Shoulder Update

 

 

Before

Two Weeks Later

Before

Two Weeks Later

Before

Two weeks later

Thursday-Morning Tell-About

I cannot believe that it is Thursday already!  This week has gone by so fast.

My Movie Queue: Around the World in 80 Days, Cold Mountain, There will be blood
Pages left to read in my current book:   I’m reading several books and I’m not very far in any of them.
I have made: nothing.  I have been too busy
I have worked on: stretching and exercising my shoulder
Food made: Sloppy Joes.  Tonight I’m making chicken kabobs on the grill–yum!
Goals checked off: none this week.
Games played: Sudoku?
Favorite Pinterest pin:

Total Blog views since last Thursday:  101–I must have been boring this week
Number of snow days: 0
Movies Watched: 1-Melinda and Melinda (this is the fewest movies I’ve watched in a week in a long time)
Books read: The Host, For Parents Only, All for Jesus, For Parents Only, For Women Only: in the workplace, the cure, sandwich with a side of romance, the hound of rowan
This week I love: warm weather
This week I hate: being a staff member on Terrific Tuesday

i can move freely now the sling is gone

I had my first trip to the physical therapist on Monday and she told me two very exciting things:
1-I can stop wearing the sling and
2-I can start playing basketball

She said that the main problem with my shoulder right now is the stiffness since I haven’t moved it in almost three months now.  She wants me to get it moving with stretches and exercises.  Playing basketball will hopefully just add to the mobility.

One thing she did in our session was measure my mobility and boy was I surprised at how much I had lost.  I hadn’t even realized!  She encouraged me to take a picture comparing my mobility every week to check my progress.

So here are week 1’s photos, before any exercises have been done.  One day these will be my before.

The arm in the front is the hurt one.  I have quite a ways to go to raise that arm over my head.
Good arm reaching behind my back.

Bad arm reaching behind my back.  Yikes.  This is the one that I was most surprised about.

Good arm reaching across my body.
Bad arm reaching across my body.

As you can see, I have a lot of work to go!

Now, before you think that with all this exercise I’m going to hurt myself more, the PT said that the only thing that could make my tear larger is heavy lifting.  Everything else will help loosen my joint.  And I am so glad to get the chance to be active again!

With all the encouragement she gave me, there was one bit of news I was not thrilled about.  Shoulders take longer than any other body part to get back to normal–great.  Oh well.  I am committed to doing my exercises every day, but I’ll need a lot of encouragement.  To paraphrase Fergi, I’ll be up in the gym just working on my stiffness. Will you help me?

Untitled

This post is untitled because I couldn’t think of anything clever to call it, and also because this post isn’t realy going to be about anything.  I have had a serious headache all day and whenever I tried to think of what I would write about after work, my head started to hurt even more.

My weekend was pretty good.  I think it was relaxing…I can’t really remember what I did.  I do know that it went by way too quickly and I did a lot of laundry.  Last night was the first night that I slept in my bed for a month and a half.  It wasn’t exactly the best night sleep I could have gotten, but a few hours are better than nothing.  My shoulder stayed sore all weekend and is still pretty sore today.  I hope that the medicine eventually kicks in and makes it all worth it.

It has been snowing here all day and it is supposed to snow all night, so I’m hoping for a snow day tomorrow, because sometimes you just need a snow day.

Tonight starts the new season of The Voice, and I am super excited.  I mean, how can it be bad when Usher is joining the coaches?

I have woken up early the last three mornings to do my Bible study and it is amazing what a difference it makes in my whole day.  I am, however, a realist and realize that I probably will not be able to keep getting up this early.

I have been really stressed today because of several realizations.
1-I have a lot of bills that are coming due that I almost forgot about.
2-My house is a mess and I have neglected it.
3-There is no food in the cupboards.
4-I will be packing for the RCC Convention at this time yet week (and I’m really nervous about it).

I’m just happy that I now have the grocery shopping finished, most of the laundry done, it is almost time for The Voice and I have all the ingredients I need to make Rice Krispie Treats.  Thank goodness!

Thursday-Morning Tell-About (Friday Edition)

I can’t believe I forgot the Thursday-Morning Tell-About this week!  Well, that would just be terrible of me to leave you without all this information!  So here you go, the Friday Edition of the Thursday-Morning Tell-About.  Enjoy!

