Pixiemom

It’s almost over now…

The four kids that I have (AnnaBeth is with my parents) have been attending Vacation Bible School this week. This church does a really good VBS program. I’ve been getting up early to get Jeremy to the train before going to the church by 8:30 am. The first two days, I worked registration and the rest of the week, I’m checking in kids as they come. I like coming back in time to watch the closing ceremonies. I have caught kids as they tried to leave their teachers before their parent arrived.

I love how they do a lot of repeating, so the children remember things. Noelle can tell you the theme for everyday this week. It is made fun, but also shown that God’s Word is something serious too. It’s something that can change your life. It’s amazing how the kids really enjoy this week and are extremely eager to come and bring their friends and give offering. Today, we had 160 kids and they gave over $300 in offering!!

Anyway, this week has been fun. Tomorrow is the last day. I’ll probably spend the whole time there, in case I’m needed for anything.

Yesterday (July 7th for those who read on FB) I went to the physical therapist for the last check on how this splint is doing. He replaced the straps because the other ones were tearing apart and made sure it still fit okay. He said that the Dr will most likely have me keep a smaller splint or a brace on for a while. It won’t be 24/7 like this one, but it will still be needed. He also said he’s unsure of how quickly I’ll be able to start photography again with my regular camera. It could be a few days after this splint is off or it could be a few weeks. I’ll at least have the ability by September though, which makes me happy.

I have a week and a half and I’ll no longer have this big splint on. Yay!

SO… for those who don’t know, I love to do role playing. Acting, in a way. A friend of mine, Patrick, came up with a new way of RPing through video. He and I started The Experiment: A Work in Progress… also known as TheExperiment:WIP. Together, with a few other online RPers, we have been playing this out. We have a blog that not only has all the videos on it, but also a few extra blog posts.

To start from the beginning, go HERE.

To read about it and see Patrick’s video explanation, go HERE.

We are encouraging anyone who wishes to participate to do so by using your own YouTube account and replying to any of our videos. If you wish to talk to us about participating or want more information, e-mail us at theexperimentwip (at) gmail (dot) com.

So, I had my appointment with the hand specialist dr on Monday. Because of what happened with my shoulder surgery, we are wanting to avoid that route. It would be the quicker way, but it scares me more than anything. So, he’s putting me in an immobilization splint. It will go from my hand all the way up past my elbow on my arm. He said the best way for it to heal without surgery is with no movement. I’m going in today to get the splint made. It has to be custom done to fit me for the way that is best to help my injury heal.

I have mixed feelings about it. One, I’m relieved that I won’t be having surgery… or hopefully won’t be having it. Depends on how well this works. Two, I’m a little down about the fact that I won’t be able to play my instruments or do my photography while wearing this splint. Also, my dr said no dancing. So, I’ll be hanging up my tap shoes until I’m healed. Well, except for the recital this weekend. I refused to drop out of that. I have practice tonight, tomorrow, dress rehearsal on Saturday, and the recital on Sunday. The dr grudgingly said I could take off the splint for those, but then it has to stay on after that. At least I’ll be able to sing… I guess I need to find a song or two to work on. Any suggestions? I can sing most songs for females. My range covers most alto and soprano songs.

Well, the MRI results are in. It is not broken. Here is the official diagnosis… “Tears involving the triangle fibrocartilage complex within the substance of the complex as well as the radial and ulnar attachment with fluid extending from the radiocarpal interval into the distal radioulnar joint. There is suspicion for disruption of the lunotriquetral ligament.”

Ummm…. well, I can’t interpret that, but I can tell you it is bad. It is worse than broken. This will most likely require surgery to repair ligaments and/or other things.

For those of you who were with me 6 years ago, when I had my shoulder surgery, you will remember I wasn’t scared back then. Nervous yes, but not scared. I had no reason to be scared. It was a simple non-invasive surgery… and then I woke up with Jeremy sitting next to me worried as can be. I was supposed to be out only 2 hours and didn’t wake up for almost 12. Even then, they had a hard time waking me up every once in a while that night. I’d had a bad reaction to the anesthetic and the nurses said they weren’t even sure I was going to wake up.

