Back in the saddle

Thursday turned out to be quite a lovely second-to-last day of the week. Around 2 pm I got a call from the insurance company of the other driver involved in the car crash.  The very crash way back in October that totaled my British Racing Green Mini.  Turns out she lost the fight of her citation and they were finally claiming fault.  Hooray for not being at fault and for finally getting my deductible back!

Once I arrived home from work, Jonathan and I took the cruisers for a short ride.  This is the first time Big Blue and I have ridden since the accident on election day 2010.  I'll admit I was a little timid when it came to curbs and turns but with my new helmet strapped on and Big Blue as sturdy as ever, the ride was delightfully pleasant.

Friday evening Jonathan and I joined his aunt/uncle and cousins in a delightful french dinner celebrating Molly's upcoming birthday.  Don't know a lick of French, but it was tres bien.  And, despite no doggy cupcakes, we celebrated Jackson's 1 year anniversary with us. It sure has been a quick year, and we couldn't have asked for a better addition to our family then our energetic sweet Mr. Jackson.

All this leading up to a 3 day weekend... not bad at all.

New View

When we started working on our house we decided to keep the hideous window unit in its place for at least one summer to be sure we could survive without it. We survived. In fact, we managed to make it through what has been reported as the hottest summer ever in Phoenix without even giving that beast a second thought. Time to go.

With the help of an uncle and a neighbor, Jonathan managed to heave the beast out of its metal frame and remove the case from the window without any damage to the woodwork. A job well done.

 

Next Jonathan used his master glass installation skills to install new glass for the window. Taadaaaa, a new and much improved view! 

Next, painting over the red to match the front of the house.

Hupp Holidays

Starting our Christmas vacation off on the right foot we enjoyed a lovely dinner with family followed by a good two hours of searching for our escapee cat. After plenty of neighborhood circling we discovered our efforts were in vain because, as Jonathan figured out, Sydney had been stuck in our next door neighbor's vacant shed the entire time. She is a talented kitty indeed. With our frantic cat search finished it was time to catch a whopping 3.5 hours of sleep before our 6 AM departure to Mobile.  After arriving in Biloxi, Mississippi we made the scenic drive to Mobile where we enjoyed some fried/boiled seafood for lunch, hung out with the kitties and prepared for Christmas day.

For a little over a month I'd been careful to keep Jonathan's gift a secret and was pleased with his happiness when he unwrapped his new banjo on Christmas morning. When I had told Ryan (Jonathan's brother) of the gift his apt response was "poor cats". After presents we enjoyed a delightful Champagne toast, tested our camera timer/tripod skills for family photos and feasted on a terrific Christmas lunch. Post lunch vegetation we challenged our brains with a few rounds of SmartAss, (a Trivial Pursuit like game) and concluded our day with a visit to an independently owned movie theater located in downtown Mobile to watch True Grit. (Great movie!). Quite a lovely Christmas in Mobile.

40 degrees and windy, sounds like a perfect day for a trip the beach to check out Fort Morgan and perhaps enjoy an arctic ride on the ferry. Our first stop was at the Malbi Memorial Church for a few quick and mainly blurry pictures and a little snowfall. Yes that's right, snow in Alabama. Back on the road we stopped at good ole "Tacky Jack's" for a quick bite to eat before arriving at Fort Morgan. Lovely Fort, but at around 40+ degrees with crazy cold/wet wind we only scurried about for around 20 minutes before toe and finger numbness set in. Seeing as the ferry would require a 45 minute wait we opted to return home via paved road and took a bit of a detour in the hunt for a warm beverage. Lulu's, a spunky riverside restaurant, which is apparently owned and operated by the sister of Jimmy Buffett served as our stop. This massive, funky place was complete with outdoor volleyball and stage and all kinds of touristy photo opportunities.

In the days following we hit up "The Shed" for some obligatory Southern BBQ, wandered about a gigantic Mardi Gras store with every type of beaded necklace and silly accessory you could imagine and enjoyed an lovely game of Croquet. Monday night, our wild night on the town, Jonathan and I met up with some past CMSA teammates, enjoyed some surprisingly good Mexican food and a had few drinks. Two came very well dressed for the occasion and it turned out they had come from assisting dinner service at a debutant ball. After one finished describing their duties as past debutant's she finished with a "you know how it goes".   I smiled and nodded, which was surely my most appropriate response method.

