Almost Christmas Surprise

Here it is, the last weekend before Christmas.  Yesterday was my first day with my injured foot back in a shoe.  I was really looking foward to it, but it was somewhat anticlimactic since the only shoe I could squeeze my swollen foot into was my Crocs and they were still super tight.  My muscle strength and stamina need to be built back up again, so I still resort to a wheelchair for long bouts of walking and shopping.  Using a cane still helps me take some of the weight off my foot.  Dexter is now on his Christmas break and learning songs for his next big role as El Gallo in "The Fantasticks."  Performances will be around mid-February.  This will be Dexter's final high school theatrical production.  Dwayne is working through a temporary service and has a good chance of being hired on permanently.  The bad news is he will have to work on Christmas day.  Emerson is still job hunting, but he is also preparing his materials for the class he will be teaching at Utah Valley University beginning in January.  He has come very close on a couple of jobs and we're still waiting to hear on one more.

Emerson's brother, Gene, is heading out of town on vacation with his family for Christmas.  They came over last night to exchange presents.  They brought a gift basket with assorted items - cookies, kitchen items, cocoa mix, etc.  Also in the basket were orange cards for Emerson, Dwayne, and Dexter.  They contained tickets to the Jan. 3rd Denver Broncos football game!!!  The guys were so excited and it really revived the holiday spirit around here.  Once again, I just have to say how amazing the Tapahe family is and how they seem to know just how to lift each other up.  It looks like our Christmas gifts to the rest of the family will be mailed kind of late.  Better late than never?  We have yet to hear from my side of the family other than from Aunt Marti, so who knows what's happening over there.

Is Anybody Out There?

I've been trying to be good about posting updates so our families know what's going on with us, but I'm starting to wonder if we're out here in cyberspace alone...
Rick and Holly have posted some, but it seems like the rest of the family has disappeared.  Are you guys out there?  What's up? How are you doing?  Everything okay?  Blog, email, call, or something to let us know how you're doing....

Joy to the world, my pins are out!!!

The past few days my foot has been itching furiously in a very annoying and somewhat painful way.  I finally gave in and took off the bandages to see what was going on.  The top of my foot had broken out in hives and the incisions were weepy with clear liquid.  Emerson took me to the doctor and he told me I was having an allergic reaction to the betadine they used to clean my foot for surgery (only because it was left on my foot so long and never got washed off).  That led to an infection in the top layer of my skin.  He prescribed antibiotics and an antibiotic cream.  Since I was already there, he also pulled the pins out of my foot (be glad I am skipping a description of that and pictures).  A quick round of xrays showed sufficient healing and I now have permission to walk....very carefully and slowly.  I have to keep the big plastic boot on when walking for the next week, then I can remove the boot and switch to hard soled shoes for a few more weeks.  One more okie dokie from the doctor at that point will allow me to be deemed "fully healed."

The nonjoyous news of the day was finding out I didn't get my dream job at UVU.

We have spirit, Yes we do!

I awoke this morning to find that an elf had put up a Christmas tree in our living room.  It looks like we will have some Christmas spirit in our house after all...

Christmas Spirit?

With Emerson still job hunting and me still hobbling around on crutches, there's not a lot of Christmas spirit in our house.  There are a few presents that the Tapahe side of the family dropped off early and we still watch almost every Christmas movie to be seen on satellite tv.  Our usual spot for putting up our tree in the living room displaces our dogs' beds.  That causes a bigger problem this year since I need the room to get through the living room on crutches.  I'm thinking of doing a small table top sized tree or go with a paper tree on the wall like Gene and Sharon did when they were in their tiny little BYU apartment years ago.

Yesterday, we visited the Festival of Trees up in Sandy. This is our yearly tradition and it's awesome to see so many trees lit up and decorated and the fanciest gingerbread houses known to man.  Add in children's groups dancing and singing on the stage and a wonderful assortment of sweets, scones, and cinnamon rolls, and it's hard to avoid feeling the Christmas spirit.  Emerson's brothers and their families joined us at the festival and we later went out to dinner and then to Gene's house to play games.  It was the most enjoyable time I've had in a long time.  There's something absolutely amazing about Navajo families.  Sure, we've had our ups and downs and squabbles over the years, but when it really counts, they are always there for you.  Family really means something to them and they would do anything for their family.  I feel so blessed to have married not only the love of my life, but also his family.  It's wonderful to be part of this family and have the love, respect, and support of the entire family.  Our Christmas celebration may reflect the lean times we are going through, but we will find ourselves warmed by the love of the Tapahe family.

November Pain

These aren't the prettiest of pictures, but this is my foot now that I got my cast off.  I had an appointment the morning of Nov. 30 and was happy to have the cast removed.  The bones seem to be healing well and I may get to have the pins/rods removed in a couple of weeks.  It will be the best Christmas present ever!!  You may notice some writing on my foot.  They had me write "yes" and my initials on the foot to be operated on so there wouldn't be any mistakes.  The doctor put me back in my original boot with some modifications to keep the pins from pressing into the bottom of the boot.

