December 2018 - Sam's Foot Surgery

Remember how I sprained my foot back in October?

Well I had to get surgery on my foot because of it in December.

You can see in this next picture a bump on the inside of my right foot.

That's the extra little bone that I was born with that was dislodged in the scooter crash.

I had it removed and my tendon repaired.

(You'll also notice my big scar from when I injured my foot at fourth grade pioneer day.

This year has been rough on my right foot.)

The night before my surgery, Ty started throwing up.

And I wasn't feeling the best either. I was so worried that I'd get sick and have to cancel my surgery.

Also, I found out that the friends I had arranged to watch my kids couldn't anymore.

I was stressing out big time.

Sean and our friend David gave me a blessing. Everything worked out.

I found someone new to watch my kids and Ty and I were feeling better the next morning.

But we decided to keep Ty with us that day.

Here's me and Ty in the waiting room.

Here I am all prepped and ready to go.

I had a good experience at the surgical center here in town.

I really like my doctor too.

And surprisingly, I wasn't too hungry that morning even though I was fasting.

(I usually get so hangry so fast!)

Here I am saying goodbye to my baby.

Luckily Ty slept while I was getting surgery.

After I woke up, I remember being so sleeping.

I just kept telling Sean and the nurse to let me lay back down.

I had no interest in getting up and getting dressed and going home.

Here I am the morning after my surgery.

I was feeling surprisingly well.

My friend Angie took my three older kids for the entire day.

Our friends Buck and Aubrey came over and spent the day with us.

They brought us Cafe Rio and recovery gifts for me.

We played Settlers of Catan and had a great afternoon together.

Day two post op was rough!

I felt awful that day. The Percocet made me so sick!

Here I am day three post op.

I went off the Percocet that day and started feeling better.

That day I also had my first post op appointment.

That week my foot doctor had just switched offices. They moved to the second floor.

And the elevator stopped working as soon as I got there.

And of course I couldn't take the stairs!

The maintenance guys offered to carry me up the stairs 

but luckily they were able to fix the elevator ASAP. 

I got my first look at my foot since my surgery.

I borrowed a knee scooter from a friend and it was a life saver!

It made it so much easier to get around (when Ty wasn't on it).

Sean and I needed to do a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping.

So I went to Walmart once the week after my surgery.

But other than that, I didn't leave my house for month, other than to church and the doctors.

Washington Trip 2014 - My Dad's Surgery

Well, I've finally made it to my 8th and last post about our trip to Washington.

We were planning on going to Washington this summer.

Originally, we were going to go the last week of July

 and stay on the coast for a week with my parents.

But then Lexi switched schools and tracks

and was going to start school the week we were scheduled to be in Birch Bay.

So we bumped up our trip to us arriving on the 4th of July.

...

Then the night we got home from Rexburg, at the end of June, I got a call from my parents.

They told me that my dad needed to get open heart surgery. A double bypass.

It was scheduled for the morning of July 3rd.

I was a wreck! I bawled uncontrollably and frequently.

...

We hurried and unpacked from our Rexburg trip

and immediately started packing to go to Washington.

We left that same week. I wanted to have time with my dad before his surgery.

It was really important to me that my kids got time with him before his surgery.

...

The night before his surgery, I cried a lot.

I felt scared and overwhelmed and unable to control my emotions. And I couldn't sleep that night.

I made sure to take lots of pictures that night...

 

Grandpa read the kids bedtime stories that night and tucked them into bed.

 



I didn't get any pictures of him reading to Lexi though.

...

The morning of the surgery, my parents and I got up really early and left for the hospital.

We went to Providence hospital in Everett.

My brother showed up just after they took my dad to get him prepped for surgery.

Then we got to go see my dad and say a quick goodbye and he was off to the operating room.

We waited and watched the morning news, then got breakfast from the cafeteria,

then waited some more in the waiting room. Time seem to slow down.

...

My mom finally laid down in a private room and fell asleep.That's when a nurse came out

and told me that they found another block and needed to now do a triple bypass.

I woke up my mom and told her. Now, I started to worry a little more.

Soon after that, Sean and the kids came to see us.

It was my birthday, so went down to the cafeteria for lunch and ice cream.

Not long after that they told us that my dad's surgery was done and we'd see him soon.

The doctor informed us that they found some growth on his lungs and took a biopsy.

They weren't sure what it was but they said it wasn't cancer. Perhaps the start of an infection.
(The next week we found out it was scaring from pneumonia.)

...

Sean and the kids left. I didn't want them to see my dad.

My mom, brother and I went to my dad's room. We were told to come back in 20 minutes though.

So my mom went and made a dozen phone calls.

A little bit later, I went back to my dad's room and just sat and watched him.

(My mom was still on the phone and my brother was waiting for her.)

He was hooked up to so many tubes. There were wires and machines and monitors everywhere.

My dad started saying, "Help." His throat was dry and his voice was raspy but he kept saying, "Help."

It was very hard to see him like that. Soon my mom and brother joined me.

After my dad realized my mom was there, he kept calling for her.

He said over and over, "Brenda, help. Brenda, help me."

...

I wrote down a few of the things he said that afternoon...

 

"I just don't know what the heck is going on?"

 

To his nurse he said, "Miss Lindsay, what can we do to make you more miserable?"

 

To my mom, "Why did you let them do this to me?" My mom replied, "So you'd live."

