The End of Tournaments

Ruth had her very last regular debate tournament this weekend.  This was a large one at UVU and she placed 3rd in DI and 2nd in HI.   She now only has the National Qualifier to go and then her debate career will be at an end.  She will also be competing at the state DECA tournament in a few weeks.  In other Ruth news, Ruth got offered two scholarships this week.  A full ride scholarship to UVU which she is turning down, and a partial scholarship to the UofU, which she is accepting and glad to get.  We weren't expecting her to get any offer from the U so we are super happy about that.  Ruth also went to the youth council to spend a day at the capitol doing workshops and talking with our legislators. 

Beckys FS

A month into physical therapy has helped me regain some range of motion. After PT every week and a daily stretching regimen,  I can now reach my arm almost to chin level, which is a big improvement.  Still, I am living with constant radiating pain. I'm meeting with an orthopedic surgeon to see if I qualify for a surgical option.  I've decided to treat this aggressively as it has so drastically impacted my quality of life. Wish me luck.

Because I have been feeling a little better, I tried doing an event with HEROIC this weekend.  I went in figuring I'd stay as long as I could and then just go home when the pain was too much.  I ended up staying over 3 hours!  You'd be amazed at how many superhero poses you can do with only one arm!  Still, it was fun and I'm glad I went even though it knocked me out for the rest of the day. We had over 12 heroes from our club there.  

A Year of Churches

Chuck and I decided that this year we would spend every 4th Sunday going to a different church.  Chuck went to a few different churches when he was growing up, but I've never really attended other worship services and my kids haven't either.  So we thought this would give us some good perspective by seeing what other religions are out there and then talking together about what we liked and didn't like and how it related to our own religious beliefs.   Today we chose a non-denominational church not far from our home.   The people were very welcoming and we were shown around and felt comfortable right away.  We liked the service, though it was very different from what we were used to.  People dressed in casual clothes and there was a worship band that played contemporary music.   The messages were all very good, about how God loves us and so we should love each other. The sermon was on kindness and how important it is to make people feel welcomed and loved, that by loving someone first then they will want to come and be with the body of Christ because they feel loved and wanted there.  We had a good discussion on the way home from the service about what we liked and didn't like about the service.   It's become clear to me that I can't really judge a church by one experience, but it's interesting to at least get a glimpse.  

 

After a long break from this blog being all about Ruth, we're back!  This week Ruth got her official acceptance letter to the University of Utah.  We aren't surprised at all that she was accepted, but it just nice to have that detail out of the way.  Ruth also started the debate season again with an event this weekend. She won her usual events, but this time she also competed in an event called "Congress". It's an event where a group of students get together and debate and try to pass laws. Students get points for giving speeches, asking questions, and taking on leadership roles.  Ruth didn't place in this event but she was able to give one speech and she said she really enjoyed it.  I've judged Congress before and all I can say is that it's really boring. It must be more fun if you are participating.

On Saturday morning, as Ruth was out scraping snow off her car at 6:30 am, getting ready to drive to her debate tournament, she noticed several police cars driving through our neighborhood.  As she was driving out of our neighborhood, she noticed several more starting to set up to block the road.  When Chuck and I woke up and turned on social media, it was to the news that our neighborhood had been put on lockdown and that we should all lock our doors and shelter in place.  I guess, in the early morning, a police officer on his way home from work saw a suspicious man. He pulled over to talk to the guy and the guy pulled out a gun and shot at him.  Then the man went running into houses where he broke the window to one home, shot the homeowner, and stole his car.  He only drove a half a mile or so when he wrecked the car (we got over a foot of snow overnight) and took to the neighborhood on foot.  So we spent most of the day, until 4:00 pm, locked in our house while we heard helicopters overhead.   In the end, they didn't find the guy, but they identified who he was; so at least they know who they are looking for.   So it was kind-of much ado about nothing in that we were all locked down and nothing really came of it.   We were glad that Ruth got out in time to go to her tournament but we do wonder why police drove by her while she was scraping snow off her car while some crazy armed gunman was running through the area and they didn't warn her to go inside.

