Easter and other things

With all of the other craziness that is going on in our lives, I've forgotten to update everyone on my little girl. She has loved her Grammy being here and spoiling her. She even will reach for her while I'm holding her. Mom just loves it! Jacey has done a ton of new things recently. She's now eating Cheerios and drinking from a sippy cup. She also sits in a high chair at restaurants. She thinks she's pretty cool stuff and has this adorable proud look on her face. Sunday at church she waved bye-bye for the first time. I was the proud one this time! Grammy has been working on "patty-cake" and Jacey now claps all the time trying to do it herself. She has grown so much in a very short time.

Easter was fun, even though Mitch had to be out of town. We dressed Jacey up with a new dress and new shoes, which she loved. After church we were able to go out to eat with Bryan and Susan. That's always a fun adventure, because their son Colton is 1 month older than Jacey. At the end of the meal there were cheerios, toys, crackers, and throw-up all over the floor. Our poor waitress.

I had surgery on Monday, and they were able to save my ACL. I have two wires holding it down on the bone, and my knee is locked in my brace at 30 degrees. Hopefully when I go back in two weeks I'll be able to start moving it, and then putting pressure on it soon after. I will have to go back in to get the wires removed, but that should be no big deal. My doctor said that recovery will be longer this way, but my knee will be stronger after it's healed. I've just decided that God is teaching me patience, because it feels like its taking forever. Luckily I have great family and friends to take care of me!

Here are a few pictures of Easter and Mom's visit:

Jacey's new sun hat

Jacey and Grammy

Her shoes are covered in glitter, and she was enthralled!

Update #2

Sorry it's been awhile. It takes time to make it to the computer, so I often just don't. I had my doctor's visit yesterday, and it turns out that when I do something, I do it well! The diagnosis is that I partially tore my MCL (which will fix itself), have some soft tissue damage, have a bone chip, have a fracture on the outside of my tibia, and my ACL, while still intact, is completely torn off of the bone. The doc said that I almost dislocated my knee. Cool, huh?

Monday at 3 is my surgery. My doc said that he hopes to be able to reattach my ACL to the bone with screws. If he can't, he'll have to reconstruct my ACL with part of my hamstring (from my other leg). Sounds quite scary, but he said he does it every day, and it wasn't a big deal. Obviously I'm just ready for the healing process to begin. I won't be able to walk on my leg for about 2 weeks after the surgery because of the fracture. But after that hopefully I'll be getting back to normal.

The good thing is that I'm not in any pain, other than my arms (from the crutches). My mom is planning to stay until next Thursday or Friday. She's been a big blessing. Mitch is home and has also been really great.

How's everyone else doing?

An Update

Thank you to everyone who has mentioned they're thinking of me. I told Mom a few days ago that you really know if you're liked when you get hurt or sick. So many people have offered help, food, and prayers. It's wonderful.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday. Mitch and I were very impressed with everything they did. We had a ton of questions, and they actually answered them in a kind, understandable way. We felt a lot better. The doc examined my knee, but he couldn't really tell exactly what was messed up. His guess was that I for sure hurt my MCL (on the inside of your leg) my miniscus (the cartilage that cushions your knee), and possibly my ACL. We had the MRI done that evening, but we won't know the results for a few days. He also drained some of the fluid out of my knee (which was totally cool btw), and said that I definitely had more than a sprain. Duh. Worst case scenario is that I fractured my tibia and can't put weight on it for a long time. Best case is that I can put pressure on it (no crutches!) and wear my knee brace around until surgery. Hopefully we'll know something by next Tuesday. They typically don't do surgery for a couple of weeks so that the swelling can go down and they have better visibility while repairing things. I'll keep everyone informed as soon as we know something more.

In the meantime I'm feeling better every day. The crutches have given me some sore muscles, but nothing terrible. I'm ready to be back to normal, but I'm making myself enjoy the down time. And the pampering. Pray for my Mom too, because she's working her tail off. She probably hasn't done this much laundry and cooked this much in a long time. She's wonderful.

Mitch is gearing up to go on the ski retreat this weekend. Hopefully all the kids that are going still want to go, and they will make it safely to Wolf Creek with no problems (like freak blizzards.) Mom and I will probably do a lot of scrapbooking and talking. It'll be fun.

Ski Trip

This weekend Mitch and I went up to Blue Haven to go skiing with his parents. This trip was practice for the ski retreat we have coming up next weekend. We wanted to be sure Jacey would handle everything ok. (She was absolutely wonderful.) The snow was amazing. I have usually had to ski on some ice, but this weekend there was just packed powder. I actually made it the whole morning without falling - a miracle in itself. For the first time I was enjoying myself, not tense or struggling. Then we decided to go to the top of the mountain. On a ski lift.

I hate ski lifts. I always have. It's so hard to get on and off of them. And this lift had my number. As we reached the very top of the mountain, my skis got tangled up somehow and I twisted my knee. As a result I ended up going down the mountain with the ski patrol (it would've been more fun if I weren't hurt) and heading to a local clinic. At the clinic they took X-rays and apparently I pulled my MCL so hard it chipped the bone. They couldn't tell what else had happened, but gave me a semi-cast and told me to call a doctor on Monday.

Results of my injury:
I cannot walk w/o crutches, take a shower without my husband helping, change my clothes, or carry or pick up Jacey (this includes putting her in bed from my rocker, which is maybe 5 feet away from the crib).
My mom came as soon as she could and has now done 3 loads of laundry, washed the dishes, run the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen, changed her sheets, made dinner, and given Jacey a bath. She got here about 6 hours ago.
I have to stay on the couch while everyone gets me anything I want.

Some positives, some negatives. We go to the doctor tomorrow hopefully, and then I'll know for sure what needs to happen. I know I'll need surgery, but I don't know how extensive. I'm concerned about my ability to continue nursing, so prayers for that would be appreciated. I'm in less pain today, which I hope is a good sign. I don't even need m prescripton pain meds, just good ole advil. Your prayers for me this week would be appreciated. :)

And for everyone who is wondering, Mitch is a very excellent nurse.