On our last full day in Mobile we checked out the local art scene and toured a bit of downtown. We stopped in several galleries and of course found art we'd love to buy but restrained ourselves from further feeding the belly of the Amex beast. One of my favorite art pieces however, was not contained in a gallery and can be seen below.

 

On our trip home from Mobile both Jonathan and I opted out of the toxic backscatter x-ray and instead took part in a little TSA pat down. After Jonathan's pat down one of the agents joked "Now that wasn't that intrusive, was it?" And thanks to a little experience and refined social filters both Jonathan and I knew it wasn't quite the place for a soap box stand against Big Brother. "Not at all" Jonathan said as we gathered our stuff and sat for our delayed airplane. Around Midnight we landed in a cold, rainy Phoenix, yet despite poor weather its always nice to be home. Our kitties were happy to see us and we were all looking forward to Mr. Jackson being dropped off by family a little later in the morning.

Hasta la vista 2010.

Our first snow (in AZ)

Around 10 AM Saturday morning Jonathan, myself and Jackson loaded into the truck and headed North to the Mogollon Rim. Departing Phoenix the sky was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the 60s. An excellent day for a road trip. As we drove Jackson napped, the temperature dipped and the cloud coverage increased. No worries, it would still be a lovely trip. Turning off in Camp Verde we continued our climb in elevation and starting driving through thickening fog patches.   Not too long after we started noticing sparse patches of snow, our first snow sighting in AZ!

 

The closer we got to the Rim turn off, the thicker the fog coverage and the higher the snow level. Perhaps this wasn't going to turn out as we hopped. We had already traveled a good hour and a half, so there was no use turning back now. Upon reaching the foggy, snow covered, off-road turn off to the rim we decided enough was enough. As we got out of the car to touch the snow like first time tourists I noticed that it was starting to sleet. The combo of semi slushy snow, sleet, thickening fog, and a relatively light truck encouraged me to keep our stop relatively short.

Jackson didn't quite know what to make of the cold substance below his feet, but put up with our mandatory photos quite well. In one picture he is looking particularly pathetic, but you'll noticed he isn't as dramatic in the others.

What is this???

Look Ma, snow!

Back on the paved road we headed South and noticed that areas that hadn't been foggy on our drive North were now considerably so. After about an hour the temperature increased a good 20+ degrees and Phoenix greeted us with high 60s and plenty of sunshine. Home sweet home. We'll surely be back to the Mogollon Rim but perhaps we'll wait till the spring or late summer.


 



A little highway Chirstmas spirit.



Another wild weekend

This past weekend started off with a bang on Friday at 3:30 thanks to some complementary libations courtesy of work. Not having won any prizes and missing out on dessert, I scampered out of the work party as soon as the last prize raffle was finished.  Thanks for the free drinks and snacks employer, but maybe next year I'll simply take the early departure.

A dashing shot of Mr. Jackson post park.

Saturday morning, post insurance house inspection, we took Jackson for an exciting trip to the dog park then made our best effort to get in some holiday shopping.  Out of 6 intended purchases we made one, ok well I made one and one was a gift.  Time is ticking.

  



A Mini face off outside the REI parking lot.  Other Mini is clearly over the line!



The highlight of our weekend was certainly Saturday evening. Jonathan, myself and some friends made it to Lets Roll bowling alley for a rollicking good time. I fared far better than I expected rolling with my left arm, my highest score being 139, and Jonathan was sure to impress all with his ball spin maneuvers and multi lane bowling.  During the always necessary cosmic bowling our DJ was the one and only ex Suns player turned Suns announcer, Cedric Ceballos.  Being Phx/Suns newbies Jonathan and I hadn't a clue who he was but one of our bowling compadres was quite impressed and entertainingly chummy with the DJ.

 Sunday we returned to the dog park where Jackson met what appeared to be a "Jackson 1.5", the slightly
larger model. This other little dog, seen below, is Jackson but a little taller, a little longer and a little hairier.


Jackson 1.5 (real name unknown)

 

The real Jackson is on the right, but if you look close they are in the exact same stride. 

 

When we got home we decided to mix it up a little and rearrange the living room.  To be honest our previous arrangement was always very cold and, I felt, pretty unwelcoming.  First we moved Frank to another room.  Love our trusty little turtle but he just wasn't the living room decor I was hoping for. The TV/cabinet moved to a different wall which now creates a more distinct living room area instead of an expansive room with a TV at one end and a couch at the other. Since we are lacking a formal dinning room the table was moved to Frank's previous location, and thanks to its collapsability (new word) it looks just fine sitting in the corner. We still have plenty of work to do to finish the room (remove massive window air conditioning unit, replace glass, finish floor, and buy a rug and a new coffee table) but as with most of our projects I'm sure it will come together sooner or later. 

