David's knee

So we were in the ER again this month.  Seems like we are there too often, and yet, we still think we'll walk in, get seen, get meds, and go home so quickly!  And while we did finally get into the ER (after 4 hours of waiting) we didn't get the issue resolved and are still in-the-process.  We've decided that maybe one of our scrapbooks will be a medical/health scrapbook with all our ER or sick pictures, oh yeah :)

Since Oct 1 our lives have been MESSED with a bit because David's hurt knee.  Besides the ER, we've been to doctors, MRI's, therapy, and then with him immobile, that just created more of a weird month.  Honestly, he didn't do anything to his knee!!!  But, after kneeling on our carpeted floor for like 2 minutes while setting up some of our Halloween decor, he stood up, his knees hurt, and then as the hours went by, his left knee got WORSE instead of better.  His knee was inflamed a bit and getting stiff so he couldn't bend it very well.  Well Oct 2 passed and then Oct 3, he didn't sleep well at all, so I scheduled a Dr's appointment for him that morning.  So, usually David has this 2 week rule, which I'm against, but he won't see a Dr unless something has hurt for 2 weeks - except kidney stones - but he was in enough pain that he went to the doctor on day 3, that told me it was bad!  Well, our doctor was out so he saw the PA there and she thought it may be infected so he went and got prescriptions but the pain didn't go down.  She also said if it got much more swollen and also he had a fever, that we should head to the ER.  Well it's still Oct 3, I was home and we were enjoying pizza (thanks Jon & Annie!) and we were debating the ER visit.  We finally went, silly us, we should have gone as soon as we had thought about it because our time debating could have been spent at least waiting it out in the ER.

David got a nice wheelchair since his knee could no longer bend at all at this point.  He also has spent A LOT more time in the backseat of our car as I chauffeured him around - since he couldn't get his leg straight in the front.  At the ER they drained fluid from inside his knee to test for infections.  That was so bad for me to watch, and poor David said it was worse than a kidney stone - so anyone who is offered this treatment, don't do it!!  They gave him a knee immobilizer and sent us off with Percocet and told him not to bend it as they had diagnosed it as not an infection but Bursitis, in inflammation in a fluid filled sac in your knee (we have these "Bursa's" all over our joints to lubricate).  They said it would get better or to see an Orthopedic Surgeon.

David's pain was high all that week and the Percocet was just causing sickness (and throw-up trauma for me) so that meant we were headed to the surgeon's office Oct 9.  Finally!  David had been sleeping, or really just laying on the couch through each night so I could get some sleep, poor guy.  And I was trying to still work or work from home as needed so I could drive him where he needed.  The Ortho surgeon said this was RARE!  He'd never seen Bursitis not allow knee movement!  So he sent us to an MRI, and a few days later went over it with us, yep, inflamed bursa.  He suggested surgery because not being able to bend a knee and so much pain just meant we needed to get in and remove it and let the body grow it back properly.  The inflammation should have gone down by now.  AHHHH.  So, actually this meant 1) we had to cancel a few dental interviews David was planning in October (and we had just booked the flights and hotels the week before!!!) and 2) David would be DOWN and OUT for a good 4 weeks before the stitches would be out and he could start therapy and 3) that would be long and hard for me (sorry, I shouldn't complain).

We got all ready for surgery, but decided we needed a second opinion and thank goodness!  Our next doctor (he is the surgeon for the Real soccer team here) suggested a more laborious process.  THERAPY immediately with more meds, icing, and elevation to get David's knee bending.  He thought the bursitis had actually gone down and most of the problem now was that the muscles have deteriorated and David should be trying to bend his knee (stupid ER and immobilizer!)  Well, we went with option B as cutting his knee open and all that jazz should be a last resort.  YAY.  Physical Therapy isn't for wimps though, I can't go watch because I don't like how it hurts him and they just think the pain is good sometimes!

