Day 6 of Recovery

So I mentioned before (here) that I was having foot surgery.  FEET* surgery.  I had my feet surgery on October 24, 2011 where they went in and fixed me.  I had (another dirty word) BUNIONS.

Bunion: A bunion is an abnormal, bony bump that forms on the joint at the base of your big toe. Bunions form when your big toe pushes up against your other toes, forcing your big toe joint in the opposite direction, away from normal profile of your foot. Over time, the abnormal position enlarges your big toe joint, further crowding your other toes and causing pain.

I also had Tailors Bunions: The term "tailor's bunion" initially described an acquired lesion that caused chronic pain and swelling over the lateral aspect of the fifth metatarsal head (see the images below). These lesions often were present on tailors, whose traditional cross-legged sitting posture on benches resulted in pressure being placed on the lateral side of the foot, leading to the development of painful bunionettes.

(no, I don't sit cross-legged often)

ALSO, I had 4 toes with too-tight tendons: doctor straightens it by making an incision in the toe and releasing the tendon.

All of these things happened, resulting in approximately 90 stitches, 4 screws, and some heavy duty medical tape.  You can read about the day here.  I don’t think I would ever do anything like this ever again. 

Since then I have been to Fargo and back.  I went to Fargo for work on Wednesday night (two days after the surgery, yes) and came home Friday night.  While in Fargo I was trying my darndest to be independent (…said the girl that had her coworker come to her house to pick her up, and cater to her mobility-needs the entire time they were there).  My crutches and I had a heck of a work out. 

I had a handicap hotel room.  I had to have the handicap room because I couldn’t get into or out of a regular shower easily, let alone STAND up.  Standing is hard.  Well this handicap room just so happened to be at the very far end of (what I felt was) the longest hallway in the hotel.  It was approximately .65 miles (not even making that up).  On crutches it felt like 10 miles.

The good news is that I no longer have lunch-lady arms and my abs are rock hard!  Ok maybe not.  But it was a heck-of-a work-out.

At the meetings (all day on Thursday and Friday), people would ask me what happened and the first few times I would reply “skydiving accident”.  The quizzical looks and hearty chuckles told me they didn’t believe me. 

A man in the hotel (while I was waiting for my ride) walked up and said “too early for a skiing accident!” and I said “Can’t skydive when the show hits!”  He was the only person that laughed.  I felt better.

So anyway people were super helpful and wonderful and supportive the WHOLE time, and now I’m home!  I spent all day yesterday in bed… I was only awake for approximately 4 hours.  I woke up this morning as if I had just had the best nights sleep since I was a small child with not a single worry!!

Great start to a new day.  I’m starting to feel back to normal… The happenings of the past couple of days are all a bit fuzzy and make me feel like I have been doped up for too long, and I’m finally feeling…sober.  I will write again tomorrow to update you on the Fun things of life vs. the health-related things (those get old fast).

HAPPY Halloween Eve!!

Rebecca

Words from Above.

An interesting, amazing, odd, inspiring, frightening, eye-opening and encouraging thing happened to me just a few minutes ago.  It is currently 3:21am and I am sitting in a Holiday Inn in Fargo, North Dakota (for work).  I have slept for a grand total of 1.5 hours.  The first half hour I was asleep, I awoke because I had to use the little sales-girl's room (still excited about this new job and such).  Being that I'm still physically unstable and can't make it there and back in less than 12 minutes (distance... not "content" of the restroom visit), I was wide awake when I got back to bed.  I was finally able to get back to sleep about 30 minutes later and was asleep for one hour +/- a few minutes.  Here's how the latest couple of hours went...

Before I went to bed, I had taken 2 of the pills from the doctor (legally, in case you read this story and think it's because I took the pills down with a bottle of wine then proceeded to drive a large motorized vehicle) because the day with walking and hopping and entertaining customers and distributor partners had finally taken a toll on me.  I laid down and was uneasy and restless.  Maybe somewhat nauseous.  