My Movie Queue: Top Gun, The Bridge over the River Kwai, Around the World in 80 Days, Cold Mountain, There will be blood
Pages left to read in my current book:  I just started three different books so I have pretty much all the pages to go in them, and 566 in Anna Karenina
I have made: nothing.  i have been pretty busy this week with not much to show for it
I have worked on: nothing
Food made:Pork Chops in a Apple glaze, Cheesy Bacon Grits, Chicken Pasta Florentine
Goals checked off: had some people over to the house, played Eclipse
Games played: Eclipse, Ticket to Ride, Hand and Foot
Pinterest pin:

Total Blog views since last Thursday:  149
Number of snow days: 0
Movies Watched: 7: Gangs of New York, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1 & 2, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Cimarron, The Incredibles, Back to the Future
Books read: Stiff, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Glass Castle, What Happens when a Woman Says Yes to God
This week I love: singing with my sister at church
This week I hate: cortizone shots!

Ouch!

Got a cortizone shot in my shoulder today, and man does it hurt.

I’m supposed to do some therapy for the next 6 weeks and then go back to the doctor.  We’re hoping it does some healing in that time.

Just wanted to give you an update, even though it’s pretty hard and painful to type this.

I really hope this pain goes away soon and it starts feeling better.

23 for 23 Update

I feel like I have been seriously failing at my goals and I am only a month in.  But I am failing with good reasons.  Does that help?

After one month of setting my goals and trying to check them off, here is where I stand.

Daily Goals
1. Be content with where I am in life, don’t wish my life away, flourish where I am
I feel like I am doing pretty good with this one.  I try not to complain and I try to find the joy in my current situation.

2. Be a good, supportive, encouraging, loving wife to Adam
I feel like I am doing well at this one.  I am trying to be really mindful about how I treat Adam.  But I guess you’ll have to ask him to see how I’m doing at this one.

3.  Do one thing to clean the house
Well, I was doing really well at this one before I hurt my shoulder…so do I get half points for this?  I think so!

4.  Keep a food and fitness diary to help me remember to be more healthy.
Yeah the fitness, not happening.   But that again, is because of my shoulder.  I haven’t been keeping a diary like I had planned, but I have been watching what I am eating and trying to drink lots of water every day.  So I think I should get a half point for this one too.

Weekly Goals

5.  Call my mother
Now, I can say for a fact that I have been rocking at this one.  I called my mother at least once a week, maybe more.

Monthly Goals

6.  Write a thank you note to someone who I am grateful for
Check.  I wrote a note to my mother.

7.  Have intentional date nights with Adam.
We had two intentional date nights in February.  Valentines Day and my Birthday!

8.  Find a craft or something creative to do
Super check!  I made a sign for the unmatched socks, I beardo hat, and did quite a bit of crocheting.

9.  Have someone over for dinner.
I am not sure that we did this one.  We made plans with some people a couple times and they fell through.  So I will give myself a half check because of my good intentions.  Come on, I can’t help it that people get sick!

10.  Do something with my sister
Now, I probably get no check for this one.  But it’s not for a lack of trying!

One time goals

11.  Finish Financial Peace University with Adam and save some money.
We are going into week 8 of FPU.  We have saved almost $800, but some of that has already gone out to pay for my MRI, but I’m still proud of it.

12.  Take a vacation
No progress made

13.  Finish my Best picture list
I made quite a bit of progress on this one.  I watched 6 best picture movies in February, one was added to the list, and I only have 8 left to watch!

14.  Finish reading Anna Karenina
I am 40% through the book and I read almost 100 pages in February.  The progress in this one is slow.

15.  Plant flowers in the flower beds outside my apartment
It’s a little too cold for me to start this one yet.

16.  Read through the whole Bible again
Well, I was doing really well in this one, but fell off the wagon in February, but I’m back on so far!

17.  Play Eclipse with Adam
This hasn’t happened yet, but hopefully with this new big table it will happen soon.

18.  Finish watching Prison Break
Sadly, I have watched no Prison Break.  Adam’s charger broke for his computer and his computer only runs when it is attached to the charger, so I don’t get to use my computer to watch Prison Break and if I would have time to he is on his computer.

19. Learn how to knit
I am one step closer to checking off this goal.  My wonderful in-laws got me a step by step knitting instruction book, knitting needles, and yarn for my birthday.  I am all set to learn!

20.  Go to a sporting event or concert
No progress made

21.  Take a cooking class
No progress made, mostly because I can’t find one near us.

22. Go one weekend unplugged
Not warm enough yet

23.  Read a biography of someone I don’t like to learn more about them
I have too much other stuff that I am currently reading.

All things considered, I am happy with the progress I made in February.  Hopefully I’ll check off a few of these in March!

Life Update and Funny Friday

I thought I would take some time to update you on my life this morning.  I feel like I haven’t written very much this week.

1-Have have found a new website that I looovvveee!!  It is called goodreads.  It is a website where you can put in all the books you have read, rate and write reviews on them, list the books you are currently reading, and the books you want to read.  I love it.  It is pretty addicting.  And my “to-read” list is growing faster than I can keep up with it.  I added the goodreads widget to the right, so check it out.

