2012 Summary

For those of you who received my Christmas letter, most of this is a repeat.  I did manage to forget one of the "major" milestones in that letter which has been added here -- our Isaac hurricane event.  And I've finished up with the end-of-year events as well.  Hope you and yours have a wonderful 2013.

This year has really flown by!  We are all well and looking forward to yet another year to enjoy life in this world.

Tom was able to enjoy a “boy’s week” with his brothers and one brother-in-law at Big Bend in Texas.  His brothers met him on AMTRAK in Houston and continued onto Alpine where they drove the rest of the way.  Beautiful country and I understand they hope to make a return trip.  Tom began yet another role within Shell this year and is back doing what he enjoys and does best – technology forecasting.  He celebrated a “big” anniversary with the company as well in October. 

Aside from the “normal” activities of driving children, exercise, and Bible Study, I’ve had more than my share of health-related issues this year.  An MRI in January created a need for fluid drainage from my hip which was followed by the realization while (thankfully!) the joint isn’t septic, it no longer has any cartilage.  In October I underwent an arthroscopic procedure to remove bone spurs and clean it up a bit, but it’s looking like a new hip is in my near future.  The joys of aging.

Maggie completed her freshman year and is half-way thru the sophomore one.  She again ran track in the spring and cross country this fall, this year participating in a couple of the varsity-level races.  She volunteered at the JCC summer camp (100 hours are required for high school graduation) and really enjoyed the kiddos.

Abby’s now in 7^th grade and will be joining Maggie at high school in the fall.  Hard to believe I’ll no longer have any children in grammar school!  Abby continues to play the violin and once again participated in the JCC swim team.  She also enjoyed her 12-year-old trip with gramma and granddad – choosing to enjoy Chicago for a week with them.

We all enjoyed a visit to Houston over Easter to visit with Tom’s family (especially our newest nephew!).  The girls and I drove over and met Tom (who had been on a business trip and flew in).  Over the summer the 4 of us went to North Carolina where my mom’s family gathered for a week together playing in the lake, going to the amusement park, and hanging out.  Tom and I were then able to get away for a week together while the girls continued to enjoy time at mom and dad’s house.  In August we had an at-home “hurri-cation” due to hurricane Isaac which hi7 years to the date after Katrina.  Thankfully we suffered only minor damage (dad and Tom just finished fixing the fence and Tom replaces some shingles) though the week without power was a bit long, particularly when it got to be hot again!  Tom was very effective in using our generator and we lost almost no food from the refrigerator and were able to charge electronics and by the end of the week had a wall unit running AC in one room.  Finally, we spent Thanksgiving with Tom’s family in Concan, TX where we rented a house and enjoyed a few days of eating heavily and each others’ company.

Christmas was spent at home with my parents.  We were treated to a REALLY nice dinner at Brennan's on the 26th as well.  The girls, mom, and I hit the outlet mall for early b-day shopping one day as well.  I'm not so sure I'm well-rested for this time of the year, but it certainly has been fun and I wouldn't change anything.

Hope 2013 brings out the best in all of us.

so far

As usual it's been a crazy few weeks here.  We're giving our master bathroom a facelift (new tile, paint, vanity, sink, mirror, lighting, etc.), adding built-ins to the tv room, quarter finals as school for the girls, and my surgery.  As with any home-remodel project, something always comes up as an unexpected issue.  The lighting for the bathroom had consisted of two canned lights from the ceiling over the mirror. Tom was able to move those around so that there will be one light above the mirror.  He also had to raise the outlet as the countertops will be higher.  And when he started peeling off the wallpaper he discovered that there was this strange other paper under it -- not a true wallpaper, but more of like a base-paper.  Which is a dickens to get off (trust me -- I helped with this part!).  The dry-wall underneath in places had the white paper coating scraped off (NOT due to our removal of any of the paper) and any remaining glue created a nightmare when he was re-mudding the walls.  ACH!

And then the dishwasher had a leak.  We started smelling a musty odor under the kitchen sink and Tom noticed some water seeping out the wall opposite the dishwasher.  I believe that during our efforts to get the dishwasher to clean the dishes again we inadvertently (perhaps?) created some leak or so.  So the repairman comes out but the part is not in stock so another week later, it's finally fixed.  Unfortunately it seems the musty odor remains so perhaps now there's a leak somewhere else in the kitchen sink area.  Sigh.

I believe the quarter finals were perhaps the least stressful of events, at least from mine and Tom's perspectives.  The girls performed well first quarter and are again inundated with homework for the second quarter.

