Ginger

While all this was going on with the broken elbow, our hearts were breaking.  Ginger turned 16 in May.  She was just not being herself.  The vet suggested blood work to determine what was wrong.  It was not good news.  Her kidneys were failing.  We decided to just love her while we could, but if she was starting to make a rapid decline, we would consider putting her to sleep.  She had been such a huge part of our lives for so long, especially R.  She had her since she was seven and we were worried about her just as much as we were Ginger.  Finally the day came and July 2nd we had to say our good-byes.  Our lives felt very empty.

I Forgot....

And that was the reason I couldn't knit from May until late September.

Elbow Surgery

So, I had to have elbow surgery.  I got a call from the surgeon who told me that I had two options.  1) I could make an appointment to meet him and we could schedule surgery from there.  2) I needed the surgery SOON and he could go ahead and schedule it without an office meeting.  I opted for #2.  The last surgery I had was when I had my last baby - 21 years ago!  I was awake for that and had no idea what it was going to be like to be put out.  The morning of surgery was stressful, to say the least!  I was told I could go home that afternoon.  I wasn't too concerned about the kids as a result.  The chaplain who had helped us when Daddy died came by to see me and was able to calm me down with kind words and prayer, so I was ready to go.  No counting backwards from 100, nothing to let me know I was going under.  Just talking one second and getting yelled at the next to wake up.  Such a strange experience!

My bionic left arm.

Different view of bionic left arm.

I didn't get to go home that night.  They made me stay in the hospital.  What does a knitter do when stressed?  Well, she knits!  What does a one handed knitter do when stressed?  Stays stressed!  We watched a lot of lousy television and slept when the pain subsided enough to allow it.  I was so proud of our kids/adults!  They managed all by themselves and reminded me that they are both in their early 20s so they are not totally helpless!  I was now the helpless one and they both kicked in to take excellent care of me.  Whew!  And talk about helpless.  You just don't realize how much you do for yourself until you can't anymore.  No more brushing my hair, no more contacts, no dressing or bathing myself and no driving.  But, the #1 thing, no knitting!  ARGH!

The funny thing about all of this - I didn't want to go on that bike ride.  I was almost finished with a pair of socks I had been working on for a while.  I told RL that I needed to finish them.  She said that if I was unable to finish them, she would do it for me!  Well, what do you know - I wasn't able to and she was true to her word.  Sweetest pair of socks I own!

IsThis Thing On?

Did you miss me?  I missed you guys.  I guess I should explain where I've been lately.  Like I said in the last post, I broke my elbow.  I don't know how I do the things I do.  When I was in first grade I broke my shin playing miniature golf.  So when I say I broke my elbow bike riding, you really shouldn't be surprised! 

Those bikes that were supposed to get our family on the move kind of landed us on the couch for a few months!  We were going out every evening for a bike ride and walk.  L and I would ride while R and RL would walk.  Having been on the bikes for a while, we got a little too comfortable.  L and I would go on ahead of the walkers and weave in and out of each other - we joked that we were practicing for the Christmas parade!  There we were just pedalling along and I decided to turn to the left.  I didn't realize that L was turning to the right.  He saw that I was turning into him and yelled at the top of his lungs.  Man, I wish I had listened in time to brake!  We ran right into one another.  Down he went and down I went on top of him.  Bless his heart, he broke my fall.  I thought I had broken his leg!  He was able to get up and 'walk it off'.  I wasn't so lucky.  When I went down, I landed on my elbow as well as him.  R and RL heard the crash, but didn't think it was us.  When they crested the hill, they saw us.  I don't know if I've seen them run that fast in ages!  The bikes were mangled and we were about a mile from home.  Apparently I was a lovely shade of green/gray and just couldn't stand.  A good Samaritan saw us and drove us home.  Off to the emergency room and two hours later we had a pretty firm diagnosis that it was broken. 

