Six Weeks

As of yesterday it has been six weeks since I walked on two legs. We were on vacation for the first three weeks of that time which meant the only time I climbed stairs was when I got in and out of a shuttle bus. Our hotel rooms were either on the first floor, or I was able to use an elevator. Since we've been home, I've had to crawl up a flight of stairs on my hands and knees, and I go down sitting on my bottom. This task has definitely become easier since the splint was removed as it went up almost to my knee on the back of my leg, but I am still only willing to go up the stairs once a day as it's not a pleasant experience. At least I only have one flight of stairs to crawl up. When my sister broke her ankle when they were living in Turkey, she had to climb up more than one flight of stairs to get to their apartment, and she didn't have any crutches or a walker to use during the weeks her leg was in a

cast! Someone carries my walker up or down the stairs for me so that I can use it once I reach the top or the bottom of the stairs. Oliver was the one who helped me with that this morning. I haven't used the crutches at all since I opened the walker box. I feel a lot more stable with the walker, but they're definitely louder, especially on linoleum. For I can't remember how many years I've had to go to the bathroom many times during the night. Paul and I have been married for more than 20 years, and he only just found this out! I guess I normally do so quietly enough that he had no idea how many times I get up in the night, but I can't hop in the bathroom quietly with the walker.

During the vacation I learned that strangers go out of their way to be kind to someone on crutches. They try to give you a WIDE path and often will

open doors for you. Since we've been home, people have expressed their kindness in other ways such as giving my kids rides to church on Wednesday nights, two people cooked meals for us, two others bought us pizza, Margie ordered things for me on Amazon such as the walker, and a neighbor mowed the lawn for me once. I have also appreciated the ability to watch the worship service from the comfort of my chair at home on Sunday mornings. Normally I vastly prefer being there in person, but getting in and out of the house is a challenge plus I can't keep my foot elevated at church. 

In 25 days I'm hoping to be given permission to resume walking on two legs (weight bearing on my atrophied right leg) and driving. Aside from those two BIG things, there are so, so many little things that I miss being able to do right now. The ones that are more prone to bring me to tears are the things that are once in a lifetime (ex. not being able to see things on our vacation and/or take pictures on vacation) as well as the things that only happen once a year. Fall is my MOST favorite time of year to take pictures of my kids. I love taking pictures of them when the leaves are turning colors. I love taking pictures of them wearing pumpkin shirts and also in their costumes. I have to wait until next year for all of the above. I can at least see a few leaves turning colors from my chair in the family room. I also really, really miss tucking my boys in at night. Presuming I do regain mobility in 25 days, the length of this time will be very similar to the length of time I was in the hospital on bedrest during Oliver's pregnancy nine years ago. There are some similarities and some differences. At least this time I'm at home with my kids and not in a hospital in Harrisburg (almost 2 hours from our home). 

Call me crazy, but I really miss cleaning the house. Paul and the kids can tolerate far more clutter and uncleanliness than I can. The toilets hadn't been cleaned in weeks. Yuck! The kids and Paul don't care if a bed is made or not. When I have the use of both legs, I always make my bed before I come downstairs for breakfast. Our bed hasn't been made in weeks. Today I decided that enough was enough. I'm not going to go to the trouble of making my bed, and I won't attempt to clean the basement until I can walk down those stairs, but my leg is just going to have to start dangling down more even if it turns purple. I am going to do more in the kitchen and keep this floor of the house tidier. I also miss mowing the lawn. Nadia mowed it three weeks ago except for one part inside the fence. A neighbor mowed our lawn for us 12 days ago (the parts that he could do with his riding mower).  Paul mowed all the lawn yesterday. He had done the weed whacking the previous weekend so the lawn is totally done at the moment. I won't be mowing until next spring, but Paul can probably get away with mowing it just one time in November. Although there are many things I can't do right now, thankfully I can still homeschool my children, read books, and use my laptop. I finally finished the vacation video today. It isn't what I had pictured in my mind prior to the trip, but considering I'm usually the one who takes 100% of the pictures on a trip, I'm very thankful for what we got. It's 15 minutes long. I wanted it to be shorter than that, but in my defense I was summarizing 25 days. :) Enjoy!

So long, staples!

I planned to write a Thankful Thursday post yesterday, but I ended up going to bed at 7:30pm last night. So here's my weekly gratitude list one day later. 

1. I'm thankful for my blue reclining chair that I purchased in 1994 in Maryland. This chair has been in 5 homes over the past 28 years, and it's still in very good shape. I hope I never spend THIS much time in it again in one month, but it's come in very handy over the past 15 days. 

2. Nadia and Ian were able to participate in a Bob Ross painting night at church on Friday night. It turned out that 2 hours was not long enough to finish painting the canvas. Still considering they haven't been able to attend the painting class at co-op as planned, at least they got to paint once this fall.

Grand Teton (Wyoming)

3. Yesterday I finished reading Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes. I really enjoyed the book. One of the books the kids and I are currently listening to is The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish. We always love Vanderbeeker books! 

4. Our new roof installation was completed yesterday! It was very loud, which is why I'm glad it's done. Since I had a doctor appointment yesterday, I was outdoors for the first time in 2 weeks, and I think the color we chose looks fine (not that I have ever given thought in the past to the color of shingles). It didn't matter that the dumpster was blocking in my vehicle the last two days since I can't drive. Since replacing a roof isn't exactly cheap, here's to hoping that it was our first and last time in our lifetimes that we'll pay for that to be done. I learned yesterday that getting out of the house is definitely easier with the walker than it was with crutches. The same can't be said for coming back into the house, but with the use of two chairs, I was able to get back in the house without resorting to crawling. Getting to Paul's car was MUCH harder because of all the cords and trailers and such from the roofers, but thankfully I got there and back safely. 

