My Week of Surgery

I went in Tuesday Morning for a Anthroscopic Anterior Crutiate Ligament and meniscal surgery.  They took from my hamstring a piece of ligament that created my new ACL and then had to drill and screw it to my tibia and femur and then cut out 30% of my meniscus to get the damage and tears removed.  They had me go under about 10:20 in the morning.  I awoke in the 'wake up' room and saw that it was exactly 2 hours later.  I look next to me and there were a few other people either in pain just waking up or snoring away.  It was kinda weird.  They took me to get an x-ray right after I woke up and that hurt to have them touch my leg.  I was then brought back to my room and Joseph was there waiting for me.  I was so tired and in so much pain.   So it was good to have some hard pain killers there for a while.  I stayed in the hospital till Friday morning.  

When I came home for the weekend I was really impressed with how Joseph handled the kids and was keeping up on the house.  I am so blessed to have him in my life.  He completes me and is such a good daddy to our children.  To get Arya asleep in the evening while I was gone he would you tube Josh Groban and other operatic singers but Josh was her favorite.  He says she has a crush on him :) 

View from my one bed small hospital room....The best kind. 

 I was so happy I didn't need to share with anyone

My Decked out bathroom

 

Before and after surgery pictures

They had to have drain tubes to expell blood and fluids from inside my knee.
Theses were taken out the following day
Yes you can say OUCH!!
My whole leg and foot were orange from the Iodine they obviously bathed my leg in.  I was so orange :)
I have to wear those very attractive circulation tights all the time.

 

 

 

My Morphine clicker.  It made me feel very tired and nauseous too.  I stayed on that just till the next day following surgery.  I got to click it if the pain became too much.  For a time I was very grateful for it.
I got visitors!!  My Beautiful family came and visited me.  I love them.  I also had my visiting teacher Louise Thomas and my friend Sabrina come and visit me.  That was really nice of them.

 

 

 

The food was pretty good but I think only in Germany they would serve a sausage like this :)  I also think it is funny that they have 'America' dressing.  It tasted like Thousand Island dressing.
The Hospital let me borrow their breast pump while I was in the hospital so I can still nurse my baby girl.

Poor Bridger!!  On Friday when they came to get me out of the hospital he had his hands in his pockets when he tripped and fell on the pavement.  Then later that day he was playing with some friends and got nailed with a hard block in the face as well.  Then Saturday mrning he woke up sick and thew up.  poor kiddo has had a rough weekend.  Glad he is feeling better now. 

At home looking at my house plan designs with Bridger and dreaming of what we would have here and there

 

We are making Jerky!!  Joseph bought 4lbs of a roast and we used my handy dandy food slicer and cut up the meat into strips.  We then put it in Marinade for 24 hours and now are drying it in the oven.  We have it at about 190 degrees with the door partially open to allow the moisture to escape.  It smells great so hopefully it turns out.  We looked up what it would cost to buy 2 lbs of jerky from the store and it would be $60.  WE made for under $20.  That is a huge savings there.  We love Jerky and if it turns out we will make it more often.  Bytheway it turned out GREAT!!!

I had surgery....

I am still in the hospital and might be here for another day or two.  They just took out my drain tubes from my knee which was an uncomfortable feeling.  As they took off the bandages I saw the insision areas stitched up and bleeding.  So hopefully the bleeding will stop soon.   They gave me a new ACL by taking part of my hamstring to make a new ligament and took out 30% of my meniscus which had large tears on both sides and repaired the rest.  I never knew an operating room would feel so busy.  It is one person after another in there and noisy.  I won't go into too much detail now for I am still pretty tired from everything and have a lack of sleep.  I am blessed to have my own small room and a hospital floor that has just been remodeled so everything is really nice. Joseph is doing an amazing job at home with the kids and I am so grateful for him during this trial of a week. He is such a good husband and father. I have skype so if anyone wants to talk to me you can through there. My connection is slow but it's worth a try.  I hope everything heels right and i will be able to walk and run and do the things I used to when it is all said and done.  Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. 

Snow and sunshine...

Who knew the two went together or Bridger and Gideon would say, "How is it snowy when it is so sunny outside."  This comment made me realize we have been in Germany too long to actually experience a true Beautiful winter.
Yesterday we got about six new inches of snow, powder and then today it was a bright cloudless sky.  It was almost a nostalgic kind of day.  It made me miss skiing and being in the mountains and actually enjoying the winter and not dreading it.  I am so looking forward to experiencing that more often in the future.
Be grateful for what you do have in Idaho.  I never knew I would say that with the winters so long in Donnelly but when the sun shines it is a blessing!
Just wanted to share our wonderful "ah ha" moment of sunshine today.  I look forward to my boys experiencing it too :)  

The Power of a Blessing from Heavenly Father

Waking up in the middle of the night to a 6 year old boy gripping his stomach in pain is never something anyone wants to do.  But to have that go on for two weeks every night and feeling helpless is worse.  

His symptoms:

Strong sharp stomach pain all over his abdomen sometimes spreading into his chest

Peak of the pain would always happen same time every night from 12-3am but as time went on it came more often and through out the day but not like a 10 on pain scale that it does at night.

