Mom Update

Mom had surgery yesterday to screw a plate into her bone. It looks sort of like a Chuck-It, she said - a cup on one end that the ball of her shoulder goes into, and then a 4-5" bar that screws into her humerus. She'd been in quite a bit of pain all week, while she waited for her surgery, so it was good to finally get it done. They kept her overnight and may keep her again tonight if she is still needing it; hopefully she'll be able to go home and rest in her own bed. The surgery went fine, and she was super sore and groggy last night according to my stepdad.

I'll be going over this weekend as long as the pass doesn't keep me on this side of the mountains, to cook and clean for them a little. Hopefully she'll be feeling a little better by then.

Ouch.

My mom broke her arm yesterday morning on her walk. She and her neighbor (who's a nurse) go almost every morning, from their houses on top of the hill down to the bottom and then around their street's loop a couple of times. Here's the email I got:

Well, 2009 is getting off to a somewhat "disarming" start.

Penny and our neighbor went for their morning walk at 6:30 this morning......It was very icy.

Everything went well til about 6:45 when Penny elected to become an Olympic gymnast/figure skater....without skates.

She did a beautiful half-gainer and landed on her left side and shoulder. The neighbor called to tell me she was taking
Penny to the ER in Redmond.

I met them in the ER where Penny was being X-rayed. She was in a great deal of pain. The doc prescribed some pain killers and suggested we meet with another Doc in Bend to determine the best course of action..... We were lucky that the Bend doc could fit us in at 1:00 PM.

The Bend Doc showed us the X-rays and the upper bone that connects to the shoulder joint was definitely fractured and separated. He said it would be best to schedule her for surgery and have a metal plate installed.

We're currently waiting for a call from the scheduling nurse with a date and time.

It is very painful for her to make any movements and she is currently taking a bit of a nap.


Will let you know what happens.

Poor Mom. :(

Happy New Year!

When the clock struck midnight, Cory and I had our new year's kiss and as I looked at him I got a little misty: I realized I'm so excited for this new year. I'm hoping to work more on my crocheting, getting more submissions in to more magazines and books, and making more money at it hopefully (though that was never really the ultimate goal of crochet - the process is so much more fun than the process of depositing a check). We're also at a crossroads in our professional lives, both trying to find new jobs, which means we could move anywhere we want (which we've narrowed down to three areas, all of which are near family). And I'm crossing my fingers that babies are in our '09 plans, once we've got the professional stuff out of the way.

I'm glad that the continuing downturn at work hasn't made my outlook for the future turn down as well. I know my time there is short, but it also puts us into a good situation: one where we're not tied down to any one city. I remember when things were going well and I was worried that I'd have to leave my awesome job to follow Cory once he graduated and found a job. That decision might be made for me, now, and I'm actually happy about it.

Now all there is to do is let that excited momentum carry us forward into actually doing all the things I thought about when I got misty last night. Whee!

Happy New Year, guys.