5. Yesterday I had my first post-operative appointment. I had to do a LOT of hopping to get to the exam room. Thankfully, the nurse got me a wheelchair to use for the rest of the time I was there. She cut off the dressing and removed the splint. Then came the painful part - removing more than ten staples from the approximately 5 inch incision. The pain involved varied greatly. Some felt like a tiny pinch. Others hurt so much I thought I was going to throw up. The nurse couldn't get one staple out so she asked someone to help her. Due to some swelling, I was given a compression stocking to wear on my right leg, but I ditched it part way through the day yesterday because my toes were turning purple anytime my foot wasn't elevated. The nurse put steri-strips on the incision. I am not supposed to get my leg wet for 48 hours after the removal of the staples. Thanks to the leg bag that Margie got me, I don't have to wait that long. I planned to get a shower last night after she reminded me I could use that bag to keep my leg dry, but it  didn't happen since I went to bed so early due to pain and nausea. The good news is that the x-ray showed that all is well with my ankle that now has a plate and five screws. It is now easier to climb up the stairs at night, and it's easier for me to sleep! I am hoping that at some point over the next few weeks I will be able to tolerate having my foot hanging down instead of needing to have it elevated almost the entire day. I'm also praying that when I return to the doctor on November 19 he will give me permission to drive and also to bear weight on my right leg (walk instead of hop). 

6. I made my appointment for 8:20 yesterday thinking that would interfere with Paul's work schedule the least. By the time we left the doctor's office, Paul shopped at Walmart, and drove home, it was around 10:30. Paul has been leaving for work much later than usual the past two weeks, and he's also been far more prone to take a day off. He ended up staying home yesterday, which meant he was able to help me make the lasagna for dinner. I started making it, but it's hard to cook with one's right leg elevated. I think he's going in later for a variety of reasons - my lack of mobility, his love of reading, he was waiting to sign for a package one day, and things have slowed down (as they usually do at this time of year) at the plant, but it's been nice to eat breakfast with him as usually we only eat breakfast with him on Sundays. 

7. Four of the five of us have enjoyed lasagna for years. When Paul was grocery shopping on Saturday, I had him buy cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese for the lasagna. Ian liked the lasagna when it was made with cottage cheese! Woohoo! It always puts a smile on my face when I find a recipe for a main dish that all five of us enjoy. 

Grand Teton (Wyoming)

8. Oliver accidentally unplugged the chest freezer in the basement. Paul has a mess to clean up as some ice cream melted in the freezer. I don't know exactly how long it was turned off, but I'm thankful that Nadia discovered the problem and plugged it back in before the meat was ruined. 

Grand Teton (Wyoming)

Cancelled

Photo credit - Nadia (Badlands)

There were a variety of words that we became very weary of hearing in 2020, and one of those was cancelled because so many things were cancelled for months on end. Thankfully far fewer things have been cancelled due to COVID over the past year. It still happens from time to time. For example, they announced that the youth chorale which Nadia and Ian had sung in during the fall of 2019 was going to resume rehearsals on October 18 to prepare for a Christmas candlelight service. Then I got an email two days ago stating that because all participants and those attending the concert must be vaccinated, only the adult chorale will be singing in the services this year. This is the first time my kids have not been able to do something because they aren't vaccinated. Ian isn't even old enough at the moment to be vaccinated. I hope and pray these vaccine requirements won't be in effect for years to come. My kids don't usually get the flu vaccine. I've followed all of the pediatrician's recommendations for vaccines for my kids with one exception, Nadia didn't receive the HPV vaccine. The kids and I are again dealing with the word "cancelled" on a regular basis, but this time it's because of my ankle. So far they've missed homeschool co-op, a homeschool roller skating party, Sunday night youth group, and a service project. Normally, I drop the kids off at youth group at 6:30 on Sunday nights, and Paul picks them up at 8:00pm. They haven't been to youth group on Sunday night since August 22 due to our trips to Long Island and out west and now my ankle. We shall see when they make it back to Sunday night youth group. Thankfully they are still able to meet with our church's youth group on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. Paul usually works on Saturdays. I asked him to come home early enough to go to the library before they closed at 3pm. I figured that was more feasible for him than trying to get to the library before 6pm M-F. At some point on Saturday morning he ended up deciding to stay home from work. Had I known that, he could have taken the kids to the service project (packing meals for Haiti) yesterday morning. He did go grocery shopping and to the library for me on Saturday afternoon. 

Photo credit - Nadia (Yellowstone)

There were also many times in 2020 when it was hard to purchase certain items. Although I haven't seen empty grocery shelves in 2021, the supply chain issues are definitely still a factor in 2021. For example, we are having new shingles installed on our roof this week. The roofer asked us to pick a color. I've never paid for shingles before so I had no idea there are so many options. The first few colors we picked, he'd call the supplier and then call us back and say- nope not in stock. He didn't call me back after our last choice so hopefully that means we finally picked one that he can actually purchase. Similarly, I had a hard time getting the state pictures printed. I worked to complete them on October 6 so Paul could pick them up at Walmart (1 hour photo) on October 7. When I went to submit them online the night of October 6, they told me the Walmart supercenter nearest us wasn't available for printing photos. They were trying to get me to send my order to a different Walmart. So I placed the order with the CVS closest to the hospital where I was having my surgery instead. I applied a 50% off coupon and planned to use a $10 Extra care pass so the 19 photos would cost less than $4. They said the photos would be ready at 8am the next day. When Paul showed up the next afternoon, they only had one print available. Paul didn't understand about the coupon and the care pass so he actually ended up wasting most of the value of the care pass (if you don't spend the whole thing you lose whatever value you didn't use on that transaction). The next day I got an email saying the rest of the prints were available, but since the care pass had already been used and we didn't plan to go to that area for 2 weeks, I placed an order online with Walmart to have them shipped to our house (which involved paying shipping). Walmart goofed up and accidentally gave us 2 copies of Montana's photo and 0 of Minnesota's. So I placed another order of just one 5x7 print that supposedly we are going to be able to pick up this Thursday at the Walmart near the hospital. Who would have thought having 19 photos printed would be so complicated?!? Food items are still out of stock more often that usual. When Paul went to Walmart to buy groceries on October 3, they were out of the honey wheat bread we usually buy as well as the yogurt the kids like, but in general it's much easier to buy paper products and food in 2021 than it was in 2020, although the prices of things have definitely gone up in that time. 