As for the surgery, that's another story!  First there was a one-week delay due to the fact that the surgeon's father-in-law died and he was out of town.  Mom changed her flights at a large expense (mom's the best!) to come in a week later and stay through the 31st.  Then the various home-improvement projects were all coming together, so we went to "plan B" and mom took me to the hospital in the morning (well, I drove) and stayed with me there which allowed Tom to do some of the various work before the cabinet install people came the following day.  So mom and I sat and they got me all ready and we sat some more and some more.....Finally about 2:30 they took me back and sent her on to the waiting area.  As they gave me my "relaxing shot" at that point things started to get fuzzy.  I remember talking with the PA as she marked the appropriate hip for surgery and being wheeled into the OR and then the hook-up of the IV and the beginning of the nothingness.  Then I was a bit more aware in a hospital room, being told I'd be spending the night.  Tom was there -- apparently the surgery started late, ran quite a bit longer than anticipated (guess that hip was in rather bad shape) and they hadn't yest established that all my systems were working well enough to send me home so I was to spend the night.  I was able to chat with Abby on the phone and was so thankful that mom and Maggie were there to keep everything running while Tom was with me until visiting hours were over.  I FINALLY got to go home at about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon and, as the girls noticed, still a bit foggy.  I went to bed at 7 rather sore.  Each day has been an improvement in range of motion and less pain.  Right now it seems to me that the achiness is different than pre-op -- more from the surgery and the ways they had to move my hip around than anything else.  It's confirmed that there's little/no cartilage left in the hip and there were more/larger bone spurs than anticipated.  I've had one PT session and have to do my exercises regularly.  I'm allowed to put no weight on it at all for 2 weeks.  Sigh.  Then I'll gradually add weight.  Meanwhile I'm figuring out a lot of ways to get things done and every day is a bit better.  Hopefully I'll be even more capable before mom has to leave for home.....

Mom's taken Maggie to her cross country meet this morning -- I didn't think crutching all over city park was such a grand idea, especially as the ground is still rather wet.  Tom should be taking Abby to her ensemble practice and my goal for the day is to sponge-bathe and do my exercises and watch the OSU game......good enough for me!

Enjoy the rest of October!

things i like and dislike about hurricanes

So first off is the disclaimer -- I have absolutely no right to complain at all -- we had the means and the ability to evacuate and CHOSE to stay in town for Isaac.  That said, here are the things I liked:

1. Listening to the wind and rain (cat 1, so not horrific!)
2. Reading by candlelight (the first 2 days)
3. Remembering how to get around in the dark (before I had LASIK I had this sort of inner-radar thing going on and was able to navigate the house in the dark without my glasses/contacts)
4. Tom's ingenuity -- he'd purchased a HUGE generator after Katrina -- we lost NOTHING in the refrigerator due to melting or being off temperature (we lost a head of broccoli from lack of use!). He enabled us to charge phones and other devices, rigged up the TV, washer and dryer and strong fans to make the house bearable -- he'd just about finished rigging up a window a/c when the power came back on
5. Playing card-games with my girls
6. Finished ALL my library books -- especially after remembering and finding the book-lights we had
7. Just being at home
8. Going to church Sunday
9. Celebrating Tom's b-day 

Things I disliked:

1. Showering in the dark (actually it was rather funny this morning -- the power came on while I was in the shower and Abby came to tell me it was on.  I let out a "whoop!" and had her call Tom and Maggie who were out buying MORE gas for the generator.  Then I realized I could turn on the light and did so.  THEN I realized I could also turn on the exhaust fan).  Bliss.
2. Cooking in the dark -- made spaghetti on Wednesday, the day it made landfall
3. Doing laundry in a serial fashion as only one big appliance could be run at a time -- wash clothes, dry clothes, then wash/dry second load.
4. House smelling like a locker room due to the fact that it got hot and humid and towels and bathmats weren't able to dry out
5. Having what seemed like EVERYONE else getting power on faster than we did
6. Trying to figure out what to do considering the fact that Tom's leaving for Holland tomorrow and we didn't have power yet this morning AND the girls go back to school tomorrow (plan was to get a hotel room for the three of us)
7. Not being able to enjoy my coffee
8. Feeling slightly "sticky" all the time

Considering there are more things I liked (also see previous post), I suppose it wasn't so bad.  Today was the first day I really felt like crying from frustration and everything.  All things considered I'll stay again for a cat-1 (maybe cat-2) and the biggest lesson I've learned is to include in the supply list PAPER PLATES (doing dishes is NOT one of my likes!).