Oh, and did I mention the temperature was around 78 on both days, hate to rub it in, but sometimes I just love living in the desert.



So much for enjoying the great outdoors.

  

The kittys visit Tim.

Time is money

Insurance statements continue to roll in from my shoulder dislocation, and as of today I learned that 4.5 hours spent in the ER costs $5,927.00.  I wish I had those kinds of pay rates.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year Jonathan and I hosted our first official Thanksgiving in our house. We started off the holiday weekend by welcoming my parents to our little casa the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. As I pulled into the cell-phone-waiting parking lot I spied an absolutely beautiful Rolls Royce. No one was bold enough to park by this gem so I took it upon myself and pulled into the stall to its right. I thought about sneaking in some photos from my car but realized it was silly, this was a car you wanted people to notice. The driver was more than happy to oblige my photos and gave me a brief run down of the car. Built in the 50s, previous and only past owner was Bing Crosby, all original interior and wood work. The new owner said that the carpet was a little worn when purchased but when they went to replace it, upon removal they found that the "real" original interior carpeting was still sealed in plastic and had only been covered by the other carpet. Pretty cool stuff.

Parents and luggage smooshed into the Mini we headed home where my parents would be the first official guests to stay in our newly completed guest room. It took quite a few weekends/week nights to get the guest room finished for their visit, but it turned out great! (More on this to follow, with pictures of course.) Mr. Jackson let out some home defending barks but quickly warmed up to my parents and was happy to show off his cuteness/playing skills almost every moment of their visit.

We spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday running errands and preparing Turkey day dishes. After a coffee pot purchase we headed to the Ranch Market for roasted hatch chillies as well as a little lunch. I'll have to admit lunch was a little lack luster, and I was disappointed that they were clear out of hatch chilies, but the tour about the market was entertaining as always. My favorite sight of the trip was a food turtle. Clever use of a fish head indeed. 

Thanksgiving day's high temperature was darn near record breaking low, matching a temp set in 1924 (or somewhere around there). 50 degree weather was certainly not the Valley of the Sun I was hoping my parents would enjoy, but at least it was sunny. We were joined by Hares and Caetanos and enjoyed quite a tasty feast, accompanied was a glorious assortment of desserts that Jonathan and I are still working on.

On black Friday we avoided malls and made our way to Home Depot and Moon Valley Nursery to pick up some Queen Palms, which are the first of many additions for our back yard. Jonathan being youthful and able to work with both arms did most of the work while my mom, dad, and I, and Jackson at times, aided via supervision. Sure we held a measuring stick here or there, and verified that the trees were straight but Jonathan did most of the digging. Post tree planting and over the weekend that followed we watched many a zombie movie, and toured about Phoenix. We visited some local artist boutiques, checked out Mercado Mexico, and enjoyed some tasty tacos at the much raved about "La Condesa Gourmet Taco Shop" on 16th St. I can't say the carne asada was anything worth repeating, but the fish taco, shrimp taco and pork taco were delicious.

On Monday afternoon we drove over to a rather unique looking church on 7th Ave, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Jonathan and I have dubbed it the Klingon Church as it looks like something straight out of Star Trek which, upon first sight, my parents readily agreed with. The building is impressive when you see it from the road, but even more impressive seen up close. The attention to detail, pattern and flow of the structure and its surrounding landscaping is quite beautiful and exceptionally well done. Not being church goers the only reason we wanted to enter the massive building was the view the intricate stained glass that lines a spire jutting out from the center of the roof, but alas all doors were locked, and we weren't daring enough to attend a church tour.

Just as the weather was making a steady crawl back into the 60s and 70s I took my parents to the airport for their trip back to California. We enjoyed their visit very much and look forward to their next, hopefully warmer, visit to the valley. Jackson was uncharacteristically mopey on Tuesday evening, as he surely missed his new friends and entertainers, but is steadily perking back up. We are thankful to have been able to host our first Thanksgiving with family and look forward to many more!  (See slide show on right for more pics)

MRI results

The last time I met with my orthopedist he told me that based on the E.R. x-rays as well as their x-rays there was no indication of torn ligaments. Broken bones, yes, and way over stretched ligaments, yes, but not tears. This week I returned to the orthopedist following my very first MRI and learned a little more.