Photo credit - Nadia (Horseshoe Bend, Arizona)

I have been helping a little around the house, but whenever my leg isn't elevated, my pain greatly increases. I had wanted to give Paul a haircut before we left on our vacation, and it didn't happen so he is really overdue for a haircut at this point. I was determined to give Ian and Paul a haircut this weekend, but Paul wisely insisted I at least wait until my cast comes off (hopefully on Thursday). It's an exercise in patience during this time when I can't do most of the things that I usually do. Paul did get around to weed whacking today. If my ankle wasn't broken I would have done it two weeks ago. The neighbor behind us mowed most of our lawn on Wednesday night. He uses a riding mower so the only part he didn't get to was the part inside the fence. Paul hasn't gotten to that part of the lawn yet. The kids helped do some of my usual Saturday chores yesterday such as vacuuming and cleaning the toilets. I hope I never break another bone or at least never have to go 9+ weeks without walking again! I also really hope to never have more metal plates or screws inserted into my bones. It is highly unpleasant in my opinion. I really hope eventually it doesn't bother me because I don't relish the idea of undergoing another surgery to have them removed even though the surgeon said that happens more than 50% of the time at the patient's request. 

Youth group painting night on Friday night

800th Book

Many things have changed due to my fractured ankle. Nadia asked me today if we could do Creating a Masterpiece for art again this year in light of the fact they aren't going to be in the painting class that I paid for them to be in at the co-op. I haven't made a decision about that yet, but Nadia and Ian are at a youth group event tonight that involves painting a canvas in the style of Bob Ross. The last time Paul and I went on a date was February 2018. Since we reached the 20th anniversary milestone on August 11, I thought that was deserving of at least a date. I asked Paul if we could go ballroom dancing on August 7 and September 4. He didn't want to go on August 7th because that was Oliver's birthday, and his neck was bothering him on September 4. We then scheduled our ballroom dancing date for November 6, but that's not going to be possible due to my broken ankle. We shall see if we actually go on a date in 2022. I've also had to modify some lesson plans. Yesterday, when we were learning about Stonehenge, one of the activities I had planned was for us to make a large circle outside. We skipped that, but the kids did make a model of Stonehenge with wooden blocks yesterday and a model of the pyramid of Giza today.

Last week they made a ziggurat with Legos when we were learning about the Sumerians. As we were talking about Egyptian mummies today, Nadia and Ian "mummified" Oliver with toilet paper, and Ian did the same with two of his stuffed animals. We didn't attempt to reenact putting any of his organs into a canopic jar though!

However, other things have stayed the same such as listening to audiobooks together. Today we finished our 800th chapter book! For the first several years, I read all of them out loud. Now we listen to almost all of them via either Overdrive, Audible, or a CD from the library. Since 31 of those are books that we reread, we have technically only read 769 different chapter books together. For example, lately we've been listening to the Chronicles of Narnia, which I read aloud to the kids 7.5 years ago. The two books we've been listening to this week have been Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Forest Born. We finished Forest Born today, our 800th book. I told the kids we should do something to celebrate this accomplishment. They requested that tomorrow night we eat popcorn and watch a movie together. Sounds like a reasonable plan!

Thankful Thursday

It's been a little over a month since I wrote a gratitude post. As of two days ago, it has been a full month since I broke my ankle. When I broke it, I thought the worst case scenario would be that I'd have three more weeks of not being able to drive once we got back home. I was wrong. The last month has been physically painful for me and at many moments along the way also emotionally painful, but there are still have been many blessings along the way. Here are a few of them.

1. We had a safe trip during our vacation which involved driving around 7K miles. Normally, I do somewhere between 50-100% of the driving when all five of us are in the van. That was only true for the first five days of the trip as Paul did 100% of the driving for the last twenty days of the trip. My injury had the most impact on me and the least impact on the kids during the vacation. Paul was definitely impacted. Normally he reads or takes a nap while I'm driving. He read very little on the trip because he had to do all of the driving following my injury. I'm also the one who usually takes the van for service appointments. Paul took the van for a tire rotation and oil change on Sunday afternoon on October 3. I usually vacuum out the van. Ian did that for me. I haven't been in the van to see how thorough of a job he did. The van still needs to be washed. The van has gone from being used far more than usual during our trip to now it will hardly be used for 6+ weeks due to me not being able to drive.

2. Although I had to spend a lot of time alone on the vacation, Paul was able to spend far more time with the kids over those twenty-five days than he usually does. I've appreciated all the extra help he's given me as there are many things I can't do on my own right now including getting dressed, going grocery shopping, going to the library, taking me to my surgery and doctor appointments, etc. 

3. I was able to spend some time in Chicago with Wendy and her family at the beginning of our trip, and Yvonne, Andrew, Toby, and Jenna spent a little over 24 hours at our house after my ankle surgery. Andrew and Toby took my three to Turbot Township's Fire Prevention Day on Saturday afternoon, which helped us fulfill an annual homeschool requirement. Jenna gave me a haircut. 

