parents just so everyone else felt I was secure. Around 1am the itching was unbearable so Mom spent the next hour scrubbing my arm with alcohol and dove soap. We also lined my sling with some cotton fabric so my natural movements weren't rubbing against the rough fabric of the sling.
Sunday during the day was rather uneventful. Fred came back over after second session, originally the plan was to take me home. But I still had a very bad rash and needed lots of help doing things. Since Fred had to return to work Monday morning it was decided that it would be best for me to stay with mom and dad a few days more. Which turned out to be a great idea considering we ended up in the Emergency Room that night. My chest had started hurting in the late afternoon, I didn't think much of it because I have a history with this type of pain. As the evening progressed I got worse and worse. Eventually it interfered with my breathing. At about 10pm I couldn't take it anymore and the ER was my only choice that that time. After a full battery of tests it was concluded that I had a Chest Wall inflammation and the rash was a mild reaction to the betadine. I was sent home with a much stronger pain medication, an anti-histamine, and a cream for the rash. Boy oh boy did I sleep well that night.
Monday Mom took me to my PT appointment and to the house so I would have clean clothes while I was at their house. My physical therapist said that I can come out of the sling while I'm at home for a few hours a day when a I'm not really doing anything. To help build my muscles back up. But in public I have to be in the sling to just make sure I don't try to use it just yet and so everyone else knows that they can't touch it. Over the next 6 weeks I'll work my way out of it. But I was given the okay to shower. Showering is difficult and painful but nice to scrub clean.
Today was sleep day. Monday I did way too much and I spent today sleeping it off. I've been up for about for almost 5 hours and I'm ready to go back to bed. It's kind of sad. My rash is looking much better. It's stopped getting worse and it's no longer red. There is still some itching but not nearly as bad.
All in all I'm still rather wosy and wobbly. I will probably remain under the watchful care of my parents for a couple more days. I told mom that she didn't have to do all this and her response was "Just take care of me when I no longer can." I love my parents :) And of course my husband. It's hard on him to have me away, but he is keeping it together like a trooper. Well that is the end of any coherent thoughts for now. Until next time...

Home Safe and Sound

Hey all, it's the frog prince here. It's 12:11 pm today on the day of Crys' surgery and everything went extremely well. She even has pictures from the scope, which she was of course thrilled about!

They went in and cut the bicep tendon and then tacked it back on. There was some fluid, Crys could tell you what kind, but I don't know, it was on top, that was inflamed that they removed. They also filed down a bone spur, so the main things that were causing her pain should be gone and the re-attachment of the tendon should help the healing process.

Now for all of you medicine/health inclined types, I have lots of fun technical terms for you. First there was the decompression of bursae and spur and bicep tenodesis, which for those of you like me who don't have a clue about anything, that means they cut the tendon and then tacked it to the humerous bone. They reattached it by a single screw and some stitches. That's all the technical stuff.

Poor Crys had to get stuck 4 different times for her IV, her veins kept rolling out of the way once the needle entered the skin. I felt so bad for her. She entered surgery at 7:24 am and was done by 8:19 am. She has a really neat apparatus that wraps all the way around her shoulder and hooks up to a machine filled with ice water that keeps her shoulder iced. She actually recovered from the medicine they gave her really quickly, she still cannot move or even feel her arm at the moment though. They intabated her for her surgery to monitor her breathing, which means that they had to stick a tube down her throat and it has given her a terrible sore throat. My thoughtful mother prepared some home made vegetable soup for us and so she had some of that which is helping.

So there you have it. Our day began at 4:00 am this morning and while Crys has a fun day of sleep ahead of her, for a little change of pace, I will be playing the part of the nurse maid this time. She's a good patient though. But we are doing ok.