I have taken up reading since finishing school (oh, the irony, huh?) and the latest was a love story.  Not a "Romance Novel", a Love Story (there is, in fact, a large difference...).  I closed the book after a half hour, shut out the light and laid there.  Still restless.  Deciding that I could just turn back on the light and read my book until my eyes got heavy, I completed the last 7 chapters of my book.  I turned out the light in time to realize that I needed to use the restroom again.  Dang.  Another 12 minutes gone.

The second time I got back to bed I tuned out the light and immediately fell into a deep sleep.  This is where the frightening part happens... I mean this sincerely from the bottom of my heart.  

An hour after falling asleep, I woke up terrified.  I won't tell you the dream because I don't want you to over-analyze why I am telling you this...  Which I will clarify at the end.

Knowing that I had the surgery less than 4 days ago, understand that when I take the medicine from the doctor, it is strictly used when I need to "numb" the incisions/pain and is supposed to make me sleep better.  What I woke up to was an overwhelming, moderately painful tingling in my feet, calves and knees that was so intense that I can't even describe it.  


I woke up to yelling.  My yelling... Nothing in particular, just sort of a terrified yelp as if I had jumped off of the tallest plateau in existance... Where if I had taken another direction, I would have been faced with stairs and safety.  


I was sitting in a cold sweat that had consumed me in my allegedly "perfect 72-degree" hotel room.

The first thing I could think to do was pray.  I talked to God.  I asked him to help me.  I was in pain, I was scared, and I was at a loss for the cause.  


I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that seconds after praying, the tingling sensation subsided.  Not immediately, but as if a sheet was lifted.  My body temperature went back to normal (not a drop of sweat in sight), and I felt at peace.  Genuinely comfortable.

So I prayed again.

I thanked God for his mercy and grace.  I asked forgiveness for any and all of the sins I hadn't prayed for forgiveness for... and even the ones I had.  I asked God to help me recognize my demons and help me face them head-on so I could live in a way that would please Him.  I ended my prayer with seemingly simple requests...  I prayed for my brother, sister, brother-in-law, mom and dad.  Friends, family, colleagues, strangers.  Sinners like myself...  Amen.

God listens.

I am aware that I have demons.  There are things I do consciously that I'm not proud of EVEN as I am doing them.  I claim to be trying to "fix it", but "fix it" has simply become a phrase... not an action.  I have prayed about these things, yes.  I have asked God to help me, yes.  But I haven't allowed Him to utilize me as a tool to help myself.  A wildly simple, yet foreign concept...

I've told some of you reading this about my friends and family that have supported me in my growth in Christ, and how these people have impacted my life.  My family - providing a home that shares common beliefs and challenges each other, and speaks freely about God when it's heavy on their mind.  Friends from my hometown, friends from Milwaukee, and all of my travels in between.  They truly have impacted my life in unbelievable and unique ways.  They know who they are.  YOU know who you are.  I will make Sure to tell you again, even if I've told you a hundred times already.

Jesus Christ has given me direction before in so many situations, but not in a way that has been so clear as it has today.  The immediacy and the urgency of His response has been a testament to just the smallest of what He's capable of.  

I didn't tell you all of this in attempt to preach to you. I also didn't tell you this so we could analyze my dreams.  I told you this because I feel I was asked to....  I have no other explanation.

Surround yourself with people that support your beliefs.  People that challenge you... The people that you can talk to about things that make you uncomfortable or that can help you through trials and tribulations by offering prayer and fellowship...  Don't solely spend time with people that drain you or put you in situations where you're unsure of your purpose.  Lastly, pray.  


God is listening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As said by Chef Ken, of a hotel my dad and I once stayed at:
"Live life to your fullest purpose today... You're not guaranteed the opportunity to do it tomorrow!"

Happy Friday!!  

Not just another day in the life.

Welcome back, eh??

