Surgery

I was able to get in to see the foot surgeon today and here is what is happening:
The weirdest thing was when the doctor called in a student to look at my really cool xrays.  Apparently I am quite talented when it comes to breaking bones....  He also pointed out that I had previously broken my big toe (I thought I did that once in the middle of the night, but didn't want to seem wimpy).
No other options available....I have to have surgery.  Fortunately, it is outpatient.  I go in on Thursday, November 5.  They will use screws and plates to fix two of the breaks. The third break is on a bone that's too small, so they have to use a pin.  The medical student insists it feels kind of "cool" when the pin is removed from your toe.  I'm pretty sure that's not how I'll feel about it.  I will be in a cast for the first three weeks and then back in my beautiful air cushioned boot for 3-4 weeks after that.  The doctor will not allow me to stand or walk on my foot for at least 8 weeks, so the holidays will be extra special this year!  He says it will be about 12 weeks before I'm back to full activity and swelling will last for about 9 months.

Yes, I'm scared. The pain, the risks (even though they are small), the inconvenience......
Emerson is trying to keep me going and is making sure I behave myself.  If I don't keep my foot iced and elevated for the next week, I could end up delaying the surgery if my foot is too swollen.  I'm so blessed having such a devoted husband to take care of me.  I really wish I could say the same about my kids.  Dexter isn't home much, so he doesn't help much around here.  He does make some effort to help me out, though.  Dwayne is in some funk that leads him to be inconsiderate many times (leaving obstacles all over, taking over my foot rest, bumping my foot) and not helpful most of the time.  We get lucky from time to time and he will help with some tasks, but we mostly get the teenage grumble when we ask him to do something.  He doesn't have a job, doesn't seem to be trying much to get one, seems to have abandoned any effort at serving a mission, sleeps most of the day, stays up all night playing on his computer.....  Don't be surprised if you get a call from him soon asking for a place to stay.

What has been nice is the support from my closest friends, my inlaws, and my brothers and their wives.  I never know what to say when people offer to help.  The biggest help right now would be food....and that's not possible for everyone.  Emerson is running himself ragged taking care of me and having some lunches or dinners brought in would make all the difference.  One of my friends sent over homemade pizzas tonight and they were marvelous!  The only other thing I can think of is having someone "watch" me for a bit and give Emerson a break.  It almost feels like I'm an old lady having to rely on people so much for help. I guess that's probably the only way the Lord could get me to slow down and accept help from others. Maybe I should learn to listen to Him more....

OUCH!!

People keep asking me what happened and I really don't have a great answer. It basically boils down to me rear-ending another vehicle on University Ave. near Provo High School.  It happens a lot in that location, so I have added to the statistics.  When I saw how close the other car was, I stomped on the brake and braced myself.  The damage to my truck was instant and ugly.  My first thoughts were about how much my foot hurt, that I had just killed the truck, that I wasn't making it to work, and that Emerson was going to be upset.  I was wrong about Emerson (in a way).  I called him and asked him to come down there and help me.  He reassured me the whole time and tried to get me to stop beating myself up about the situation.  The paramedics looked at me and recommended that I get my foot xrayed since I was in so much pain. I didn't want to pay for an ambulance ride, so they put me on the stretcher and wheeled me across University Ave. to our car, stopping traffic along the way.  It was only then that I could see the amount of damage done to the truck.  We had to go clean out the truck today and it was still shocking to see it and very sad to say goodbye to our little truck.  Because it's from 1990, we won't be getting enough money from the insurance to replace it. We just hope it will be enough to cover the deductible.

At the hospital, we spent a lot of time at the ER since I was a low priority case.  I was beginning to think I was just being wimpy about what would turn out to be a sprain or bruise.  When the xray came back, I was pretty happy to see my foot was broken since it meant I hurt for a reason.  I broke the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsals in my right foot and the 3rd metatarsal is "shattered."  The ER doctor referred me to a foot surgeon and said it was pretty likely that I would need surgery to fix things.  They outfitted me with a boot and crutches and sent me on my way with a prescription for pain meds.  All this put a pretty big strain on Emerson.  He hadn't eaten at all yet and the anxiety and stress mixed with seeing the xray and thinking about the upcoming surgery and he almost passed out.  Scary moment!

I'm not going to lie and act brave - my foot really, really, really hurts!  Having to rely on everyone for help is tough for me too. Emerson has saved me from falling over a few times and I feel like it's inevitable that my clutziness will lead to some crazy crutch maneuvers.  I am going in to see the foot surgeon tomorrow to see where we go from here.  My new part time job at Sears is kind of on hold.  Heritage is allowing me to use long-term sick leave and trying to figure out how I will be able to work since I can't get up the stairs.  Emerson has been so sweet about taking care of me and he's wearing himself out.  Dexter is helpful when he's actually around.  Dwayne...welll....no comment.  I'm really wishing we had someone to help Emerson with the cooking.
I appreciate everyone's sympathy and good wishes.  It's nice to be loved!  The hard part is not dwelling on how stupid I feel about the whole thing and doing this to my family.