4. Nadia was able to meet her pen pal from the last two years when we were in Illinois!

5. The kids were each able to earn around 25-30 Junior Ranger badges during our trip.

6. We used gift cards to pay for almost all of the dinners on our trip. We ate food we had brought along with us for lunch, and we mostly had free breakfasts at the hotels. Different family members would choose different nights that were their favorite in terms of where we ate. Personally, my favorite foods from the vacation would have been the deep dish pizza in Chicago, a salad at Bob Evans, my sweet potato and rolls at the Texas Roadhouse in Arizona (my dinner cost less than $4), and dinner at Olive Garden (I had soup, salad, and breadsticks plus we shared a piece of Black Tie Mousse Cake which I love but hadn't had in many, many years). 

7. COVID didn't wreak too much havoc with our vacation. Only one National Park site we hoped to visit was closed. We did have to wear masks sometimes when indoors, but we were not indoors very much. The biggest bumps in the road due to COVID were the breakfast offerings at some of the hotels (none or only grab and go rather than a buffet) and that a few places near the end of the trip changed their hours and weren't open on the day we planned to visit such as Andrew Jackson's Hermitage and two science museums in Memphis and Nashville. However, considering many National Park sites were closed for more than a year, it seemed like things went pretty smoothly on our trip. 

8. I'm thankful that Oliver was healthy the entire trip and that the rest of us were healthy almost the whole time. The rest of us were each down for less than a day at one point during the trip - intestinal problems for me one day, Ian and Nadia each threw up over a period of about 7 hours on two days, and Paul didn't feel well after sleeping without a pillow.

9. Although I'm not thrilled about the fact that there are now screws and a plate in my ankle, I am thankful that the surgery went smoothly. I'm praying I'll get a good report at my appointment next Thursday. I'm very thankful that the anesthesiologist did everything possible to prevent me from having nausea, and the nerve block also was a huge blessing during the first 24 hours after the surgery. 

10. A neighbor, one of Paul's employees (Dave), my sister, and a woman at church each provided us with one meal after my surgery. Dave and his wife also brought flowers for me. The same man and his wife also gave the kids each a very large goodie bag right before we left on our trip. I was so touched by their generosity and thoughtfulness! The bags contained things like snacks, wet wipes, notebooks, coloring books, etc. 

11. Melinda (a mom of one of Nadia's friends) has agreed to take Nadia and Ian to church every Wednesday afternoon until I'm able to drive again. A neighbor has agreed to take Oliver (and me if I'm up to it) to church every Wednesday evening. Paul picks the kids (or the kids and I) up at 8pm. This means the kids will be able to leave the house at least twice a week over the next 5 weeks - Sundays and Wednesdays. I decided not to leave the house this week. I haven't decided if I'll attempt to go to church next Sunday or Wednesday. I'm leaning towards staying at home for a full two weeks.

12. I was very sleepy Sunday through Tuesday. I am usually not a napper. It's very hard to homeschool when you're about to fall asleep or have just been awakened by one of your students. So I decided on Tuesday afternoon that I wasn't going to take any more oxycodone. Thankfully the pain was bearable with just Tylenol and Advil yesterday. I keep my leg elevated almost the entire day because the pain level is much greater whenever it's not elevated. The only downside so far to stopping the opioid is that I couldn't sleep last night. It seems illogical that on the days I napped a lot I could go to bed around 7:30 or 8:00pm and sleep until at least 6:00am, but on the day I stayed awake all day and didn't go to bed until 9:30pm, I couldn't fall asleep?!? I could not get comfortable. I cannot wait for the cast to come off! I assume I'll sleep better tonight because I am very tired due to not sleeping much last night. Still I am glad to be off the oxycodone because I like being alert when I'm homeschooling, and it shows the pain level has gone down because at first I was taking up to six of those a day.  

13. Margie bought me a cover for my cast (for showering), a shower chair, and a walker. The first two attempts at taking a shower after my surgery didn't go well at all. I was so in much pain both times that I got out before I even finished washing my hair. Last night was my first successful attempt. I sat in the shower chair in the kids' bathtub/shower and kept my right foot propped up on a stool. I didn't realize how much I would prefer using a walker to crutches. I'm not longer worried about falling. Margie has had foot surgery twice in the past (the most recent time was in 2017 shortly after she married Dad), so she knew from experience what would come in handy. 

14. We were able to see many amazing things as we traveled around the country. Some of our favorite parts of our trip would be: riding in a Model T in Michigan, Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the prairie dogs in North Dakota, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Snowbird ski resort, horseback riding in Utah, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, slot canyon, Meteor Crater, white water rafting, Mammoth Cave, and the US Space and Rocket Center. 

15. The kids have now been in 36 states plus Ontario and Washington, D.C. We took a small fraction of pictures compared to what would have been taken if I hadn't broken my ankle. I still was able to pick out pictures for our map of the US that hangs in our family room. The only picture I really, really don't like is the one I had to use for Idaho because we took a whopping two pictures in that state. Nadia's not crazy about one of the two I used for Texas, but we plan to return to Texas in the future (Houston and San Antonio) in conjunction with visiting Louisiana for the first time so I should be able to replace that picture. I hadn't planned to return to Idaho, but maybe we will when we visit Oregon and Washington. Although it's a very bitter pill to swallow not to be able to take many pictures on the vacation or for the next 5 weeks, I am very, very thankful that we upgraded my cellphone this spring because that is what Paul usually used when he remembered to take a picture or a video. I had known for years that I love taking pictures, but I realized it even more keenly over the past month as I haven't been able to use my good camera while hopping on my left leg. I'll appreciate it all the more when I'm able to take pictures again. I had bought the boys pumpkin shirts. Hopefully the shirts will still fit them next fall as I don't think I'll be getting a picture of them in their pumpkin shirts this year.