So for these last 2 weeks David has gone to therapy 3x a week and can now bend his knee 90 degrees, with pain!  A lot of progress, and still a lot to go.  He has bruises from therapy and gets stiff when we walk a lot, so we take it slower, and we've watched a lot of TV/movies the last few weeks.  We've also napped more since both of us haven't slept through the night as well (me having a cold last week)...  We are just hoping this knee issue goes away soon and we can get back to normal life.  Sad that it came in October, one of David's favorite months.  Our Halloween festivities were lessened or cancelled, which has been quite a bummer.  But we've pressed on through some of it still... post to come next.

Please keep David's knee in your prayers, that he'll heal fully and we'll get back to a semi-normal life soon.  And also - be sure not to KNEEL too long, even when praying, I'm paranoid about that now :)

Fall Date Nights

I don't need to explain much about these...  We went on a few dates, hurrah!  D's school and dental test studies have kept us busy basically our whole married life.  And even after the DAT, we keep pretty busy with who knows what - family visiting, church events/meetings, shopping, working, etc.  So while we do get to see each other and talk a lot more and watch more tv (not sure if that's a good thing...) we don't always have dates "out" as much.  So, here's a couple dates we've been on recently:

BBQ & Golf/Arcades:

We had steak and corn soup (a new recipe and favorite for me)!  You grill the corn and blend it up with milk and spices and add homemade tomatoe corn salsa yum!  Maybe I should share some recipes sometime, but usually I make things that are pinned, etc.  This one we learned in a cooking class we took (thanks to work for that one!)

Then we went to Boondocks (also thanks to work I got some free passes from a sales pitch) and played golf, did a car race, played air hockey and even won a few tickets on other games - which we went and got prizes, but just the candy prizes.  It was nice to be out in the end of summer/fall weather and pretend we were dating again.  Well, as marrieds, we're all dating this whole marriage time huh?

Lagoon (#2 this year) Double Date:

At the end of September I was lucky to get a couple Lagoon tickets from work (extras from before that we already paid for so...) and we headed back to Lagoon.  Again, it's no comparison to Disneyland, but a few drops or rollercoasters always makes me smile.  Plus we had 4 tickets and 4 meal tickets so we went with my bud Courtney and her husband Caleb.  They just moved to Utah for a year and just got married last year so I hadn't seen Court too much plus it was good to get to know Caleb and just play together.  We went Sept 28 during the day and spent about 5 hours there.  No we didn't do any Fright Night stuff, but just road all our favorites.  It was warm, but not too bad and the lines weren't too bad either.  Here are a few shots of us waiting or riding a few rides.  My favorite is still the rocket, but I did the other rollercoasters as well and enjoyed screaming on them all.  It was nice to have 4 of us and chat, grab lunch, and just ya know, have fun.  Thanks guys for coming with us!

Grandma Update

While Eric & Amanda were visiting last month, we also stopped and visited Grandma Ginny (Everts)!  She was ON ONE that day, and it was really fun to see her old personality shine through.  Even though we reminded her over and over that we were her grandchildren (favorite too... wink wink) and just did the normal repeating with dementia, but she was still so FUNNY.  We took a tour of her outside area.  For the past year when we visit we usually tour the facility and get all the way to the cafeteria for a Coke, but they had a fire a few months ago, so that's gone, crazy!  Too bad for us because we liked to get out of the small area too.

We also had Grandma give E&A a tour of her room and tell us where she got it all.  She teased David a few times and rather than telling us about a doll behind him, she said "oh that doll, I've had him (David) for awhile".  And she did think he was cute I think.  Hahah.

There have been some ups and downs with her health, mostly needing more nutrition and stuff so hopefully the facility will watch her more carefully and get her on some better medicine so she doesn't keep falling.  She does walk, with her walker (pictured below) that she says she got from her dad (really it's her son Jeri, but he's got grey/white hair and she thinks it's her dad).  The first time she referred to her dad, I was wondering if she was seeing more than we could here (spirits) and I said, well maybe he's here but I can't see him... but now I get it and laugh and tease Jeri when I see him.

