DECA State Finalist

Ruth and her partner Alex

This week Ruth went on an overnight trip to compete in the DECA state tournament.  She competed in "Business, Law, and Ethics" where she and a partner had a set time to prepare and present a presentation to a judge, including preparing infographics.   Ruth wasn't happy with her first round, but they ended up making it to finals.  Ruth was much more happy with how finals went and in the end they finished 4th.   Ruth was pretty happy with the finish as this is the first time she had ever competed in this event.

Becky's Recovery

I've spent the week on the couch. I've had some good days and some bad days.  I'm still not quite myself, still a little sick to my stomach, still pretty sore. Both my PT and my doctor are really happy with my progress. I've already regained a lot of range of motion.   However, I'm still in a lot of achy pain - about the same level before the procedure. The pain is from the tendinitis, which hopefully will start to resolve as I regain movement and strengthen my rotary cuff muscles.

The top pictures were taken the day before my MUA, the bottom ones were taken today.

Wizarding Dayz

HEROIC has a big presence at Wizarding Days.  I felt well enough to go over on Friday and spend a few hours.   This is one of the few times my club allows Harry Potter costumes. It was pretty fun.  I was supposed to go over and spend half the day on Saturday as well, but I felt really sick that day so didn't make it.   Like I said, some days I feel better and some days worse.

Why I Will Never Be a Drug Addict

Waiting for my procedure.

I checked into the hospital Thursday morning at 5:45 am for my 7:30 am procedure. When I came out of anesthesia at 8:00 I woke up to incredible pain.  The local anesthesia that they had given me during the operation hadn't taken for whatever reason.  The nurse came in and gave me a cracker to eat and promised to be back with pain medication.  20-30 minutes later the nurse had not returned and I was literally writhing in pain. We paged the nurse and after another 5 minutes a different nurse appeared (Chuck said the nurse had said something about the other nurse having been called into a meeting) and gave me the pill. The next hour or so was the nurse trying to make a dent in the pain that had been left to fester for so long by giving me more and more medications.  By the time the pain in my shoulder was managed I started with intense nausea and dizziness.   The nurse said that nausea was normal and proceded to have us check out of the hospital.  As she was rolling me out to the car I was still throwing up in a bag. 

I was dizzy and sick for the rest of Thursday, but still made it to physical therapy because I knew how critical it was that I get the shoulder moving as soon as possible.  During PT I  just cried and the PT was super nice and understanding.   Friday was even worse. I spent most of the day in a little ball just panting because the nausea was so bad. I stopped taking all my medications except one that I had taken before and knew I tolerated well. I decided that pain was better than nausea.  When Chuck got home from work he called my doctor and they put me on a new antinausea medication.   I got a good night's sleep that night and Saturday was better.  I started eating and drinking and could sit up and move around some. 

My doctor wrote this so he'd know which arm to work on.

Today is Sunday and I got another good sleep last night.  Today I'm eating bland foods just fine.  My shoulder is really stiff and sore but I can move it around pretty well.   I stand by the decision that pain is better than nausea. No more strong drugs for me.

Overall I'm happy with the actual shoulder procedure and progress.  If it weren't for my reactions to the medication this wouldn't have been a big deal at all.  I probably would be back to my old self by today.  I'm glad that I planned to take the whole week off this week. So there is no stress or pressure to move faster than I need to.  I have plenty of time to recover.

I've had lots of friends stopping by to check on me.  People have brought in a lot of food and have been texting to check up on us.  We've been very supported and loved.

Now I just have weeks and weeks of physical therapy to look forward to.  Chuck went with me to physical therapy and learned some exercises to do with me.  That's been a big help.  I have to do exercises every two hours.  This is to keep the scar tissue from regrowing.

Ruth made these Lemmon Bars today for President's Day

Since I went public with my shoulder condition and upcoming procedure the outpouring of support from our neighbors and friends has been amazing. I feel really blessed to be in such an amazing community.  People at work have also been really supportive. The last few weeks I've been able to give away assignments that would aggravate my shoulder and there was no problem with me taking off the week of work that I'll need to recover. 

On Tuesday I went with a friend to see author Tova Mirvis speak.  She talked about her experience leaving orthodox Judaism and it was super interesting.  I've learned a lot about Judaism from reading her books.

I just have a few other things to report from this week.  Chuck's had a stressful few weeks at work as they have been switching the accounting program that they are using and the new one isn't totally working the way that it should.  Jared had a field trip with his band.  Ruth has been busy agonizing over her college plans. We've also enjoyed watching the Olympics.   

A Date is Set

This isn't mine but mine looked just like this.

I went to the orthopedic surgeon last week and did an exam and xrays.  The exam showed I had more than just adhesive capsulitis; I also have calcific tendinitis.  This means that I have a pocket of calcium growth around the tendons of my rotary cuff.  He believes it's this calcium buildup that is causing my prolonged intense pain and extream manifestation of frozen shoulder.  His guess is that it's the calcium buildup that set me on my downward spiral with my FS back in November.   I was left with a few options on how to proceed some less aggressive, some more aggressive.  I chose a middle option of having a procedure called MUA. They'll put me under and then yank my arm all around to rip apart the scar tissue.  The hope is that this will also encourage the calcium to start to break down.  There is a chance that the calcium will not break down and then I'd have to go in for surgery to have it cleaned out.  So I'm having the manipulation done on the 15th.  They told me to plan on a week of recovery, but I should regain a lot of my range of motion within a few weeks of the procedure.  Within six weeks or so I'll know if it worked on the calcium or if I have to go in under the knife. 

Of interest to my siblings is that the doctor said that they see frozen shoulder mostly in people of northern European descent.  One of the first things he asked me is if I had ancestry from that area. 

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.