It's been a while since I checked in.  Lots of adventures in the past couple of weeks.
Shortly after my last post, I had to go to Wisconsin for training.  Before training, I spent some time with Aunt Larinda and Travis and Anna.  So much fun.  Anna is a character... :)


At the training there were 14 attendee's.  Myself, two other people in my sales division, and the rest were from the food & beverage sales division.  I don't think I've ever heard so much about headless chickens.  


The training ended on Wednesday night, and I had another training with a large healthcare system all day that Thursday.  After that I had to high-tail it home (the 7 hour trek) so I could get up at 4:45 the next morning to get to Bemidji before 10am (with Melissa) hoping to make a sale.  LONG week.  (In case you were wondering, WE CLOSED THE SALE!)  It's a pretty big deal - the first time Melissa and I have ever had a dual-call just the two of us!


We got home from Bemidji and I started to clean.  A lot.  I needed clean, stable, and routine after the week I'd just had.


Saturday night I got to go out ONE LAST TIME with Katie (until after I can wear my own shoes). :)  It was such a blast!  She is probably one of the most down-to-earth people ever.  Here is a picture from that night!

So we spent Sunday miserable together (dang chicken McNuggets) and I finally hit the road at about 2pm (so I could go home and nap)... I love naps.


Remember when I told you about having foot surgery?  Well it happened.  This past Monday.  Here's the series of events... and a picture of my awesome new kicks (and the little socks dad chopped up to make my toes stay warm).  :)

We were asked to be there at 10:30 because the surgery was scheduled for 11:30 and there was a lot of pre-op to get done.  So at about 10:45 I got my IV.  Not great.  I cried.  Like I was a small child that ran into the wall of a convenience store on his new bicycle.  No wait, that was Carl.


Dad helped calm me down seconds before they laid me down with a cold cloth on my head (THAT close to passing out).  So Dad and I sat there.  And waited.  And waited some more.  At around 1:30 (yes, after we had been sitting there all IV'd up for 3 hours) the doctor came in and said "Here's what we're going to do....." and colored all over my feet with a purple pen.  Then the Anesthesiologist came in (btw, totally spelled that word right on the first attempt) and we instantly became best friends.  From what I remember.


At 4:30 I woke up.  Crying again.  I don't do anesthesia well.  And was sent home after an hour in recovery.


I spent all but about 20 minutes yesterday, in bed.  The 20 minutes is strictly the time it took me to go to the bathroom 3 times (the whole day).  I'm a sloth.  

Dad was at home with me and made my first real meal since Saturday night...  Yes, that is a sippy cup.  He thought it was a good idea.  Better safe than sorry, I suppose!  (Especially on vicodin...)


So here I sit on a Wednesday afternoon.  Medicated and content.  Upon making it upstairs, I almost landed on my pah-tootie.  I was on crutches and leaned a bit too far back.  "Dad, dad, dad, dad!!"  And my chef, care-taker, landlord, and chauffeur came to my rescue in a half-second.  (Saved my pah-tootie!!).  THANKS DAD!


My first post-op this morning went very well and the doctor said I should be "normal" within the next week (still sore but walking less like a grandpa).  What is normal??  I don't think I fit that category.  Anyway... I'm on my way to Fargo in a few minutes here (probably not my best decision ever, but I will not let this slow me down!) so I can spend the night in my "handicap accessible" hotel room.


WISH ME LUCK!!  (and please pray that this pain goes away fast... it's more than slightly miserable.)


Love
Becca

Oh, Just an Another Day in the Life...

I'm bad at blernaling.  I can't apologize anymore because I can't help it.  Ok, last time.  Please forgive me my faithful readers.