Now, I most likely need another surgery. This time, I’m scared… very, very scared.

My next dr’s appointment is with a hand specialist on Monday. Thank you to all of you who are praying for me. I appreciate them so very much.

Before I came up here to Chicago, I lived in a small town near Amish country. During the year we lived there, a soldier from the town died in Iraq. The day of his funeral is etched in my mind forever. People from miles around drove into the town. The sidewalks on the streets between the funeral home and the graveyard were packed with people carrying flags. As the funeral procession slowly made it’s way past, you could hear the silence descend upon the town. Hats were taken off and hands covered hearts. Even the children quieted and became sober as the cars passed. After the entire procession had gone past, strangers were hugging strangers. There were many tears for the young man who had given his life for us. Many of us didn’t even know him personally, but what he did was for all of us.

This… this is how fallen soldiers should be honored. They should be given respect for the job they have done. They do this voluntarily. They risk their lives for many people they don’t even know.

They are real heroes.

It’s been three weeks now since I fell. James spilled the mop bucket all over the kitchen floor. I was at the sink and when I quickly turned around, I went down… on my right hand. I thought it wasn’t that bad, so I put on the brace I had here. A week later, it was still really sore and swollen, plus the pinky side of my hand was purple. They did x-rays and found that my wrist was definitely sprained. The tendons or ligaments or whatever they are had been stretched a bit too much and my wrist bones were too far apart. They gave me a better brace to wear. A week later, I went to see the Dr. My hand was still sore, swollen, and purple. I couldn’t grip his hand with my ring or pinky fingers. His diagnosis… sprained wrist AND hairline fracture in the 4th and/or 5th metacarpals (hand bones that go to those fingers). He sent me to get an MRI this last Tuesday and to continue to wear my brace. So far… we don’t have the results of that and my follow-up Dr’s appointment isn’t until next Thursday morning. I ran out of my prescription pain meds a few days ago. I was only taking them at night to allow me to sleep. Now I know how much they were working because I really haven’t slept well since then.

Anyway, I’m asking for prayers. From the way my hand is still hurting and all, I am pretty sure it’s broken, but I’m not a dr. I need to get through this next week without aggravating it anymore. It keeps getting hit or whatever and that part of the brace is soft, so it’s not keeping things from pressing on it. I’m not really supposed to sweep or mop, but I’m a housewife and there is a LOT of dirt that comes in my house… So, pray for me. This is really hard.

We are helping out a friend by watching her baby until school is out. She’s a teacher at the local high school. While we’re watching him, we’re still doing some school, but we’ve slowed down a bit for now. James is loving having baby A here. He’s my main helper. He has even changed a few wet diapers.

Today, I thought this was funny… he had a blow-out diaper, so I pulled his clothes off of him and was washing him up when he let a stream flow. Of course, I was ready and threw a wipey down on him. Since his clothes were already dirty, I let them soak up most of the wetness. The reactions of the kids were funny though. First, they were all going “Ewww” and then they’re all “YIKES! He’s peeing! Get a diaper on quick!” I was laughing so much.

Right now, Christine is feeding him his bottle. This is her first time doing this. I’m glad they are wanting to help out. This is a good thing for them to learn.

I went through my links. I may still have some out of date links in there, but I pulled out most of the ones I know of that are either dead or comatose. I still have to update the theme.

Also, I’ve updated my other site some as well. PixiePhotography.net is still a work in progress, but at least it has something to look at. There’s now another page where you can see all the photos I’ve posted since I began. Kind of like a photo blog. If you go to that site, under the weekly photo, there is a link that says “view more” which takes you to that page.

So, that’s the news for now. I’m sure I’ll have more soon enough.