Stop the Madness

Sorry for the delay in posts. Let's just say that it's been a bit crazy around here and not necessarily in a good way. Where to begin? I think my last post was about the duathlon that I did back in July. The following week we got the phone call that no one wants to get. Ryan's grandmother, who was probably our best blog follower, passed away unexpectedly. We were absolutely devastated. She was such an amazing person and loved, loved, loved her six great grandchildren (as well as the rest of her family). She checked our blog every morning and unfortunately we haven't been very good at updating. Regardless, she kept track of what we were up to and kept tabs on us. She will be greatly missed!

We found out in the morning and bought plane tickets and were on the flight out of Seattle to San Diego the next morning. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip but we're so glad we were able to get there and spend some quality time with the family. After that we flew back and Sara and I spent some time back in Yakima where it was a little crazy as some may know. We drove back home after being gone for over two weeks and spent the week hanging out, running, biking, and surfing. (We had some REALLY good surf for a few days!). Then I drove four hours BACK to Yakima for my wonderful friend Gretchen's wedding. I got home Sunday evening and was so excited to get back to normalcy, get in some good training for my race coming up and just hang out with my husband and daughter.

We we're getting ready for bed and I decided to carry a load of laundry downstairs while wearing some thick soled slippers (real ones, not Hawaiian slippers). Let's just say I thought I was at the bottom of the stairs but I wasn't. My foot in that stupid slipper landed on the floor, or should I say my ankle landed on the floor, I heard a loud SNAP and ended up laying on the ground. Ryan sprinted across the room and was trying to figure out what happened. All I could think of as I was laying there in agony was, "how in the hell am I going to take care of Sara with a twisted/broken ankle?" After catching my breath, not throwing up from the shock of the sound I just heard, and assessing the situation, I realized I was screwed. There went my race, there goes our camping trips for the summer, there goes any running, biking, or surfing, ahhhhh!!! I was so bummed, not for the fact that I was in excruciating pain but rather the fact that my summer was done. I wasn't sure if it was broken at the time or not but I knew it was not good. I took some Advil and made it through the night because I really didn't want to drive to the ER at that hour. The next morning we decided I should go get an X-ray so Ryan would have an excuse for not going to work that day. I truely expected it to be a sprain and the noise was from a tendon or ligament rolling across the bone. I decided to go to the hospital in the next town over because we all know how well they diagnosed Ryan's "break". I drove myself there with my left foot, which I guess is illegal, oops. Well, sure enough it was broken. I saw the x-ray and it was pretty obvious. The only problem was whether I should have surgery or not. It was located right at the joint so the ER ortho doc wasn't sure what a surgeon would want to do.

Thankfully in my previous gymnastics days I had surgery a few times so we're pretty familiar with all the orthopedic surgeons in Yakima. And my dad just happens to be friends with a pretty good one. I didn't want to go to just any doctor over here and I don't know anything about the ones in town so I called my dad. He got me an appointment that afternoon so we all piled back in the car and drove back to Yakima. I feel very lucky because I had my appointment Tuesday afternoon, got a CT scan Wednesday morning and went into surgery Wednesday night. It turns out I had a navicular avulsion fracture. The fracture was big enough and was seperated far enough from the joint that they had to put a plate and three screws in. It was great because I didn't have as long to be nervous but it was horrible not being able to eat or drink anything from 8:30am until 5:30 that night. But I survived and made it through the surgery. PAinful as it was I was glad it was over so I could begin the recovery process.

The doctor basically told me if I didn't have the surgery I wouldn't ever be running again. Even with the surgery it could be up to a YEAR until I can run again. Seriously?!? I think my body is telling me I shouldn't be a runner. Unfortunately, I'm too stubborn to take no for an answer so I'm going to wait it out and do what it takes to get back out there. In the mean time I'm going crazy! I've been doing some situps and pushups and using the crutches which is a pretty good upper body workout but I can't get my cardio fix for at least four more weeks. No weight bearing for 6 weeks and then a boot with slow introduction to walking for another six weeks. And you're probably wondering how the heck I'm taking care of an almost 2 year old right now. Not easily. Except for the fact that my amazing mother in law flew out for the week to help me. She's been a life saver. I won't be able to repay her for this one :-) After that, not quite sure how it will work. No driving, being stuck at home, we'll see. We're trying to get a gal to come over for the mornings to help so hopefully that will work out. Let's just say Sara will probably have all of the Wiggles songs memorized (even though she's got most of the dances down already).

So that's our life these days. I will be very thankful for two working legs after this is all said and done. Sara has been such a trooper over the last few months. She's become a very well traveled adaptable little girl. We figured out that the longest we've stayed in the house at one time is two weeks since we moved here. Crazy! But I guess it will make her more tolerant in the long run. Our next challenge will be camping in the trailer that we just bought before I broke my foot. It could be interesting.

Here's a few pics of one of the days I went surfing.

Sara is really into rock climbing these days.