16. Nadia mowed our lawn last week. She started to mow it again this week and quickly gave up. I had no idea how long the grass would get before Paul would get around to doing it, but a neighbor surprised us mowed the lawn for me yesterday! I am so thankful.

17. Weather is something that can make or break a vacation. One of my least favorite vacations was our trip to Grand Cayman in 2012 because the weather was terrible. During our twenty-five day trip it rained two times when we were out and about. It rained a tiny bit while we were in Iowa, which is what unfortunately led to my broken ankle. The only day it rained was while we were at Bryce Canyon. The temperature was also very nice during almost every day of our trip. The kids were cold during their tour of Lowell Observatory because that took place after dark, and they didn't wear any of the coats that were in the van, but in general we had really lovely weather during the entire trip. 

Once I add a picture from Minnesota, our map will be up to date. 14 more states to go!

18. Milo had an awful beginning for the first week of our vacation. I am SO glad that he calmed down and did better for the last 2.5 weeks of our trip. I'm very thankful for everyone who took care of our guinea pigs, our lawn, and Milo during our absence. I'm also thankful that Milo hasn't had any accidents since we've been home. He still needs to learn what he can and can't chew and not to jump on the dining room table, but it's a relief not to have him making messes in the house. Our favorite canine turned one on September 30! Due to my broken ankle I've decided not to make a video of his first year of life. Also, he was very matted when we came home from vacation so I had to cut off a lot of his fur. Maybe I'll make a video in December about his first year in our family.

19. Yvonne's blood pressure and heart rate have been very elevated for a month due to the high elevation in Quito. She and Jenna went to two Urgent Care clinics on Saturday morning when they were at our house, and a doctor was willing to help her at the second clinic. I'm so thankful she has been able to bring her blood pressure down thanks to the medication she was prescribed! Hopefully it won't take her body too long to adjust to the high altitude. 

20. Back in 2008 I predicted that the first room I would replace the flooring in would be the dining room. That prediction proved to be false, but on October 4 we did get new flooring in the dining room. I'm no longer worried about spills when we're eating in that room. 

Four days later

It's now been four days since I was wheeled into the operating room. The time I was by far in the most pain was when I first woke up in the recovery room. Shortly after that I was given a nerve block which eventually greatly decreased the amount of pain I was in. I also regularly took ibuprofen, Tylenol, and oxycodone. Although I did go to bed very early on Thursday night (about 7pm), I didn't feel the need to nap on Friday or Saturday. The side effect that was the most disturbing to me at first was my lack of balance. I fell once and almost fell multiple other times. Thankfully, I have regained my sense of balance and no longer worry about falling when I'm using my crutches. Yesterday morning I began feeling very sleepy. I can easily go more than a year without taking a nap, but I napped yesterday, and again today I'm struggling to stay awake. I tried taking less pain medication in the hopes I wouldn't be as sleepy, but I was very nauseous and light headed from the pain this morning. I guess sleepy is better than pain and nausea albeit I prefer feeling alert when I'm trying to homeschool my kids. Sometimes I've given the kids the day off for Columbus Day, and sometimes I haven't. Since we just had a 25 day vacation, I didn't give them today off. However, I hadn't planned to do every subject because I had signed the kids up for a homeschool roller skating party that took place this morning. I forgot that it was Columbus Day until a boy was at our front door asking to play with Oliver. The kids did get to do a small field trip on Saturday as Toby and Andrew took them to a fire prevention program which helped us fulfill the annual fire safety requirement for homeschoolers. Even Toby and Andrew enjoyed putting out a fire with a fire hose or hydrant. 

Prior to the surgery I definitely felt up to doing more activities. For example, I mopped the floors on Wednesday while rolling around in Paul's office chair. My pain level greatly increases whenever my leg isn't propped up which means I'm not really doing much around the house. I did start a load of laundry and loaded the dishwasher once yesterday, but that was about it. It's hard to see things that need to be done and be unable to do them, such as weed whacking. I haven't cooked for a little over a week. Nadia made tuna noodle casserole once last week, we ate at church last Wednesday night, our neighbor brought over a meal on Thursday, my sister picked up pizza on her way here on Friday, on Saturday one of Paul's employees and his wife brought over pizza, salad, chips, etc, and yesterday at church my small group leader gave us a to go family meal they had purchased at Country Cupboard.  We're very grateful for Yvonne's assistance and for everyone who has provided us with food over the last several days! We're planning to have leftovers tonight, and Nadia is going to cook dinner tomorrow night. At this time of year I usually look forward to taking nice long walks (planned to do so with Milo this fall). It's quite a change that even cooking dinner sounds like a daunting task. Walking for a few miles a day is definitely out of the realm of possibilities. 

Shutterfly had coupon codes this weekend so I worked on designing our photo calendar for 2022 as well as our Christmas cards. I was thankful to have something that I could accomplish in bed or while sitting in a reclining chair. My sister helped me out by installing chair glides on the legs of the dining room chairs to protect our new flooring that was installed last Monday. Jenna helped me out by giving me a haircut. When I got my hair cut in early June, it had been eight months since my last haircut. This time it had only been four months. Until my pain level decreases, I doubt I'll be leaving the house. I watched church online while Paul and the kids were there in person. The youth group didn't meet last night. All three kids should be able to go to church on Wednesday night, and Nadia and Ian have a youth group event on Friday night that hopefully Paul can take them to. Aside from homeschooling the kids, I plan to keep working on learning Spanish through Duolingo, read a book (Whose Waves These Are) and finish listening to an audiobook (The Downstairs Girl). I also have been working on getting other quotes for home insurance because our annual rate went from $674 in 2019 to $751 in 2020 and now $974 in 2021. I've been a homeowner since January 2001 and NEVER made one single claim on a home insurance policy. We're switching to a different company and hoping the rate won't continue to skyrocket. I have a hard time buying the theory that the rate of inflation is only 5% at the moment when the cost of something goes up almost 50% in two years. If I can do so without it being too painful emotionally, I also will work on creating a video about our big vacation. 