So the events of last Thursday and Friday are the reason I decided to start a blernal.  I had to make a trip to Bemidji.  I drove there with a friend/coworker at 5:30pm on Friday.  The trip was actually pretty good... He kept saying "I have a story..." and would go on one sided conversation rants for about 15 minutes per story with the occasional encouraging "mmm...." or "haha!" or ".....weird.".  We arrived in the town of Bemidji at 9:00pm (or somewhere thereabouts) with empty tummy's.  We were trying to figure out what we were hungry for:
"Arby's mushroom swiss?"
--- My favorite!  It's good mood food.  Not today.
"Perkins?"
--- Nah... not in the mood for breakfast-for-dinner
"Sparkling Waters?"
--- Left my tux at home
"Ground Round?"
--- Nah, I don't like chains...
"Green Mill?"
--- Ok.


So we went to Green Mill, ordered a beer each, and a LARGE deep dish pizza.  AWESOME!  Best. Food. Ever.  So they came around with bingo cards for FREE bingo (the last game you had the potential to win $500!!  (the person that won only got a t-shirt.)).  So we played Bingo, watched the Baseball game, and after an hour and 20 minutes got our pizza.  It was cold.  Evidently she forgot about it and the kitchen closed so we couldn't get a new one.  So our conversation had things like this:


Him: Do her teeth make you think of a crack addict?
Me: I don't know, I don't know any crack addicts
Him: I was watching discovery channel and they have this story on crack addicts and that's what their teeth looked like
Me: I think that must be it


That's how MOST of our conversations went...


On our way out of the restaurant my coworker looked at his hand (which held a black cloth napkin) and said "OHHHH I almost stole this!!!"  and I laughed "CRIMINAL!"  So we left and people were staring at us.  I mentioned it in the car and we just shrugged it off.
(this will make sense in a couple minutes)


So we got to the hotel at about 11:30 (after a LONG day) and I got to check in first.  The acne covered 17 year old (a valid assumption if I do say so myself) gave me a room key for room 301.  I went up to room 301, and tried to open the door.  Didn't work.  I tried again.  Didn't work.  The third time I tried, I was surprised when the door opened and a large burly man said "Can I help you?"


Crap.


I went downstairs and told the kid: "I need a new room, there's a man in mine."
He said "That's not possible."
I asked "Should I have gotten his name and social security number?  I forgot to ask..."
He said "That never happens"
I replied "Let me go get him"


So he gave me the room key for room 328.  I got to the room and used the ladies room (it had to happen SOME TIME!!).  After about 15 minutes, the toilet was still running.  It sounded like there was a small water cooler bubbling in my room.  So I called the desk and asked the kid if there was someone that could fix it.  "I'll be up in like 10 minutes" he said.  So 15 minutes later he got to my room, pulled the top off of the john, fiddled around, rinsed his hands (as there was no soap open), (I was holding the door open for comfort purposes) walked out of the room and without looking back said "It'll be better shortly.".  


I looked in the bathroom and there was TOILET water all over the floor.  No Joke.  I called the front desk again (we were becoming BEST friends....) and said "You just fixed my toilet, right?" 
"Yes"
"there's toilet water on my floor"
"*sigh* I'll be up shortly"
30 minutes later he was back with a bucket of water.  Yep plain water.  So I asked if he was going to CLEAN it and he said "FINE, I'll go get some neutralizer.  ....It like... neutralizes stuff."  So he came back, cleaned the floor (Allegedly) and left again.


A minute later I got a text message from my coworker saying "If you paid for dinner, thanks."
I called him: "Are you serious?"
He said "Crap, I'll talk to you tomorrow"
so I texted him: "You've turned me into a CRIMINAL!"
He said  "No wonder people were staring.. I heard one say 'Look, there goes Bonnie and Clyde."


He ended up taking a cab to the restaurant and walking back.  Not to worry, folks.... We paid in full for a cold pizza and warm beer.


Oh, and here's a neat picture from our camping trip...

Have a great day!!
Rebecca

Church

So I went to church with my dad today to help him with the sound system and the power point.  We got there in time to learn that there was already someone there running the power point and he was just going to Help the person run the sound board.  So this service in particular happened to be Communion Sunday as well as Confirmation Sunday for 11 new members of the church.