The better part of the day came later.  I had my interview as a finalist for the Assistant Dean position at Utah Valley University.  First, I went to lunch with the Dean, Associate Dean, and Library Director.  Some chitchat and informal interviewing during the lunch.  Next, I gave a 30 minute presentation on my amazing skills and experience and how I'm the best person for the job to the faculty of University College (formerly the School of General Academics).  A question and answer session followed.  The last step was meeting privately with the Dean and Associate Dean for the next hour.  It was a fun experience and I feel good about it.  Fortunately, my foot didn't bother me during the 4 hour experience.  On the way home, the pain was unbearable and we had to make a stop by the doctor's office for help.  A few more modifications to the boot made things better.  Now I have to wait about 2 weeks to find out if I get the job.  It's an amazing opportunity and I will be absolutely crushed if I'm not selected.

Emerson's continuing his job search.  The jobs in his field just aren't showing up anywhere.  He's been taking great care of me in the mean time.  I just hope something will turn up for him soon.  He's preparing for teaching a course at UVU next semester.  It's only one class and adjunct pay isn't great, but we're pretty excited about it.  If I get the UVU job, he could go for his master's degree and possibly teach more classes.

Dexter is King!

Dexter finished his reign on Monday as King Henry V in Provo High School's production of Henry V.  Although I am his mom and would brag on him anyway, I can honestly say he was absolutely wonderful.  Everyone else said so too!  If you have access to Facebook, you may be able to watch some of the video clips here:    St. Crispian's Day speech      King Henry woos Princess Catherine

I was fortunate that the director allowed us to come to the final dress rehearsal/preview performance since I was obligated to working at the powwow that weekend.  The powwow was actually very fun and everyone took great care of me including giving me a comfy chair to sit in and running errands for me.  A friend took some pictures while I was trying to lay down more and keep my foot more elevated and I ended up looking like a corpse at a viewing.  So if you ever wondered what I would look like at my own funeral, here it is....

Clutz on a Crutch

I'm still here, laying on the couch, waiting for my broken bones to heal.  It has been an adventure so far.  Some days I am determined to do things for myself.  Those experiences usually end with me losing my balance, bumping my cast on something, falling off the couch, getting dizzy, and/or landing on my broken foot.  Emerson catches/rescues me most of the time.....and reminds me that I should be waiting for him to help me.  A couple of days ago I had a job interview for a wonderful job at UVU.  It was my first panel interview and my first time being interviewed while being impaired.  The weirdest thing was when the head of the committee interviewing me pushed me in my wheelchair to get to the dean's office so I could meet her. 

I've been working from home a little bit now and finding it difficult to do much typing while laying down. I can't see the keys well enough and have to fix a lot of typos.  Tonight we went to the preview performance of Henry V starring our very own Dexter.  Being at the preview (last dress rehearsal) meant a smaller audience and I was able to keep my foot propped up during the show.  This weekend is the UVU powwow and I will once again be keeping scores for the dance contests.  The only difference this year is that I will be finding a comfy place to set up with my leg up and there will be runners bringing me the judging forms and assisting with other needs.

Our next thing is to gear up for Thanksgiving.  Emerson's mom was going to try to come up and I was really looking forward to having her help in the kitchen since I wouldn't be able to do much.  Unfortunately, she won't be able to be here.  It looks like we are on our own and I am working on generating a shopping list for the guys and a plan for directing everybody in the kitchen to get our meal done on Thanksgiving. 

Surgery Update

I had my surgery last Thursday and things went well.  The bone that was shattered took more creativity to repair - plates, screws, and a pin.  Emerson has been devoted in caring for me.  I had no idea how much my foot would hurt afterward.  It feels like someone is driving chisels in between my toes.

Today was my postop checkup. I have 3-4 more weeks in this cast to look forward to.  It will be about 6 weeks before the pins come out of my toes. I have had problems with muscle spasms that lead to even more pain, so now I am taking muscle relaxers.

The doctor said that the break in the smaller toe (fixed with just a pin) is the one that concerns him.  It broke very close to the head of the bone and may be interfering with the blood supply to the bone.  If the blood supply is impacted, it may lead to the bone dying and the doctor  wouldn't say what would happen next.  Let's just hope things heal nicely.

I have another week off of work according to the doctor's orders. After that, I still can't put any weight on my foot.  For now, I get to have a handicapped parking sticker for the next three months. I'm still waiting to see if Heritage sets me up to work from home.

Uncle Bob

I heard from Aunt Twyla yesterday that Uncle Bob has been in the hospital.  She says that he is now off the ventilator but the doctors still haven't figured out what is wrong with him.  I have no other details.  Twyla is going to keep me updated.  She says he is 74 years old and has been in poor health.  I'm sure that things have been tough since his mom died and his sweet wife, Linda, passed away.  Please keep him in your prayers.