The MRI confirmed the bone facture, which was explained akin to cracking the shell of a hard boiled egg. The shell shatters but stays intact, opposed to crumbling apart. I also managed to bruise the bone pretty well, which was explained like smashing a ping pong ball and leaving a divot. Nice. The cherry topper of the analysis was that I did manage to tear a ligament. The injury is called a "Bankhart lesion". I never felt like a wimp for my massive drug intake on the day of the injury, but the list of traumas sure helps justify my narcotic consumption. I still do not require surgery, but was told that with this type of extreme initial dislocation, a second dislocation is very possible.

This whole second dislocation factor has me quite concerned. The Dr. said that its not "likely", but possible, however, scarring and strengthening should help to prevent future dislocations. He said it could happen at any time, even mid simple tasks like when I'm reaching for a glass in a cabinet. Not cool. The thought of repeating the pain and immobility of my arm is frightening to say the least. I've been released from using the sling 24/7 but keep it with me in case my shoulder starts getting tired.  I'm allowed to use my shoulder/arm to an extent but do not start PT until the week after Thanksgiving, making the time between injury and PT 4 weeks of recovery, Dr.'s orders.

I'm looking forward to starting PT to get this little guy strengthened up and functioning but not too thrilled that it could take 6 months to regain 80% of my past mobility and possibly over a year to get to 100%. Who would have thunk one fall off a beach cruiser would do so much damage.

Below are two images from my MRI showing the various injuries

The good word

I meet with the orthopedist today and was told that surgery would not be needed, hooray! Turns out my very loose ligaments, which generated an "oh boy" of surprise when testing the flexibility of my left arm/joints, helped, more than hurt, my dislocation. Because my ligaments are so lose nothing snapped or tore, however, the looseness also allowed for a rather extreme dislocation. This diagnosis was affirmed by: the fireman's befuddled reaction at the dislocation, the required drugged-up-and-knocked-out method of re-location, and the 4 person team needed to re-insert my shoulder.

One of the x-rays revealed a break to part of my bone, but the little bone bit just chillin there will not require surgery and should heal in place. I get an MRI tomorrow to confirm, but overall it doesn't seem to be a big deal.

The first image below is of my dislocated shoulder. The dislocation was forward and down, waaay down. When I felt the gap between shoulder and arm it felt a little larger than from my pinky to my index finger held together. The second image is after they put it back in. This must have been another sneak procedure as I have no recollection of it taking place. The third is a close up to see the break. Its not as clear in this x-ray from a week ago as it was in today's but you can still kind of see it.

I have two more weeks in the sling and then will start 4-6 weeks of PT. The Dr. wanted the extra sling time to allow the ligaments to heal a little tighter than the average joe since they started out so loose ,and he was concerned that PT now would push me too hard, too fast. The sling isn't really my favorite fashion accessory, but thankfully its fall instead of summer.



The thing that looks like 2 paper-clips is a part of my sports bra, and you'll notice, that is where my arm bone is too.  X-ray was taken straight on as I sat in the hospital bed.



Back where it should be. 

That little bump is actually free roaming, broken bone.  ok, not that free roaming.

Halloween 2010

Below are some pics from Halloween 2010, better late than never, right? 

 Last year we spent the day moving into our house, but this year we donned zombie makeup, and passed out candy with Jackson.  Jackson was dressed as a little dragon/dinosaur, but wasn't too happy about the costume, so despite lots of cuteness complements we took his costume off rather early in the evening.  Jonathan was a zombie lumber jack, and I, well, I was a last minute zombie damsel/princess.  The center skeleton was our only decoration last year, so we've definitely  made progress in terms of decorating, but still have a ways to go!  Till next year...

The pipe in his head was his new accessory.  Do you notice that he is kind of smiling?  Not cool supposed-to-be-creepy skeleton!



Jackson doesn't appear to keen on my brain craving zombie impersonation.  Either that or he has already turned...



Note the iconic zombie foot drag in the bottom left of the frame.  Nice attention to detail.

Strangely Arizona-tropical

Life as a lefty, and I'm not talking politics

Tuesday, November 2nd I was happily peddling myself to work, when I came across a car who was pulled out too far on the sidewalk.   I cautiously maneuvered around the car, attempting to stay out of the road, but as I cut back onto the drive way, my front tire must have caught the curb wrong, which caused my bike to go right, and my body to go left.