We love you grandma!  These pictures will go up in your picture frame collage soon :)

California Trip - Newport Beach

August 28 - DAY 3

In between Disneyland, we took a break and slowed down our day a bit.  Actually, David was productive and set up to tour a Cali dental school nearby this morning.  But of course, first was our hotel breakfast (picture below).  It was actually very good, and all in all we liked the hotel a lot, yay.  Sausages one day and bacon the next along with waffles and eggs and all sorts of yum.

David drove off to his dental school tour (and I missed him lots) while the rest of us drove to see the Newport Beach temple.  Sam wanted to touch it so you can see that picture too, awe.  It was hot there too so we didn't stay too long, just a few pictures, walked around and done.  Then while waiting for D we stopped at a Newport mall - actually the same one D & I visited 2 years earlier!  It was a little too pricey so we just walked around again and then drove to the beach and found a good place to be there.  After a bit D found us and we all played a bit.  Poor Sam wasn't liking the sand, I don't like it too much either, but if you can clean it off, it's all good.  But after we found sea shells and got some feet wet, things were a lot better.

After the beach we stopped for some real fish & chips, oops forgot a picture there.  It was a hole in the wall, but definitely the real thing!  Then we went home and just relaxed, napped, chatted, ate more from the freebies in the hotel, etc.  D & I took a quick dip in the pool too, but it was packed with kids, so that didn't last too long.

Good call for us to take a break between Disneyland.  The heat was gone at the beach, so I was much happier, but also I could just sit and do nothing which also makes me happy.  Wow, that sounds lazy, but alas, I guess that's me.  :)

Okay and since I won't be posting about our drive back... Aug 30 we drove back - left a little later than we should and lost an hour so we ended up getting in at 10:30, but I only had one day of work to be at, so that was perfect.  We also stopped for Cafe Rio and a few other gas/bathroom/kid breaks, which we were happy to do because we wanted to drive with our buds the whole way back.  It was seriously a GREAT vacation and we are excited to do this again - or some kind of vacation again!

California Trip - Disneyland

August 26/28 - DAY 2 & 4

We went to Disneyland two days while in Cali, our first day there and then skipped a day (yay for a break) and then the last day there before the drive home.  I was told Disneyland opened at 8am, so we were there at 8:10am but apparently they had just changed to fall hours that week and so we were fairly early.

Some of our favorite highlights were:
- Entering Disneyland from our shuttle and showing Sam, and he was most interested in all the lampposts, it made us laugh.  He was a little overwhelmed the first day, but the second day there he was ready to do them all!
- We did Indiana Jones ride first for the big kids only and we'd switch off watching the kiddos.  I loved watching those kids!  Sophie just smiley and Sam so inquisitive.
- Sam's first ride we took him on was Splash Mountain!  Oops!  He didn't like the drops, or as he called it - the waterfalls - so that traumatized him a bit and on future rides he'd ask "Does this have a waterfall?"
- Avoiding the heat by shopping or riding Pirates like 7 times in those two days
- Also relieving the heat with the Tikki Hut Pineapple Dole whip - if you haven't tried it, you MUST!  I wasn't sure about being excited but it really is that good!
- Taking a break during dinner (everyone) and then going back out to catch other rides at night (the big kids minus Annie).  The breaks were needed and the kids were exhausted at the end of each day.  Way to go not having naps and being drug out all day in the heat.
- Going on the Tower of Terror 7+ times with Jonathan who hadn't been on it before!  He loved it, which made it that much more fun, as it's my favorite too :)  Unexpected drops and flying back to the top and such.
- The only rides that all six of us could ride together: Pirates & It's a Small World, also Sophie's first ride was Pirates, wow!
- Visiting Cars Land, Sam loved!  We were able to watch him and his parents ride, while I held Sophie and she fell asleep in my arms, so cute.

Here are some favorite pictures as well...

 Oh she's our favorite! Get that foot Soph :)