The service started out smoothly... Dad and I sat upstairs and waited for the service to start.  My purse was on the pew next to me (because there was literally NO one else upstairs except the four of us) and I was listening to the opening words of the service.  A man came up with his girlfriend and stood there pointing at my purse.  Being so great at sign language, I recognized the sign and kindly apologized, then placed my purse on the floor.  He and his girlfriend sat down.  
Shortly after the service had proceeded for a while (still going smoothly), Confirmation started.  The person running the power point had his "time to shine!".  So he started the show.  About 3 minutes before the first person went up to be confirmed.  So unfortunately for the other confirmee's, (is that right?) their pictures were all played during the time the person before them was getting confirmed (awkward). 


The wife of the SOUND man (not the power point driver) came upstairs to ask her husband to fix the show.  The power point man (PPM for short) said "it's a movie, I can't fix it...".  So she sat behind her husband, Sound Man (SM) and Just. Kept. Nagging.  She was talking to the man next to her (as the upstairs had filled up at this point) saying "they should just start it over" or "I don't understand why they don't just turn it off" and she would constantly get up to whisper in her husband's ear, all the while young people are going up to the front of the church to be received into the church.  Well then another woman came upstairs and said "There's music with this and it's not playing.  My Son-in-law made the music and he wants us to hear it."  To which PPM said (again) "I can't restart it, but I'll see what I can do about the sound." and with not so much as a "thank you", she was back downstairs.


No less than 3 minutes later, a man came upstairs and said "Just in case you haven't been informed, the show is off.  Can you start it over?  Let me try."  to which PPM said (a third time) "I can't, I'm sorry, it's a dvd.".  So finally, being the person next to PPM, I said "I'll look into it and try to help him.  If worst comes to worst, I will try to play it when the Pastor walks back down the aisle with all of the confirmed."  So the man went back downstairs.  NO LESS than 3 more minutes later, they had sent up a small child to collect the DVD saying "We'll just play it later."


All the while all of this is happening, SM's wife is still voicing her opinion.


Onto the Scripture lesson of the day... Matthew 21: 33-46
The Pastor ended the scripture reading by saying "Uh oh... I just read from the wrong Chapter.  So THAT is what Matthew 22 says, let's hear what Matthew 21 has to say... And today was going so well!"  PROBLEM SOLVED!


It was then time for offering.  The people downstairs were handed the baskets by some of the people getting confirmed.  The man that had asked me to move my hand-bag (by way of the finger) (index finger) looked over at me and said "there's no basket up here, what do we do?!"  So I thought... "you go Get a basket..." but instead just stood up and looked around.  the man that was downstairs (and driving the order of the service) handed me an ice-cream pail.  I can't help but think to myself how many people would have just put their money back in their pocket if I had come around with an ice-cream pail...  I'd look like I was trying to get some shopping money!  So I snooped around the dressing room for a basket.  Success.


When leaving the sanctuary after the closing hymn, I was waiting for Dad when the wife of PPM walked in front of me (failing to notice the step down) and tripped.  She hollered "SH*T" as she caught her footing.  She turned to me with a smile and said "didn't see the step there!".  I smiled... "yeah, it'll jump out at ya.."


It makes me wonder where the real meaning behind "going to church" comes from.  Though I don't go to Church as often as some people, I'm a firm believer that church is a place you go for fellowship and to center yourself in God-filled relationships.  It's interesting to me to see how going to church becomes such a routine for some people that they forget the reason they go in the first place.  The man running the power point wasn't an idiot... he wasn't wrong for doing what he did (or didn't do).  He was doing his best.  I commend him for that. 


When you put yourself in a situation where someone seems less capable than another person or where you feel "you can do it better" or "this is caveman-simple" and become impatient, please take a minute to think about the situation this person is in and how your attitude toward them affects their confidence, their day, or their faith.


I hope you had a fantastic start to the new month!!


Happy October!


Rebecca