Here's the x-ray.  I circled the broken part.  Notice the part at the top right of the oval that kind of juts out - it's not supposed to do that!  Every move I made felt like I would pass out. 

Stick around and next time I'll share how surgery went.  Gee, it sure is great to be able to type with two hands again!

Closed For Remodelling

Not the blog - me! seems i broke my elbow and will need surgery tomorrow. we bought bikes to get into shape. well, I'm in a different shape now! i actually have another piece than when i started. i collided with L on our bikes and 'broke' my fall with my elbow. and - ironies of ironies - i finally found a knitting pattern I've been looking for for over a month! It will have to wait another month at least. what on earth am i supposed to do with only one hand?

I Think We Took a Wrong Turn in Albuquerque

L asked me to go with him on a bike ride Sunday night. Okay. I can do this. I waited until dinner digested enough and then we headed off into the cool evening. We normally bike about two miles every night while R and RL walk. They didn't want to walk, so we were on our own. We were almost to the point in our ride where we cross a very busy road, bike just a little longer and then turn for home. This particular night he asked if I wanted to go right instead of straight. Sure, I'm a cool mom! I'm adventerous! (NOT!) I'll do it. Off we went. It was beautiful! The trees in that particular housing development were gorgeous! Huge shadows were over the road. It was a little overcast and the breeze was blowing slightly. We realized we didn't have to peddle much, it was downhill! However, every 'downhill' turns into an 'uphill' on the way home. Suddenly I wasn't too sure about this anymore. Then I thought, what the heck. We have the cellphone. RL has the truck. If he needs to pick us up he can. That innocent right turn at the beginning of our ride turned into a four mile uphill almost all the way bike ride! The last time I had to breath that hard I had a Lamaze coach! I was truly tempted to tell him, "Go on without me. Leave me here by the road to die. Survival of the fittest. Carpe Diem." Well, it wasn't that dramatic. Maybe because I couldn't catch my breath to say all those things! L has the mentality of 'No man left behind' - or 'No Mom left behind' in this case. He would go ahead of me to the top of the hill and see what was ahead of us. Finally, after walking maybe a third of it, I started seeing familiar territory. No way was I going to call RL to come and get me when I was less than a mile from home. It was tempting though...... Finally we made it home. L kept checking my pulse - I didn't have to - I was thrilled I still had one. I'm not so sure I'll be able to convince my tush to get on that bike seat again anytime soon!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Four years ago, this blog started innocently enough. We had no idea what we were doing - and we still don't! We were homeschooling, but now we have two homeschooling graduates. We had all the answers about life that we needed, but now we don't have any answers! Our lives have drastically changed and we are trying to change with them. As most of you know, RL lost his Dad to lung cancer in January of 2009. I lost my Dad less than four weeks later from a ruptured blood vessel in his brain. Now we have two Moms who we are very concerned about. RLs Mom is still in Florida and my Mom lives about four miles from us. New challenges instantly arose trying to fill the huge gaps our fathers left behind. It hasn't always been easy and it doesn't get easier as time goes by. However it is a new life direction that we have willingly taken. As a result, blogging has gotten to be almost non-existent. I don't even know if there's anybody out there anymore!

Even Ginger is experiencing changes. Bless her heart. As of this week she is 16. And getting a little older comes with a few physical problems. She has developed kidney problems and we are babying her more now than ever. I think she really eats up the extra attention!

We don't sit around quite as much as we did before either. Before spring came along we got bikes. Every evening we head out for a bike ride. My knees don't like it, but hopefully they will adjust soon. North Carolina roads are not quite as flat as Florida roads - go figure! We also started Weight Watchers. Those stinkin' kids have lost more weight than me! I'm still plugging along, hoping I'll catch up with them soon.

As soon as R downloads some new pictures, I'll try to update you a little with knitting. I've been reading more than knitting this year, but I've managed to finish a few projects. So if you stick around for a while, I'll try to do better at updating.