What a summer!!!

So this summer has been crazy, but it's been a BLAST. I got to spend a couple weeks with my awesome sister and her family. My sister and her hubby went out of town for a few days and I watched my nieces, which is SOOOO much fun. I love them so much! We went to the zoo and saw "girrafees" but not lelaphants (because they apparently spit at people, according to Tessa...which was good because they were working on the elephant area anyways). Despite the petting zoo being closed (even though that was what was going to be a highlight of the day), we had a blast. Pictures will come eventually. The girls also got to experience chopsticks for the first time, and were naturals...again video to come eventually. I can't upload any of that right now because I am in Buena Vista (pronounced BEWna vista) at EFY again. I got a job as the health counselor again. I LOVE it here. It's busy, but fun. Weekends have been fun too. The first weekend a bunch of us went to see Toy Story 3 and bridge jumping (I didn't jump because I believe that would go under the category of "don't do anything stupid" in my instructions from the surgeon). I LOVED that movie!!! I think it was on the same plane as the first one, if not better. The second weekend we had a John Wayne marathon and a bunch of people went to Virginia Military Institute for fireworks. I stayed in for the marathon. I wanted to go the fireworks, but I was on the verge of a cold and just chilled on the couch. Last weekend we saw Despicable Me, which was good and had a big barbecue. Overall we haven't had too many big incidents other than the fire alarm was pulled resulting in 25 fire trucks, some of which coming from surrounding counties (big old wooden building causes EVERYONE to come). As disappointed as THEY were that they didn't get to play, it was nice not to need them. I took one participant to the rescue squad after he decided it was a good idea to put a ring on his finger that he found...which was too small, therefore cutting off circulation. THIS weekend we're going to DC and having my birthday party, so I'm sure it'll be an awesome time. Hope all is going well with everyone out there.

I'm officially done...for now

So, I met with the surgeon on Thursday after 3 more weeks of PT. Again, he said how I have great motion, but still need quite a bit of work on my strength. I have been told that it's okay for me to stop PT (good, considering I'm going to be gone for 2 months this summer) if I promise to "work like crazy" on muscle strength and "don't do anything stupid". I had my final eval with the physical therapist on Friday, and he agreed. He commented on how far I've come in just the past few weeks. So, I am officially done with PT...for now. I meet with the surgeon on August 10 when I get back, after "being on my own" for a couple months, and he'll decide if I need a little more PT. YAY!!!! Where am I going, you may ask? I will be visiting my fabulous sister and her family in their brand new home in Corona, CA for a couple weeks, part of the time babysitting my nieces while Jocelyn and Jeremy have a fun (and much needed) vacation. From there, I head to Buena Vista (pronounced Bew-na vista...if you get it wrong, you WILL be corrected), VA for EFY again. I'm going to be the advil pusher...I mean health counselor for 5 weeks, then a week off, then I will be a health counselor for a week in San Antonio, TX...San Antonio for the first week of August...Air conditioning anyone? Anyways, that's the summary of what's been going on with me.

Slowly but surely.

So, time for another update. Two weeks ago, the physical therapist decided it was time to see if I could bear weight on my shoulder yet. So, I got down on my hands and knees, and the exercise was to lift my left arm (so, I'm supporting myself with the right one), put it down, then switch. Well, supporting myself with my right arm wasn't too bad, I was just a little shaky. Then I went to lift my right arm and support myself on my left one, and face planted on the floor. I guess I wasn't quite ready to bear weight yet. Anyways, on Thursday, I had my 2 month follow-up with my surgeon. He was VERY pleased with my full range of motion and the strength I've built up this far. However, he feels (and I totally agree) that I need to continue to really work on strength. So, I have 2 more appointments of PT scheduled, then they will re-test my strength and everything. Hopefully, I'll be back to building up muscle in no time. I'm excited that I've been blessed with AMAZING PT staff and an awesome surgeon. It's really made the difference. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once I'm done. Shoulder stuff has been my life for the past 7 months. Just thought I'd update everyone. Not a ton of news, but I'll take it! Hopefully within the next week or two (or three) I'll be able to support myself using my left arm WITHOUT falling on my face. Hey, at least I provided entertainment for the staff, right?

Sallie Mae will be the end of me

Okay, so this time last year, I was unemployed, planning on going on a mission beginning of September, getting ready to start a summer at EFY, and applying to defer my student loans (I have 2 from paramedic school). Sound familiar, that is my EXACT SAME situation right now. Why then, would it be so dang impossible to apply for the SAME deferment with the SAME credentials? I DON'T GET IT!!!! One of the loans was totally simple to apply for deferment. I logged in, clicked on apply for deferment, entered in the date my last one was ending and the reason I needed it. THAT'S IT! Sallie Mae...you need a degree from MIT to figure out their website, which by the way is "new and improved". So 1-website is near impossible to figure out unless you know EXACTLY what sequence to hit certain buttons. 2-I called customer service to try and ask an "expert" for some help. I would have really appreciated a person who even had the slightest clue as to what I was talking about and could speak UNDERSTANDABLE English. UGH! What is this country coming to? I just want to admit that I'm broke and need a little extra time to pay off the money I needed to survive the year of hell that I suffered to be a caring, compassionate, loving person qualified to save lives. UGH!

Progress!