Pins and a plate

Paul left for work around 2:45am on Thursday morning. Usually it doesn't wake me up when he leaves, but because I was thinking about my surgery, it took me two hours to fall back asleep. I homeschooled the kids for a few hours before Paul took me to the hospital. I was at the hospital for about 6.5 hours. Paul mostly read in the waiting room. He did run a couple of errands. One of the first things they did was give me a pregnancy test. I never dreamt I'd be using one of those again. They said if I was 55 or older then wouldn't have required it. The surgery itself lasted about 45 minutes. Thankfully the anesthesiologist took my request for anti-nausea medication very seriously. He gave me a patch, a pill, and two different medications in my IV. His efforts were successful as I never threw up. The patch came off today. The doctor didn't want to give me a nerve block before the surgery, but the anesthesiologist said I could have one after the surgery if I wanted it. When I woke up in the recovery room, I was in a LOT of pain He commented that my face was grey, and he gave me a nerve block. It took awhile for it to kick in, but over time it helped a lot. I also was able to eat a few crackers which my stomach appreciated as I hadn't eaten yet that day. The kids were at home while we were away. One of our neighbors brought them dinner while we were gone- chicken, green bean, and potato casserole as well as applesauce and brownies. 

After Paul dropped me off at home, he ran to buy milk and pick up my prescription from CVS. I went to bed at 7:30 and slept almost 12 hours. Margie had suggested asking for a second pair of crutches. They said our insurance might not pay for a second pair (my first set was from the ER in Wisconsin), but since they were $50, we were willing to take a chance. If they were $500 we wouldn't have agreed. This way I can keep one pair of crutches upstairs and the other downstairs. The first few days we were back I had been carrying the crutches and up and down the stairs, which wasn't easy. The nerve block lasted for quite a while. It was nice to have a break from the pain. I'm taking Tylenol, ibuprofen, and oxycodone around the clock. I didn't feel up to taking a shower this morning, but I'm planning to get one tomorrow using the bag Margie sent me to keep my cast dry. 

This morning I fell one time when using my crutches, and unfortunately when I went down my injured foot slammed down onto the floor. I'm hoping and praying that it didn't do any damage. Because of my instability, Paul decided to stay home from work today. Yvonne, Jenna, Andrew, and Toby arrived at our house around 5pm. They picked up some pizza on the way to our home for our dinner. The kids played a game of Labyrinth. We also watched Black Widow on Disney+ which was the first time for several of us to see that movie. I cooked on Sunday and we ate leftovers on Monday. Nadia made tuna noodle casserole on Tuesday. The kids and I had dinner at our church on Wednesday evening. I used a chair lift on a flight of stairs to get to the room where my Bible study was meeting. Paul picked the four of us up around 8pm/

Yesterday I called the dentist to reschedule my appointment that was supposed to take place in about 10 days. I should be able to drive again on November 19, but the soonest they could get me in was the very end of December. 

The famous water pump at Helen Keller's birthplace

Surgery on Thursday

 

Yesterday we resumed our school year. It was far from a smooth start due to a variety of factors including my pain and lack of mobility, the noise from new flooring being installed in the dining room, and the fact that it was hard to find out school books because they are usually in the dining room and everything had been moved so the flooring could be installed. The worst subject by far was math, which is always a challenging one for my kids, and having 3.5 weeks off didn't exactly help. The floor installation is complete. We moved the dining room table and curio cabinets back into the dining room last night. Hopefully tonight the two bookshelves and dining room chairs can be moved back into the dining room. The new flooring is thinner than what was there so there's now a white stripe above the floorboard. The walls are green. I don't exactly feel up to tackling that painting project right now. 

I had abbreviated the lesson plans for today because I thought we'd be at co-op from 12-4:45. I added back in Spanish and piano/flute, but we still skipped history today. Nadia babysat for about 90 minutes while Paul took me to an orthopedic doctor. Thankfully, despite the interruption due to my appointment, things went much more smoothly today (although math was still a challenge for Nadia). We finished MUCH earlier today even with me being away part of the morning. Nadia mowed another section of the lawn today, and she also made tuna noodle casserole for dinner with only a little bit of help from me. In addition to taking me to the doctor this morning, Paul also ran into the library to return a few items and check out a few that I had requested. 

They x-rays of my ankle today showed that my ankle is in worse shape compared to the x-rays from September 12. He said it wasn't good that I waited 3 weeks to see a doctor. I wouldn't have waited if we weren't on vacation. Although the vacation was pretty much over for me after my injury, I didn't want to cancel it for Paul, Nadia, Ian, and Oliver. I need a plate and pins inserted in my ankle. The surgery will be this Thursday. They will call tomorrow to tell me what time the surgery will be. I need a plate and pins inserted in my right ankle. I'll have a fiberglass cast for at least two weeks, and then back to a boot for the next probably four weeks. I can't drive for 6 weeks following the surgery, which will mean I won't have driven for 9 weeks plus 4 days. I typically have a very adverse reaction to anesthesia. I'm praying they will give me anti-nausea medication to help prevent me from being violently ill. The doctor said that one of the plates will be on the outside of my right ankle which is an area where there isn't exactly any padding. He said a majority of patients eventually request a second surgery to have the plate removed because it annoys them so much. I hope that isn't the case for me, but I'm trying not to think about that at the moment. 