Hope your Labor Day is wonderful -- I enjoyed a "normal" day including going to my yoga class and going to the grocery.......

things i like about the time leading up to hurricane isaac

Gotta put something positive, no?  So here's a list of things I'm liking so far:

1. Sleeping in on a Tuesday morning
2. NOT driving to/from school
3. Staying home all day (yep, I'm a home-body) -- though I may be tired of it Thursday!
4. Cooking with Maggie
5. Eating supper as a family
6. Feeling prepared yet still somewhat cautious
7. Watching the wind blow (not really loud yet!)
8. Not having time constraints

That's all I can think of for now!  Stay safe and I'm sure I'll come up with thins I DON'T like before this is over..........

Summer Holiday 2012

So, how'd we spend our family vacation this year?  We headed to North Carolina to spend 2 weeks.  The first week we were joined by my aunt, cousins, and their families for a "reunion" of the Tolar clan.  First time we've all been together since my gramma's death in 2006, so it's definitely a long time coming!  Great to see those we haven't seen in a while and so fun to see the kids interacting.  Had a funny moment when I overheard my mom and aunt talking about "the kids" and realizing that my sister, two cousins and I are no longer they.  Been replaced by 7 others!  The reunion week was spent playing on Lake Norman with swimming, tubing, and fishing being done to a great degree.  We spent on HOT day at Carrowinds amusement park riding coasters and lots of other rides.  My sister, cousin and I spent a day shopping at the outlet mall.  Others hit the furniture mart and Tom and my cousin traveled to Greensboro one day for some genealogy research.

The day my aunt's family left for home Abby and my sister's kids took a session of waterskiing lessons.  It was difficult to really watch from shore as there were 5 or so boats and they had to spread out so that the water was smooth for the new skiiers.  The kids each got up on the skis and reportedly had fun.  After we got back to mom and dad's, Tom and I headed out for a much-needed r&r holiday alone.  It's been a couple years since we've had an opportunity to be alone together for a length of time and we enjoyed it.  We stayed at a hotel in Greensboro and partook of the spa services there as well as trying out and enjoying the services at Hand and Stone spa.  Definitely a great way to spend time off!  We headed back to mom and dad's to enjoy a day with my cousin Amanda who lives in Charlotte.  She'd been to Carrowinds with us, but this was more of a relaxation day.  While Tom and I had been gone the girls had tried out my parent's latest toys -- a kneeboard and a wakeboard.  We got to see them do both and, for the biggest surprise of my recent life, TOM did the kneeboard!  Meanwhile, I stayed safely in the boat.....

Here's some of the photos..... 

Brigdens

Abby showing her skills on the wakeboard

Abby 

  

Maggie and Abby

Maggie and Abby

Maggie

I hadn't known there were turtles in Lake Norman -- Taylor caught a HUGE one!

Mom had a "big" birthday -- Tom's showing the latest way to wear party hats

My guy

The proof!

Tom and Maggie

Kneeboarding is tiring

Mackenzie doing yoga with me

Maggie and me

Hope your summer holidays were just as special!  School starts this week.........

really quick!

I have 20 minutes before heading to pick Maggie up from work to take her and Abby to the dentist.  Crazy busy summer, spent mainly driving daughters (or having daughter drive me) all over the city.  But it's certainly been productive.

First major project has been re-doing 3 rooms in the house plus replacing "my" chair.  Tom and Maggie painted 2 rooms, we re-carpeted the same two rooms, sold the old furniture, moved Tom's office upstairs (to co-exist with the guest room rather than the tv room) and bought new furniture.  Mom was here to see the new stuff and we continue to progress -- still haven't landed on a "solution" to Tom's book collection (he'd like glass doors on shelves and we're pricing options) so they're stacked in the dining room.  Less chaotic than before, but getting there.  The third room getting a face lift is the master bathroom -- decor circa 1984 when the house was built.  Not doing anything about the (small) size at this point in time (it's an interior room, we're on a slab, cost, cost, cost), but redoing cabinets, tile, walls, and countertops.  Should be much better!

Second project has been getting Maggie to drive as much as possible.  She'll be 16 in March, and we'll be ever so much more happy with her behind the wheel knowing she's got a LOT of experience.  She drives to/from work every day (with me as passenger!) and anywhere else where family is going.  Even drove to the airport to pick my mom up!  She's again working at the JCC summer camp with the kiddos going into first grade.  This year she's doing it to accumulate her required volunteer hours (100) for graduating high school plus a bunch of extra ones.

