Giving In

**Please click on the hyperlinks if you want to read more about the specific medical terms I use**

I've been experiencing pain in my right shoulder for a couple years and I've known that I would need surgery to address the problem, but I've been avoiding it for as long as I can. Earlier this year I went to physical therapy, yes people I WENT to P.T..  I'm not good enough at pushing myself and frankly I don't specialize in shoulder disorders.  However, my shoulder never got better, so I decided to have an MRI. The MRI showed that I had a SLAP lesion.  This was bad news because I knew I would have to be off work for a minimum of 6-8 weeks if I had surgery to repair this. I didn't have the Paid Time Off (PTO) to in order to do this so I just kept putting it off. I went to see Dr. John Edwards in Bountiful, who happens to be LaVell Edwards son. LaVell was the head coach of the BYU football team and a good friend of my Grandpa Ernie Wilkinson.

After examining my shoulder, Dr. Edwards felt that the MRI may be a false positive . He decided to inject my shoulder with cortisone to see if that would help. It worked and I experienced pain relief for about 5 weeks but then it wore off so I returned and had another shot, which worked for another 6 months. The pain returned though and I decided to go in for a 3rd injection. Typically doctors will only do a maximum of 3 injections in a year because of the potential side effects of the cortisone. Dr. Edwards felt that since the injections were helping that was an indication that surgery would help. He proposed doing arthroscopic shoulder surgery including a subacromial decompression and distal clavicle resection. He said I would only be in a sling for 2 days and I could go back to work in 7-10 days. Wow, that was a lot less than the 6-8 weeks for the SLAP repair, so I gave it some thought and decided I just needed to have the surgery done and over with. Christy felt the same way because she was sick and tired of hearing me complain about it. 

The surgery was performed on Monday Nov. 28, 2011.Thankfully it was a false positive and I did not have a SLAP lesion. However Dr. Edwards said I may have suffered an injury to my clavicle at sometime as he removed an "old" piece of bone that was floating around.  It's now 4 days after surgery and I'm feeling pretty good. I only wore the sling for a day or 2, intermittently, and I start formal P.T. today. However, I got a jumpstart on the P.T. the day of surgery, as Ryley acted as my own personal P.T.  Watch the following video to see her at work. She's got one great imagination. 

Groupon Family Photo

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in the past or not but I'm addicted to shopping online and I love a "good deal" as much as the next person. This past year I've been sucked into purchasing various deals from Groupon and Living Social including but not limited to 30 days of bootcamp (twice), a night at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas, three 16x20 Canvas photos (one was purchased for a gift), a Shutterfly photo book, a night stay at the Park Plaza hotel in Park City, a detailed carwash, etc.  I purchased a Groupon in May good for a photo session from Jolley photography and either an 11x14 or 8x10 and three 4x6 photos. It was my intention to have a family photo taken outside during the Fall to capture the beautiful colors. Well, life happened and things got crazy and the expiration date for the Groupon approached quickly. I scheduled an appointment and what do you know, it was on the only day of the week that was FREEZING and WINDY. It's a good thing the couple was able to shoot our photos in a studio in the basement of their home.

The photos turned out great. We were able to get an 8x10 pic of just the kids, a 4x6 of Easton, a 4x6 of Ryley, a 4x6 of the 4 of us and for ONLY (insert sarcasm here) $50 more, ONE digital print on CD so we could do whatever we wanted with it (I already had a Groupon for a 16x20 canvas photo). The photo below is the one digital photo we purchased. I'm so happy to get a good shot of the 4 of us. The lady who was editing the photo called to ask if we wanted her to touch up Easton's forehead. She wasn't sure if that spot was a mole or scratch. After talking about it with Christy, we decided to have her leave it. It's the remnants of Easton's first stitches he received about 4 days earlier. It was one of things we thought we would want to remember.  

Extreme Homemaker

On June 22nd I posted the following on Facebook

I got some replies that flew right over my head. i.e

I seriously didn't think twice about these comments. I was like, duh, yeah there's a show. It's on ABC, they makeover people's homes. I'm not sure if any of you have caught on yet either but in my post I said "Extreme Homemaker" not "Extreme Home Makeover" as I had intended.  A friend of mine pointed this out several days later. No wonder no one was volunteering. 

extreme |ikˈstrēm|adjective

1 reaching a high or the highest degree; very great : extreme cold.