Since we're entering another lockdown of sorts, I have been cancelling plans for the next couple of months. The most expensive cancellation was the homeschool co-op. On June 15 I waited in line for more than two hours to sign the kids up for the co-op, and I wrote out checks that totaled a little over $400. That was a lot of hassle to go through and a lot of money to spend for only attending co-op one time. By the time I am allowed to drive again, there will only be 3 weeks left in the semester. It seems pointless to rejoin after having missed 10 weeks. Other things I cancelled have included two service projects (food packing), a homeschool roller skating party, and attending a concert in Hershey at the end of the month. Tomorrow I need to call and reschedule my upcoming dentist appointment. Thankfully, another mom is going to pick Nadia and Ian tomorrow afternoon to take them to Bible Bowl which starts at 4:30 at our church. Our neighbor is going to take Oliver and I to church at 5pm for dinner and then Bible study. This fall our church has started offering a meal on Wednesday night at a very reasonable price from 5:15-6:15. This is a big blessing in particular for those who attend Bible Bowl at 4:30 because last year Nadia had to be DONE with dinner (at home) by 4:10 because she was at church from 4:30-8:15pm. Now they can eat dinner in between Bible Bowl (4:30-6:00) and youth group (6:30-8:00). The Bible study I'm joining is meeting upstairs, but I found out they have a chair lift I can use. I climb on my bottom up the stairs at home, but I'm not willing to do that at church! 

The same neighbor has also offered to bring us a meal on Thursday night, for which I am very grateful. Margie ordered me a plastic cover for my cast so that I can get a shower or bath during the two weeks I have a fiberglass cast. Also, Yvonne and Andrew are flying from Quito the US tomorrow to spend some time with Jenna during her fall break. She offered to come up and spend some time with us on Friday and Saturday after they pick Jenna up on Friday afternoon. I'm not sure how much I'll be up to visiting with anyone, but at least I can stay in our bedroom and she can handle cooking dinner on Friday night and such. Yvonne, Andrew, Jenna, and Toby (Jenna's boyfriend) will be the ones spending some time with us on Friday and Saturday. I wasn't expecting to see Yvonne until next summer so this is one unexpected blessing that is coming from my painful injury. Oliver wishes that one of the younger cousins was also coming, but Nadia is looking forward to spending time with Andrew and Jenna.

Not that there's ever a good time to break your ankle, but another reason this wasn't exactly a good time to do so is we just switched our health insurance at the beginning of September. The rates had skyrocketed as to what they were charging Kennedy Concrete to provide three employees with health insurance. So Paul stopped offering insurance, and we switched to a private health insurance. The biggest disadvantage of our current plan is that we owe a certain % of hospitalizations and surgeries. The co-pay for doctors appointments and prescriptions and such is fine. I haven't had any surgeries or hospitalizations in 9 years. It would have been better if this had happened when we were on our old insurance. Hopefully the bills won't be TOO high. We shall see. It's not optional. I need to have my ankle repaired so I can walk properly! 

Home Sweet Home

Friendship House

Around 2AM on October 2, I figured out that the cause of Ian's vomiting the previous day was not due to anything he ate. I came to this conclusion because Nadia started throwing up. Most of the time I went to bed early on the vacation. Unfortunately on the night of October 1 I stayed up until 10pm, so I only had gotten four hours of sleep when I was cleaning up Nadia's mess, and it was a couple of hours until I fell back asleep. We had planned to visit the West Virginia State Museum at 9am. We scratched that from the plans. After four of us had a hot breakfast, we left the hotel a little before 10am. Our first stop was the Clay Center in Charleston, West Virginia. That was another museum I had thought we would visit last year, but we weren't able to due to COVID. The boys would have liked to have spent more time there than we did, but we knew we had more than 6 hours of driving ahead of us, and we didn't want to show up too late for Milo. Although Nadia still felt queasy throughout the day, thankfully she never threw up after we checked out of the hotel.

Our second stop was our 27th National Park of the trip - Friendship House. It is very close to Fort Necessity, which we visited last October, but beginning in October it's only open on the weekends and we weren't in that area on a Saturday or Sunday last October. This park had a "senior" badge option that was for ages 13+. Nadia started doing that one, but then she realized it was going to take her a long time so she switched to the book for up to age 12. Nadia earned 30 badges on the trip, Ian earned 25, and Oliver earned 24. I gave them each $1 per badge, and I gave Nadia a bonus of an extra $5 since she completed 30 during our vacation. 

To save time we went through a drive-thru at a Taco Bell for dinner on our way home. During our drive home I finally spotted two Rhode Island license plates! We had found the other 49 states much earlier in the trip, but it took coming back to Pennsylvania to spot a Rhode Island one. I thought Alaska or Hawaii would be the hardest to find, not Rhode Island! We also counted VW bugs on the trip. I believe our total was 18. Ian spotted the most of those. We got home at 8pm after having driven 423 miles for the day, which put as at 7,045 miles for the entire trip.  After I figured out how to get into the kitchen, we used the bathroom and emptied out the trunk so we'd have room for Milo's crate. I thought because I had learned how to easily get up and down from a curb that I could handle two steps from the garage to the kitchen. Wrong!!! On our way to get Milo, Paul also ran into the grocery to buy milk and bananas for our breakfast today. Last night Paul teased the kids that there wouldn't be a hot breakfast tomorrow since our usual fare is cold cereal or oatmeal. Nadia and I stayed in the van while Paul and the boys got Milo, his crate, food, etc. I held Milo during the drive back home. He gave me LOTS of kisses. 

