This week was Jared's sophomore orientation at the high school.  His sophomore class is huge! Something like 2000 kids.  After the orientation all the clubs and activites set up displays in the gym to try to recrute.   Ruth and the debate team had a nice display and worked hard all night to build their team.   One advantage to going to a huge overcrowded school in a rich area is that there are tons of activies and groups - you really have your pick of whatever you might be interested in.  Jared isn't super excited about anything but we did spend a long time talking to the percussion kids and also the teacher who teaches computer science.    

On Friday I went to a follow-up appointment with my orthopedic  I told him about the debilitating pain I was still experiencing and we decided that the next step would be to have a cortisone shot in my shoulder. So I got the injection. It was a bit painful but managable.  As I stood to leave I started to get very dizzy.  The doctor had me lay down and they brought me cookies and water.  I guess dizziness is a side-effect for a very small persentage of people.  You know, when you want to be the one out out of a hundrad you are hoping it is to win a prize or money or something cool, not to be the lucky one that passes out because of cortisone.  Anyway, so I ended up texting Ruth who came to the hospital and picked me up.  The doc said it would take 3 days to 2 weeks for everything to settle down from the shot but so far I've experienced a bennifit, maybe 30% pain reduction.  And that's something, at least. 

As a mental health purchase for myself, I bought a 3D-printer.  I've been playing with it all weekend and so far have not produced one workable print.  But I'm learning.  And if I have to fail 10 times before I get it right, well, I'm half way there. 

Jared 

Jared got his braces off last week.  It was a painful process for him, but he is so glad that 2 1/2 years of orthodontia are over.  And since Jared is my youngest, I too, am finished with sitting at the orthodontic office!   Jared doesn't like pictures and he wouldn't smile for a picture of his new straight teeth.  This is the best picture I could get.

Jared had band competition this week and felt his band did pretty well. They also had their spring concert for parents.  I'm putting a clip here of Jared playing the tubular bells in one of the numbers.  He is the blurry kid standing in the back, in the center.

Jared also went with friends to his very first concert this past weekend.  He seemed to have a great time because when I ask him how it was he gets a really big grin on his face before he answers "fine." 


Ruth

Ruth took part in her in the national high school walkout this past week, protesting for more gun control.   She felt really passionate about it and did a lot of work getting the word out at her very conservative school.  Less than 200 kids participated in the walkout, but that was more than Ruth expected.  I was proud of her because it took a lot of courage to be the only student in your class to stand up and walk out.

I asked her to hold up her sign and look angry for the photo.


Ruth also had her senior prom this week.  Quaid came down from university to take her out and they had a good time. 

Kate and Ben

Kate and Ben came last weekend and we had a great weekend with them. While they were here Kate took Ruth's senior pictures.  We're excited to see how they turned out!

Two Time National Qualifier

Ruth had her very last debate tournament this weekend. It was the national qualifier.  Ruth finished 2nd in HI, which earned her a place at the National Debate tournament.  She was the only student from her school to qualify. This was her final goal in debate and was so happy to have reached it.  She has already told her teacher that she isn't interested in going to the national tournament. She doesn't think she'd place at the national level and she feels finished with this phase of her life and just wants to save her money for college.   So this is the end of Ruth's competitive debate career.  

What's Jared Up To?

Jared is still doing a lot of music. He spends hours every day composing music on the computer and also playing drums and guitar in the basement.   He's still in the Youth Symphony and they have a spring concert coming up.  He also spends time on the xBox and he told me that I could share that he has won Fortnite 5 times this week. 

2 Steps Forward 1 Step Back

I went back to work this week. It went pretty well.  I continue to have physical therapy two days a week and I do exercises every few hours throughout the day.  I've regained a lot of motion in my shoulder, but still feel a lot of pain.   I had a few really good days this week so that's progress. 

I got some photos back from wizarding dayz that I really liked. 

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.