 

To my mom, " Can you scratch my left inner cantis?" (I think that's the tear duct.)

 

"I'm just feeling overwhelmed."

...

He had a bit of anxiety attack. Finally, after several hours of him being uncomfortable and repeatedly asking for help, the nurses figured out what medications worked for him and he could finally sleep.

And we could go home and sleep too.

...

The second day (Friday) he was much more pleasant and easy to watch.
He made great progress. He got up and walked several times.
In fact, he did so well that he came home on Sunday! And he only had his surgery on Thursday!
Several times I got to "babysit" my dad while my mom ran errands.
Lexi was so proud that her job was to get the mail for my parents and walk with Grandpa.
 



I could write so much more about the whole experience but choose not to.
It was a week that I will never forgot and yet want to.
I'm just grateful everyday that he is now doing better.
And pray that he'll have many, many more years with us here on earth.
...
Four weeks after his surgery,
my dad got the okay from his doctor to drive again and go back to work.
At first he just did half days at work and then just worked in the back office doing paperwork.
He's slowly easing back into a regular routine.



Bye Bye Wisdom Teeth!

When I was in college, my dentist told me that I should have my wisdom teeth removed.

I was planning on studying aboard in Chile.

My parents told me that they couldn't pay for me to do both so I'd have to choose.

I picked South America.

...

When I lived in Albuquerque, my dentist told me that should have my wisdom teeth removed.

He also told me that he wouldn't do it because one of my teeth was pretty close to a nerve.

We recommended that I go to an oral surgeon. 

But Sean had recently graduated and started working and we didn't have the money.

Plus, I was nursing Avery.

...

Fast forward to last month.

I was in horrible, horrible pain for a few days.

The back on my mouth was throbbing. 

I finally went in to get it checked out.

I had a piece of food get stuck behind one of my wisdom teeth and was causing the pain.

My dentist recommended that I have the teeth removed.

He told me he pull all four teeth for just under $600.

He said that he wasn't worried about my nerve. He was sure he could do it.

Sean and I decided to go for it because we finally could afford it and I wasn't pregnant or nursing.

...

Here's my before pictures...

Well, my dentist was sure in for a surprise.

I have the hardest, most stubborn teeth ever!

He tried and he tried to get my teeth out. He broke them up piece by piece 

but after three hours he gave up.

He had only removed a tooth and a half.

He told me that I needed to go to an oral surgeon.

I was so upset and worried about the cost.

Luckily, my dentist didn't charge me a penny for the work he had done that day.

This is what I looked like when I got home...

The next morning I went to an oral surgeon to finish the job.

He was a friend of my dentist so he worked me in and he gave me a discount.

I ended up spending just over $1000 for everything.

...

I don't remember too much about that day.

I remember getting the laughing gas as they were giving me an IV 

and then the next thing I remember is waking up in another room and hearing Sean's voice.

I also remember getting upset because they had thrown away my teeth.

I had meant to ask them to save them but they knocked me out so quickly.

This is what I looked like when I got home from the surgeon...

And here I am the day after surgery.

I have a fat face.

And here I am using a Jaw Bra that I borrowed from a friend.

It was an awesome ice pack.

And here I am two days after surgery.

I started getting a bruise on my cheek. 
 The bruise got a lot bigger and darker but I never took a picture of it.

Four days after surgery I wasn't feeling any better.
In fact, I started feeling worse!
Sean was worried that I might be developing dry socket.
Dry socket is when you don't form blood clots and your nerves are exposed.
And I did in the middle of the night.
I have never experience so much pain in my life!
I laid awake that whole night just crying in pain. Nothing would take away the pain.
The next morning, Sean called my oral surgeons office but he was sick with the stomach flu.
So Sean called my dentist and he came into the office hours before he was scheduled to just for me!
He numbed me, cleaned out the wound, and packed it with medication.
That night I developed dry socket on the other side of the mouth.
So the next morning I went back to my dentist. He didn't charge me anything for those two visits.
...
I found out that women are more likely than men to get dry socket.
Also, the older you are the higher your chances of getting dry socket.
And the longer it takes to remove a tooth the higher your chances are of getting dry socket.
All three of those applied to me!
Also, when I was seeing my dentist for dry socket,
he asked me if I had been swishing things in my mouth.
I told him I had all the time.
He told me I could have swished out the blood clots that were covering up my nerves.
The surgery never told me to not swish liquids in my mouth.
The paper I was sent home with send to do a salt rinse 3-4 times a day and not to use mouth wash.
...
 A week after surgery, I went off prescription pain medication.
And a few days after that I stopped using Tylenol.
And a few days after that, I chewed something for the first time.
...
I am no longer sore.
But if feels really awkward to chew.
I still have giant holes in the back of my mouth so I don't like chewing with my molars.
So I've been chewing with the teeth in the front of my mouth which is so strange.
I am still supposed to be cleaning out my holes several times a day.
....

And here's my mouth today, 2 1/2 weeks after surgery.

You can see some stitches still (notice the arrow).

You can also see a small piece of food stuck in my hole right behind the stitches. 

Gross, I know but this is my life right now.

I have to say that even though this was one of the worse experiences of my life, 

I feel so loved and so blessed.

I received so much service through all this.

I had a friend take me to and from the dentist, people watch my kids several times, a friend watched the kids I nanny for me, I received priesthood blessings, flowers, help cleaning my house, company, dinner, dessert, lots of pudding and jello, juices and smoothies.