The initial fall didn't hurt but then came the self evaluation.   With my legs bent to my right and my newly acquired road rash stinging away I propped myself up on my left arm.  I then attempted to move my right arm which was resting in a brush pile, and nothing happened.  Never a good sign. Using my left hand I cautiously felt up my arm and discovered the void between where my shoulder should have been connected.   After shaking off the heebie geebies I attempted to move my limp right arm closer to my body with my left hand and was stopped short by excruciating pain. 

Two women who had witnessed my fall stopped and while one called the police, the other did her best to comfort me.   I'm grateful for their consideration and kindness, and wish I could thank them further, but I  was in no state to jot down contact info.  As we all listened to the approaching sirens a few thoughts ran through my head: How does one person get in a bike accident less than 3 weeks after a car accident?  I’m glad that these ants crawling on my limp arm are not the biting kind.  How gross is it that my shoulder is separated like this?  Well, I'll just go to the hospital, do what needs to be done, and call Jonathan when I'm ready to go home.  Mid internal ramblings, the woman who called 911  asked if she could call my work, but for the life of me I had no idea what that number was and really wasn’t that concerned.

The firefighters/EMTs who came to my rescue were fantastic.  While the lead guy kept trying to figure out just what kind of dislocation I had,  three others got ready for the big move.  Lead guy had my limp arm, second guy had my shoulder, third guy had my backpack and fourth guy was crouched behind me with his arms around my waist.  Never before have I cried out in pain until the first pick up attempt.  Fail.  Attempt two was a success but started with me blubbering that I couldn’t stand up.  Right after I said it I was a little embarrassed that I'd actually said it out loud. 

The short, bumpy trip to the ER included 4 units of morphine to “make the pain tolerable”. Despite the chaos I was impressed with my low blood pressure and very low heart rate of 51 , but I don't think the EMTs shared my sentiment.   Another 2 units of morphine were provided when it came time to move me from the gurney to the bed.  A friendly, well inked x-ray tech took a few x-rays and placed my backpack on the bed. This was the first time I was within reach of my phone and knew it was my chance to make a call, but I just couldn’t seem to transfer the thought into either words or action. 

The very friendly orthopedist came in, evaluated my situation out loud for the crowed of nurses and made a slow attempt to re-connect my dangling limb while I was sitting.  The pain was a no-go.  He then told me I would be getting more drugs  and they would try another approach.  A small cadre of nurses again entered the room, and as I rotated to my stomach to drape my arm off the side a nurse rambled off  three pharmaceutical names and started injecting into my IV.

Not sure how much later, but eventually I woke up on my back, alone in my ER room and noticed my arm was back in its proper place.  I was quiet the content little camper.  I’ll admit, it’s a little blurry from here, but I know some nurses came to check on me, then Jonathan arrived, as did his aunt and uncle, followed by my brother.  As it turned out, my not calling work led to Jonathan getting a call regarding my no show status and all hell breaking loose.  Parents notified, missing persons reports in the works and hospital searches galore, finally ended with Mike locating me by “Caetano”.  I don’t know how many times I repeated the spelling of my last name complete with hyphen, but apparently the hyphen and the letters that follow were completely disregarded. 

After arriving home I proceeded with a drug altered, barely memorable conversation with Jonathan’s aunt while he ran to pick up my Rx, then napped for a good 3.5 hours and started my experience as a lefty.  I’m grateful to be healthy, and for the dents in my helmet instead of my skull, and that I only dislocated my shoulder, but I tell ya, everything I do with my right arm in a sling takes a little extra effort, and a lot more time.  Eating is mildly entertaining as I likely look like a cave woman, shoveling my food with a death grip on my fork.  One handed typing has been a hoot and left handed scribbling is quite slow going.  Home improvement tasks are a bit more challenging, but I'm pretty impressed with my lefty painting skills.  

 I have an appointment scheduled with an orthopedist on Tuesday, and am hoping to get out of this sling before the possible 6 week duration listed on my ER paper work.  The two aspects of this experience I'm most interested in seeing are my x-rays and my hospital bill…
  
P.S. As much as I'd like to post a few more pics, I'll leave out the pictures of my road rash : )

ALWAYS wear a helmet when you ride!  There just so happened to be a curb/lot divider where I feel, which is what my helmet hit.

Wed morning I discovered 3 of these hidden on my body still.  Fun.  I also discovered a band-aid where they had snuck in a tetanus shot.  Slippery nurses.

My bike road on the fire truck to the hospital.