• not usual; exceptional : in extreme cases the soldier may be discharged.• very severe or serious : expulsion is an extreme sanction.• (of a person or their opinions) advocating severe or drastic measures; far from moderate, esp. politically : their more extreme socialistsupporters.• denoting or relating to a sport performed in a hazardousenvironment and involving great physical risk, such as parachuting or white-water rafting.

homemaker |ˈhōmˌmākər|
nouna person, esp. a housewife, who manages a home.
makeover |ˈmākˌōvər|nouna complete transformation or remodeling of something, esp. a person's hairstyle, makeup, or clothes.
Obviously I was volunteering for the t.v. show, not to be an extreme homemaker, as for those of you who know me, there is nothing "extreme" about my homemaking except for maybe the "extreme" lack of homemaking. Anyhow, I went, alone from 8 pm- 2 am and volunteered doing odd jobs. When I arrived at 8 pm the house was framed and they were working on drywalling, painting, roofing, and landscaping. I was able to help by picking up trash, providing the manual laborers with water, shoveling dirt and carrying bricks. It was a great experience and I was glad I was able to help out a family in need.  I'll let you know when the show airs. Here is what the home looked like the next night. 

Home in Daybreak, South Jordan, UT for the Gomez family

We took the kids on a walk around the area the night after and took some photos by the lake across the street. Although it would be nice to have a home makeover, I'm just thankful I have a home, an awesome  "extreme homemaker" named Christy, and 2 happy healthy kids. I am the luckiest person alive. 

One was bit by the other, I'll give you one guess who 

Mommy and her babies

Another mommy and her babies

The lighting was perfect this time of night. 

The simple pleasures in life

This will be the pick I choose to show them in the future when one of them tries to tell me they don't like the other. 

Ry looks like she's on Splash Mountain

P.S. Sorry about the fonts, I couldn't get them to change and be uniform, but that's the least of my worries. Hope you enjoy. 

Prima Donna

One of our better purchases. Love this thing.

Never considered myself a Prima Donna, but after this weekend camping in the rain and cold, I'm officially calling myself one. Put simply, camping is too much work. And that's if things go as planned. Now imagine going camping with a 3 year old and 15 month old who is not yet walking. Oh and I forgot to mention the responsible Mom is not present. I'm not saying I'm irresponsible, but I can hardly manage 2 kids in a controlled environment like my own home, let alone in the wilderness with bears. There's an inside joke behind the bear story. Anyhow, let's just say I don't think I'll be invited back next year. I made the comment to Christy that I just wasted an entire day of my life, and she said "Ry had fun" and you know what, she did and so did Easton, and in the end that's what matters. I am one lucky girl though. After packing up at 9:30 p.m., taking the tent down in the rain and mud and getting home with a car full of stuff, I was able to sleep in my own bed, sleep in and wake up the next morning to find Christy had already unloaded the truck, put everything away, sprayed down the tent and not once did she complain. I'm planning the next trip though.

This is pretty much the look I had on my face all weekend.

Ry loves riding the 4-wheeler

Ry fell down and Aunt Sun was tending to her owie.

Blessing of the Hands

I've worked at St. Mark's Hospital as a Physical Therapist for 6 1/2 years. Day in and day out I'm given the opportunity to literally and figuratively touch other's lives. For the past 10 years St. Mark's has organized an event called "Blessing of the Hands". It happens during Hospital Week or now termed Employee Appreciation Week. The employees are given an opportunity to have their hands blessed by a number of different people from various religions. St. Mark's hospital is Episcopalian but they have a wonderful pastoral care program where they train people from all sorts of religious faiths. I don't consider myself a religious person, but I do consider myself a spiritual person. In the hospital, where people are sick, and perhaps near death or dying, it's' comforting to know that these people are available to patients, friends, and family members. They are also there for employees as often it can be emotionally difficult to work in this environment.

I chose to become a physical therapist because I wanted to help people, but I really believe that over the last 6 1/2 years my patients have helped me and taught me more than I will ever teach them. I've become a better person, more caring, more patient. I've made lasting friendships with patients and their families over the years.

Last Wednesday May 11 I was able to participate in the Blessing of the Hands ceremony. It's only the second time I've done so over the past few years, and I'm not exactly sure why, because it's something I need to do yearly. It is such a powerful experience. My hands were washed with water and they were given a blessing by 6 different individuals of various faiths. Each prayer was unique and special to me. As I said, I'm not religious but spiritual and I felt the presence of another Power that day. I was overcome emotionally and feel truly blessed that I am given the opportunity to touch lives and be touched each day.

The last blessing was performed by Arapaho healer Dorian Two Horse Sanchez.