So, I LOVE how I've recovered from this last surgery (the one on the left arm). This surgery has been SO much more "enjoyable" (I couldn't think of another word) than the first one. I did have a minor setback with my "some kind of reaction to something" but luckily, my surgeon and his PA are very aggressive in treating stuff like this. So, lots of meds later, it has almost cleared up. On April 1, I had my 4 week follow-up (yes, I was a little nervous about seeing a surgeon on April Fool's). He was very pleased with how much motion and strength I had. I have almost full range of motion, and I have strength with my arm in certain positions that I've NEVER had. YAY! He signed me off to start physical therapy, and referred me to the PT office in the same building that he's in. The best part of this visit? I FINALLY got to get rid of that big bulky sling that I'd grown so accustomed to wearing (I'd worn it 3 out of the last 5 months!). Hopefully, to never wear one again! Anyways, I've done one week of PT and I LOVE the new place. The facility has a lot of different type of equipment to use and the entire staff is just wonderful (i.e. not the h-e-double hockey sticks that the other place was). They were also excited that I already had so much motion. So, they are able to skip over a lot of the normal post-op beginning stuff (getting back your range of motion) and jump right into the good stuff (strengthening, etc). They are also working on posture...I've now been told by my surgeon, his PA, and 2 different PT staff members that they need to work on my back muscles and "fix" my posture. I guess my piano teacher was right, I need to sit up straight. Apparently this caused some of my shoulder problems, my shoulders are rolled forward quite a bit, taking out the main muscle support from my back, causing a ton of weakness in the back of my shoulders, which is where all my major injuries were. As the physical therapist put it "your shoulder blades are almost parallel to the floor. They shouldn't be like that." So that is where they're focusing now. My surgeon is great in listening to his patients, too, and saw how much PT I did on my right shoulder, and he said "you won't have to go as often for this shoulder, because you already know the exercises from the last time, so maybe 1-3 times a week just to get your exercises for that week" YAY!!! Overall, I've been VERY pleased with this surgery altogether. It's about time!

Hope

For those of you that may be having one of those days where you just want to go to bed and wake up with a new day, watch this. It reminds you of the happiness you can feel and experience. It reminds you that you have a father in Heaven that knows you and gives you what you need. I've had some rough days lately trying to stay positive despite having had 5 surgeries in a year. I was so grateful that this surgery went so much smoother than the first. Then 2 weeks post-op, I developed welts on my arm starting around the incision, then spreading over my whole shoulder. Anyone that knows about joint surgery knows that if an infection gets into the joint, it's bad news. Luckily, this surgeon is VERY proactive about even "possible" infection. So, 6 hrs in the ER, after almost draining all my blood for all the tests they are running, one PA, an ER doctor, and the surgeon all came to the same conclusion. I'm "having some kind of reaction to something." Specific, huh? Well, they may not know exactly what I'm reacting to, but they've ruled out all the really nasty possibilities. Now, because he's so proactive, I'm on 2 antibiotics, I've had one dose of IV Benadryl, I'm taking 50 mg of Benadryl every 4 hours, 1 steroid, Allegra 180, and Zantac (apparently it has an antihistamine effect too)...and going in weekly to make sure it doesn't take a turn for the worse. While this is very stressful, and I just want to be done, I admit, I've had my days of every emotion...anger, fear, sadness, frustration, helplessness, etc. But this video reached me at just the right point in that day. Hopefully it can help someone else out there too.
The-Tender-Mercies-of-the-Lord

Lots of randomness

So, I am EXTREMELY blessed. I met with the newest surgeon yesterday, and he is "qualified" to fix my shoulder. So, they scheduled it...for TOMORROW!!! Talk about not wasting time. After dreading having to break the news to my bishop/stake president, I called Mission Medical to update them. The nurse I was talking to put me on hold for quite a while, then when she came back on, she had the best news ever (other than finding a surgeon that can fix my shoulder)...THEY CAN EXTEND MY COVERAGE BY TWO DAYS...mainly because the surgery was pre-authorized...but who cares what the reasons were...the surgery is covered! SO, I have a little over 12 hours until I have to be in pre-op (at 6:45 in the morning...yuck!) and I decided to write a few of my random thoughts over the past week. I don't know how often I will be updating my blog for a while, because I'll be back to typing with one hand. Here it goes:

1-I've "come out of retirement" of babysitting. I LOVE it...I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I also found out I haven't lost some of my old quirks...i.e. I am terrified of having the blinds open at night while in someone else's house. Maybe a little OCD, but it's CREEPY!!!

2-I have thoroughly enjoyed starting the Harry Potter series again. They are a fairly fast read, and they are just so enjoyable! I was also surprised at how close the first movie was to the book. Just a few details were change, but overall, it's pretty dang close.

3-While watching the Harry Potter movies, I came to another realization. I didn't realize how much better DVD's are than VHS. We have all the movies, but the first one is VHS...the quality was SO different!

4-I was also surprised...maybe it's from my recent stay at the MTC, but there are a lot of things in these books that can be compared to basic gospel principles...Dumbledore knows what all the students are going to do ahead of time, but let's them make those decisions themselves. Voldemort...I mean you-know-who...is trying to ruin the lives of those that possess what he cannot have/feel...pure love...and is trying to bring whoever he can over to his side. Everyone is preparing for the grand battle of good vs evil/ truth vs deception/whatever you want to call it.

5-While I'm home, without a job, or a life for that matter, I have compiled a list of projects to take advantage of this "spare" time. I have been collecting/keeping old jeans to make a denim quilt. I also have a ton of t-shirts that I want to put together to make a quilt. I have a scrapbook and lots of pictures to put in the scrapbook...like paramedic school/work, all my EFY's etc. If I can get everything accomplished that I want, it'll be AMAZING!!!

That's about it for now. Wish me luck tomorrow...I get to start the 'wonderful' experience that we lovingly call H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS...ie recovery from shoulder surgery. YAY!!!