It's the end of the semester so Ruth and Jared had tests and things and Jared finished his online PE class.  Chuck had a stressful week at work, and Ruth was sick with a cough.  I got a new TENS unit, and have stayed wired to it every day since (you know you're in pain when the feeling of electric shocks are a relief).  Last week we had a candlelight vigil and tonight we have a memorial for a teen in our ward, a kid Chuck and I taught in primary, who killed himself.    So this has been one of those weeks where we are just doing our best and getting along.  That's real life for you.  Luckily we've had a relaxing weekend and the kids and I have the next few days off to enjoy.

Let's talk about my shoulder. It's been a big part of my life for the last 7 or 8 months but I haven't really mentioned it the blog.  Nothing really happened this week so today is the day.  So back in May  I noticed some stiffness and limited range of motion in my shoulder.  My sibs have all had problems with this and the advice I got was just to stretch it out.  Great.  So every night I start stretching.  Life goes on.   Then in Oct it starts to get worse. I'm losing more ROM, it starts to ache a bit.  By November I'm having constant achiness.  By November I'm in constant pain, I can't sleep without painkillers.  By December painkillers aren't helping. When I bump my arm the wrong way the pain is excruciating, like worse than active labor, knock-you-off-your-feet-and-leave-you-on-the-floor-panting pain.  I go to see my doctor.  She doesn't know what's wrong with me and doesn't really believe the family frozen shoulder story.  She refers me to a physical therapist.  By the time I got in with my physical therapist last week I had lost most of the motion in my arm.  Tasks such as dressing, writing, typing, driving, doing my hair, or pushing a shopping cart had become difficult and/or impossible to do on my own.    I am in constant pain that is hardly managed by over the counter medication, I'm only managing at night because of a prescription.    I'm not sure how to express what it's like to live in constant pain, or what it's like to lose the use of a limb. It's been a learning experience for sure. 

This is the state I am in when I walked into my physical therapist's office this week.  Within a few moments of me explaining my symptoms and a quick exam,  she has diagnosed my frozen shoulder, the medical term is adhesive capsulitis.  45 minutes later I walk out feeling better than I had in weeks. The cranking down of pain levels, as a result of my PT treatment, lasted a couple days.  As of this writing, I'm getting back up to the pain level I was before.  I never thought I'd say that I was looking forward to a physical therapy visit.  In the meantime, I'm doing stretches 3-4 times a day.

I have a few options from here that I'll be exploring over the next few weeks.  The reality is that there is no cure for my disease and they don't really know the cause other than it's some sort of auto-immune disorder. For some reason, my body has decided to fill my shoulder socket with scar tissue.  In most cases, it just has to run its course, which could mean another two years or so of limited ROM, though the worst of the pain is supposed to pass in 3-9 months. My prognosis is 80% full functionality, which right now sounds like a good thing; I just want the pain to stop.

My sibs and mom.

On Tuesday we hosted a family gathering at our house.  It was nice not to have to spend 3 hours traveling in a car like we generally do for these events, and it was nice to have everyone over to our place.   We enjoyed eating and visiting. The young adults seemed to have a good time playing guitar hero and other games in the basement, and as always, the family re-gifting exchange had its winners and losers.

When Kate and Ben left on Wednesday morning, Chuck also had to go back to work, and the rest of us entered a sort of post-Christmas stupor.  We went out to dinner to celebrate the end of our holidays on Saturday and for both Ruth and Jared it was the first time they had left the house in almost a week.

we recolored Ruth's hair

Happy New Year!  After counseling together, it was decided that we would not really have a new years party. We were partied out.   So New Years found Chuck and I enjoyed the sounds of fireworks from the comfort of our bed. While 2017 brought some joys, Kate's return and marriage and our trip to Orlando being the highlights, it was generally pretty difficult and I'll be glad to see the back of it. 2018 isn't looking to be any better or any easier than 2017, but one never knows what the future will bring.  One thing I know for sure it will bring is pain as I am starting physical therapy this week for my shoulder.