2-In case you did not already know, I got the scholarship to attend the Religious Communicators Council annual convention free of charge April 4-6.  I am so excited!  It is going to be a great time of networking and learning.

3-I went to the doctor yesterday about my shoulder.  It turns out they did find tearing in my MRI.  It is not in the labrum, which I do not know if that is good news or bad news, but it is in my bicep tendon.  And the only way to fix this is to have surgery.  There are temporary things they can do to relieve the pain, but nothing will fix it but surgery.  After surgery I will need to be in a sling for 6 weeks and then do 6-8 weeks of physical therapy.  We don’t know when the surgery will be yet, but we need to save some money before it can happen.  Also, since I need to be able to drive to Indianapolis for the convention in April and cannot do that for 6 weeks after surgery, the surgery will probably have to be after the convention in April, so my guess is that it will be sometime in April.  Which is good because hopefully we can have a good chunk saved by then.

4.  I have been dreaming of babies all week!  It has been so crazy!  I have been finding a lot of cute baby stuff on Pinterest for whenever Adam and I decide to embark on that adventure, so maybe it has gone to my head…

5.  I have been working the Emmanuel Phoneathon for a few nights this week and will be doing it a couple nights next week.  It has been lots of hours of calling, many hang-ups, but still good conversations and donations.  It has been a good experience so far.

6.  This is going to be the best weekend ever!  I get to have a birthday celebration with my husband and the Oscars are on Sunday!  Yay!  And then either Thursday or Friday of next week my parents are coming down for my sister’s opera and to celebrate my birthday.  I am excited to spend some time with them, and they are bringing us some furniture that I’m really pumped about!  It’s also potluck Sunday at church, which is a lot of fun fellowship, but also a little stressful for me, so let’s hope that goes well.

7. Random fact:  I have been seriously craving pizza all week and I’m hoping that this weekend, with some birthday money, I will be able to enjoy some warm, cheesy, yummy pizza.  Hmm…I wish I was close enough that Joe Bologna’s would deliver to me!

And now, Funny Friday:
Hope that made your friday even better!! I know it did for me 🙂

What to hope for

I’m sure that you all are tired of my groaning and complaining about my shoulder, so here is the good news.

I took the first step this morning in finding out what is going on. Early this morning I had an MRI done.  Luckily, I am not a claustrophobic person, but the MRI was almost enough to make me become a claustrophobic person.  For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, here is a visual aid:

Now, this may not look too bad to you, and it didn’t to me either.  I was facing the other way, so I had my head toward the machine, so I could see behind me.  What you can’t really tell from this picture is how small it truly is.  As you go inside, the tube gets smaller.  My elbow hit the side as I went in and if I tilted my head just right my nose would have touched the top.  So yeah, it’s a pretty tight fit.  Another thing that I did not realize about an MRI was that it isn’t like an x-ray or a CT Scan.  It’s not a quick “click” or “whirrr” and then you’re done, no.  I was in the tube for about 15 minutes.  And all the time you are in it, it sounds like the machine is malfunctioning.  It is really loud (the tech gave me earplugs but I don’t think they helped) and rather unsettling.  But, needless to say, I made it through and I am not emotionally traumatized.

The next step for me is seeing the doctor on Thursday.  Now, since Adam and I had to pay $300 up-front for this MRI, I am a little torn with what to hope for from the doctor.  I almost want him to give me bad news, because then I won’t feel like I wasted the money for the MRI if it is not actually that bad.  Adam said that it won’t be a waste of money even if it’s better news because then we still know what it is and hopefully how to fix it.  I see his point, but I’m not sure I’m completely sold on what I should hope for.

Thursday-Morning Tell-About

My Movie Queue: South Pacific, The Best Years of Our Lives, Lawrence of Arabia, The King and I
Pages left to read in my current book:  100
I have made: a beardo hat
I have worked on:  crochet skills
Food made: lots of regular, budget saving meals
Goals checked off: a lot of my daily goals will not be getting checked off for a few weeks or months because of the wrench in my plan.
Games played: Carcassonne, hand and foot
Favorite Pinterest pin:

This totally blew my mind, and now I have to try it!

Total Blog views since last Thursday: my stats page hasn’t been loading all week, so I actually have no idea.
Number of snow days: 0
Movies Watched: Pitch Perfect, Catch Me If You Can, Patton, The Brave One, Cavalcade, Goodfellas
Books read: just working on one
This week I love: my husband: Happy Valentines day Adam!
This week I hate: shoulder pain and not being able to sleep
Days until my birthday: 11