At home we did some unpacking prior to going to bed. Usually I put everything away myself upon our return. That certainly wasn't the case this time! We went to church this morning. After lunch, Paul went to Walmart as I had made an appointment to have the oil changed and tires rotated on the van. I also gave him a grocery list to buy some food during the appointment. Afterwards he also stopped at Dunkin on the way home because today was Nadia's spiritual birthday so we'll have her birthday donuts one day late. I made rigatoni and meatballs for dinner and also M&M cookies. My foot was very swollen, and the kids commented that it was turning blue. Nadia mowed part of the lawn this afternoon. It was her first time mowing. I usually enjoy mowing the lawn, but obviously that's out of the question for me until next spring. Nadia likes being able to earn money so she was grateful for the opportunity. Hopefully she'll be able to finish the lawn tomorrow. I did a load of laundry and a load of dishes. Ian changed the bedding in the guinea pig cage. The van needs to be washed (lots of dead bugs on it which look really gross) and also the inside needs vacuumed out. Nadia wanted to attend youth group this evening, but they had to skip it because tomorrow morning men are coming to install new flooring in our dining room and it took Paul and the kids awhile to move everything from the dining room to the living room. The flooring was originally going to be installed on August 17, but we couldn't do it that day because of Oliver's doctor appointment, so I didn't have the heart to call and reschedule it again. Tomorrow it's back to school for the kids and I! Ian is very glad that his new glasses arrived during our absence. He had to go without glasses during our whole vacation. Aside from my broken ankle and swollen foot, we all are healthy today which is a blessing. 

Horses and Daniel Boone

 After eating a hot breakfast this morning, we planned to leave the hotel around 8:50am. We ended up leaving an hour later than planned because Ian had thrown up at 3am and still wasn't feeling the best when it was time for us to leave. I went down to breakfast with Oliver and Nadia, and I brought some food for Paul back up to our room. He had stayed in the room with Ian. Ian didn't eat any breakfast. Because we showed up at the Kentucky Horse Park a few minutes after 10:00, we had missed the morning grooming session and the 10 minute horse drawn trolley ride. Thankfully, they had a wheelchair for me to use, which meant I was actually able to visit the museum, attend two horse shows, etc. One of the horses used by the mounted police was named Oliver! The kids would have enjoyed riding horses again today, but they were charging $25 for a 30 minute ride which seemed a bit pricey. We ate a snack in the car as we drove from the Horse Park. Ian ate some crackers and kept them down. Progress!

Our second stop was Fort Boonesborough, which is located in a state park in Kentucky. There weren't any wheelchairs available, and it involved too much walking for me on crutches. I hung out in the van while Paul and the kids explored the fort (from the time of Daniel Boone). We had dinner at Cracker Barrel on our way from the Fort to our hotel in West Virginia. Our hotel room does have an office chair with wheels. Paul and the kids went swimming for a little while in an indoor pool this evening, and we will be able to eat a hot breakfast tomorrow morning. Altogether of the 22 nights we spent at hotels, 10 mornings we were offered a hot breakfast, 1 continental breakfast, 6 grab and go breakfasts, and 5 times no breakfast was included. We drove 195 miles today, which puts us at 6,622 miles total for the trip over the past 24 days. We spent most of the day in Kentucky, but we ended the day in West Virginia. Presuming the kids each earn one Junior Ranger badge at Friendship Hill in Pennsylvania tomorrow, Nadia will have earned 30 Junior Ranger badges on the trip, Ian 25, and Oliver 24. Nadia spent some of her money to buy prairie dog earrings. I bought three other pairs of earrings along the way for Christmas gifts for Nadia and one of my sisters. The boys didn't buy any souvenirs. We bought one thing each for Addi, Westyn, Isaac, and Micah along the way as thank you gifts in addition to the money we gave them for caring for our pets in our absence. 

Thankfully Ian is feeling fine again. I think it might have been from something he ate at Chili's last night. The same thing happened to me on September 23, and I think that time it was from something I ate (I had chicken and mashed potatoes) at Applebee's the night before. The good part about it being from something I ate rather than a GI bug was that it wasn't contagious. Having GI issues at the same time as a broken ankle was very unpleasant as I couldn't get to a bathroom as quickly as usual. I was very relieved when I felt back to normal. Paul had one day when he didn't feel well after he slept in the cabin without a pillow. Nadia and Oliver have felt fine the whole trip. All in all aside from my broken ankle things have gone smoothly. I made an appointment for Paul to take the van for a tire rotation and oil change on Sunday afternoon. Normally I handle those appointments, but we don't know when I'll be able to drive again and we hit the point when the van was due for those two things a couple of days ago. From what I've read online, usually you have to wait 6 weeks to drive. The shortest I read anywhere was 4 weeks. On Sunday it will be 3 weeks since I broke my ankle so I figure I have 1-3 more weeks before I can drive again. We shall see what the doctor says on Tuesday morning! My swelling continues to go down, but it's still a challenge to sleep at night due to the pain. Sleeping in a hotel room is usually a challenge for me because #1 I often feel cold and #2 most mattresses feel like a torture device to my back. Adding a broken ankle to the mix hasn't exactly helped! I keep reminding myself that at least my broken ankle is a temporary condition. I've had to deal with not being able to drive for an extended period of time two other times over the past 33 years - #1 when I broke my ankle about 29 years ago and #2 when I was pregnant with Oliver. The times I would want to drive next week would be to take the kids to co-op on Tuesday afternoon and to church on Wednesday night plus getting groceries and picking up books at the library. I think it's going to feel like we're back in lockdown mode, but at least it won't last as long as the lockdown did in 2020.