I'm a Bargain Babe!!

Because of our current economic situation, I have been searching for ways to make the most of our money.  Thanks to some tips from people at work, I have been spending time on some great websites with shopping tips, freebies, coupons, giveaways, great deals, etc.  We have already taken advantage of some great deals and I have to admit I'm pretty obsessed now.  These sites are saving our Christmas and allowing us a few treats along the way as well.  Some of the deals have been:  a free snuggie blanket, free guitar picks, $9.00 DVD of Transformers 2, free Fruitista Freeze at Taco Bell. Try to act surprised if any of those end up being your Christmas gift from us... :-)

Some of my favorite sites:  Pinching Your Pennies, That Mama Rocks, Deals to Meals, Woot, A Giveaway Everyday, Giveaway Today, Beat That.  One bit of advice I can offer with some of these sites and deals is to set up an extra email account to use for signing up for these so your regular email inbox doesn't get clogged up with junk mail and offers.  Here's a site for craft projects:  Whipup.net

Work Turmoil

Things at work are getting tense. Because the state of California is cutting back on what it's willing to pay for the treatment and care of its mentally ill teens, Heritage is having to make some huge budget cuts.  The tough part about being a nonprofit is that there's not much of a buffer between what we charge for our services and what it costs to provide them.  Today I learned of four more people who were let go and there are probably more to come. Some people who are retiring or leaving for other jobs aren't being replaced.  That leaves a lot of work for the rest of us to absorb and add to our existing duties.  There are people like Emerson who have been there a long time and make more....some who have experience and skills that demand higher pay....others who are working jobs that someone has figured out a way to blend into someone else's job....  Lots of targets when you're trying to cut a million dollars from the budget. I find it hard to believe the recession is ending when I see this happening and see how few jobs are listed out there. 

We are making it so far.  It's kind of an adventure....seeing how we can save money, cut back, do without, etc.  Dwayne will pitch in when he can, once he takes care of his obligations.  Dexter has even impressed us with his resourcefulness in meeting his needs.  He was able to get help from his Aunt Kathy for his Shakespeare competition and was able to work out something with his drama director to work off his drama fees as well.  I am trying to find ways to make money on the side and we have a boutique coming up at work that I hope Emerson can make some items for that we can sell.

Quirks

I remembered the other day one of the funny little quirks our family has developed.  Whenever we attend a home show, outdoors show, or whatever, we always make sure to get our hand stamped before we leave.  I used to think it was weird that we would get our hands stamped even when we knew we weren't coming back. After awhile, though, it just became some silly thing we did "just in case" we decided to come back.  It's kind of like holding out hope...

Vegas or Bust

When life gives you lemons...run away to Vegas!
Once I survived last week's events, it was time to run away and stop trying to balance things that can't be balanced.  As bad as it was to have Emerson lose his job, it was absolutely surreal to try to go on with one of the craziest weeks at work and act like the play and the parent conference are so wonderful when you're having to deal with the very people who decided to ruin your family's well-being.

With the help of insanely inexpensive hotel rooms (at Hooters!), we were able to afford one last indulgence. Sharon was nice enough to treat us to a tasty dinner at Bahama Breeze.  We even got free tickets to a comedy show.  Sharon also treated us to Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity.  It was definitely one of the more affordable (and delicious) options....they have a dessert that contains real gold and costs $1,000.  Running around the city, checking out the fountains, decorations, and other fun things in town was a great way to escape and forget momentarily why we were trying to run away in the first place. 

The weirdest memorable event of the trip was returning to our hotel room on the second day and finding ourselves locked out.  I trekked back from the 12th floor down to the front desk and was told a security guard would meet us at the room to see what was wrong. I went back to the 12th floor and the security guard came up to tell me I needed to talk to someone at the front desk about a problem. Upon returning to the front desk, I was informed that a room was occupied that wasn't supposed to be and there had been a mixup on which room number to lock out. We were issued new key cards and told security would once again meet us at our room.  After another trip to the 12th floor, the security guard let us into our room. That's when we noticed that housekeeping had skipped our room during all of this. That seemed weird since they were hovering outside our door when we left in the morning. I called guest services and asked for the room to be cleaned. The lady who answered seemed shocked that I wanted the room to be cleaned right then.

Alas, the time came to return home. I had gone from suffering with allergies to some sort of cold. The weather had definitely turned chilly at home. Fortunately, I had the rest of the week off to recuperate...