He had a small rash for the duration of the 2 weeks that covered his abdomen and spreading to his back.  It started out not noticeable but toward the end of the 2 weeks it almost circled his belly button and would be more noticeable when he was in the most pain.

These were his symptoms.....nothing else.  No fever, no diarrhea, no constipation....nothing!?

How he would act:

He would either call out to me or I would find him next my bed curled up in a fetal postion and rocking and moaning.  Restless.  Pacing the floor and then slamming himself into the couch because the pain is unbearable. Pain would go from a 10 down to maybe a 8 and then back up to a 10 for a few hours at a time.  Sometimes lasting all night or just a few hours.  

During the day he would rub his tummy and not feel well, be tired and distracted from his school work.

What I did:

I took him to a doctor after the second night.  She thought he might be waking up with night mares (What?!... Um No..)  But couldn't find anything wrong and told me to continue giving him pain meds.  A few days later I went to a German doctor and since some of the symptoms were going into the chest he thought it might be a virus like Devils grip.  The research I did on that doesn't sound at all of what he has but that is all they could come up with and they didn't believe me about pain cause he is not in much pain during the day and is smiling and 'fine'.  

So I did what they asked and go in a couple of days later when he is having the pain.  So We drive to Wittlich at 12:30am and go to the pediatric ER.  They take his blood, they do an ultrasound and NOTHING.....  They suggest I give him pain killers and let it at that and if it comes back that he should come back and stay 'A few days in the hospital...'  Nope.  I say to myself. and I told my scared son that I wouldn't do that to him.  

So the following night I do everything.  Alternate pain meds, give him Pepto bismal, do massage, watch with helplessness as nothing works, He is still in pain and a lot of it and it seems to be getting worse.  

So Friday night Joseph sits him down in a chair, we have a family prayer to bring the spirit into our home and then my husband uses his priesthood power to give him a fathers blessing to help his pain to go away.  That night Gideon was able to sleep through the whole night without getting up once and with no pain for the first time in two weeks.  Saturday night was the same.  He was able to rest.  

Sunday morning we get up and kneel down as a family and we Thank our Father in Heaven for Blessing Gideon and allowing his pain to subside.  I have no doubt in my mind that this is from the Lord.  I know he loves us and knows us and wants to help us.  It is our little miracle.

I am not sure why he was having the pain and I am not sure if it is going to come back but I do know we asked for help and it was given.

After talking to my family members they think it might be his Gal bladder.  So I will do more research and watch him closely to see what happens.  

I am so grateful for the Lords hand in each of our lives.  He is aware of us and loves us.  I see that and I acknowledge it.  

February.... It's all about love!

 Arya trying out her bouncer for the first time at 4 months old

 Joseph got 'us' roses for Valentines day.  What a good daddy and husband

 Arya's is the pink one :)

 The 100th day of school

 Gideon's class dressed up like they were 100 years old.  He then made a paper towel roll cane to walk with.  He was so good looking and a cute lil old grandpa

 We found this indoor play place just about 35 minutes from our home and way worth it.  It only cost 6 euro for our whole family to spend as much time as we wanted playing around. 

 Gideon did some art work with some 'payons' that I got.  You color like you would with crayons but then you use water and and a paint brush and you paint it like water colors.  It was a good way to start using the water color concept and get how to blend and use color

 Daddy and Arya hanging out watching cattle or cutting horse videos :)

 Love this one!!!

Here is our pet mouse.  In the summer time he nibbles on all of our fruit and veggies and in the winter he gets in the bird house and eats their food.  It was amazing to see him jumping around and climbing like it was nothing and he is not scared of me.

 Gideon and Arya hanging out.  I love how much this little girls brothers love her so much.  They are definitely her 'protectors'

 This is 'Flat Sophie', one of the boy's cousins here to visit us :)

 This is a picture taken today.  Arya is 5 months old :)

Our new update is that I get knee surgery on the 19th of March.  I will get my meniscus and ACL repaired (aka...new ones)  I am not looking forward to it but hopefully by the time we move here it will be on the mend.  Wish me luck!

Arya rolled over for the first time yesterday from her back to her tummy.  She is getting so big.  There is a nine month old baby girl in our ward that Arya is already bigger than.  She is so precious and quite the talker.  She loves to hear her voice.

Bridger has so much personality and is always coming up with new things to say and do.  He is so fun and I love that boy.  He protects and looks after his baby sister almost religiously.  It is quite neat to see the bond they have. He loves to play with his animal toys and a couple of monsters he calls righteous Genius and Genitor.  He loves playing games with his family and just being all together. 

Gideon is doing great in school and loves to do Art projects.   He has had really bad tummy aches all this last week and so hopefully those will get better.  He is very smart and likes a challenge.  He likes to write stories and has become quite the writer.  His teacher has really helped him to know how to express himself on paper.He also loves to hold his baby sister too and I love him so much.

Joseph reaches his hump day in the military this next weekend.  Only 3 more years and we are out on our own.  He is looking forward to that.

I am going to try and get our spring cleaning done a little at a time before my surgery so that I am prepared when I am laid out for a while.  My brother Clint comes to visit in June for 2 weeks.  I am so excited for him to come and visit and go to the Bernese Alps as a family.
We are looking forward to pit last summer here in Germany.