Abby's summer projects included summer theater camp and swim team.  Mom flew down to attend all three performances of Aladdin.  Abby was a fish-mom and a jewelry peddler.  She made it to the district meet this year in the "country club" league, but didn't qualify for the city meet.  Mom was able to attend the meet on the west bank this year 2 July and was a really GREAT SPORT considering for half the meet I was working inside the air conditioning as an averager.  And Abby got to cool off in the water!  She's also adjusting to her new braces and doing well with them.....

As for me, I continue to do what yoga I can daily and try to keep the old muscles strong.  I return to the orthopedist in September and I think that will be time for considering "next steps" as the slight improvement experienced from the synvisc injection seems to have tapered off a great deal.  He's thinking the next step will be some arthroscopic work to clean out "stray" pieces of torn cartilage before we move into full joint replacement.  Quite frustrating, but a test of faith and patience.  Sigh.....

Enjoy the rest of summer!

Monthly entry

There seems to be a (bad) pattern developing wherein I only seem to get this updated once a month.  Like most of us, I seem to let almost anything else become a priority, even sitting and playing "words with friends".  Sigh.  In any event, here's the update!

School ended for the girls in May.  Abby was out a full week before Memorial Day and spent the week before that holiday in Chicago with my mom and dad (they take the grandkids to a location of their choosing when they finish 6th grade).  The saw Blue Man Group and Jersey Boys, did Navy Pier, went to the museum and, of course, SHOPPED.  We had a couple quick visits with mom and dad before/after their trip -- due to the girls' finals' schedule, they came only a couple days before the departure and left for home the day after they got back to attend the wedding of friends.  Mom will be back for the performances of Aladdin that Abby will be in this summer.

Abby's also begun swim team.  The first meet is tomorrow.  She (like I think I would!) prefers the practicing to the competition.  Seems to be a family trait to prefer competition with one's own performance to that with others.  She also got her braces.  She'll only need to wear them for 12-15 months, but seems to be managing ok with them.  Definitely not her favorites, though I think she enjoys using them for an excuse to not eat much meat (not a favorite of hers!).  And, best news of all is that she managed to squeak by and gets promoted to 7th grade in the fall.

Maggie finished her freshman year of high school on the Tuesday before Memorial Day weekend.  Since Abby was out of town, we were able to do some fun things together -- out to lunch 2 days, massages and pedicures, and the annual doctor's visit (one of these things doesn't quite fit!).  She kept busy with friends Memorial Day week as she's started both summer running (6am) for cross country and work (counselor at the JCC summer camp) this week.  AND she's completed the driving portion of driver's ed so we need to go get her learner's permit.  Scary thought! (sorry about my thumb - I was trying to be surreptitious!).

Tom's been traveling with his new Shell role.  He spent most of last week in Boston at MIT and spent time previously in Washington DC.  Not quite as much travel (yet?) as when we were first married, but it's definitely a change.

As a family we hosted a garage sale this past weekend.  Although we still have quite a bit for the vets to pick up Friday, we managed to sell almost all the big items.  WHEW!!!!  Secret is to price to sell and make "deals".  Now we need to replace what we sold!  Maggie and Tom did the really heavy lifting of the furniture items (Tom keeps me somewhat on injured reserve due to the hip, though Maggie and I think I carried as much weight with all the other stuff I carried outside!).  Abby was in charge of putting the prices on items.  It was HOT but there was a nice breeze and, best for me and Abby was that we could leave at noon for violin rehearsal (recital coming up at the end of June).  Tom even provided delivery service for a couple people.  He was gone at one point when I was going to pick up the pizza, so the girls ended up bicycling over to pick it up.  Maggie rode my euro-bike with it's "tray" in the back so she could bungee cord the pizza to it.  Unfortunately, she took a bit of a spill on the way home (onto the grass) due to the fact that the bike is adjusted to my legs, not hers.  She wasn't hurt and laughed about it and the pizza came out fine.


As for me, I returned to the orthopedist Monday morning for the 6 week review of the synvisc injection.  I'm no longer in pain walking/standing, but don't have full range of motion.  Overall I'm pleased and ok with the current status.  If I can stay like this for 6 months, the doctor says it's worth doing another round of injection.  If not, he wants to try some arthroscopic clean up.  Ultimately the joint needs to be replaced.  In the meanwhile I'm keeping the muscles around it strong with the exercise I'm "allowed" to do -- yoga, swimming (not as pain-free as I'd anticipated, but I do a bit of it), elliptical, mat pilates, and now I'm "allowed" to add a bit of walking, perhaps once a week.  I go back in 3 months.  My other accomplishment is completing the year long commitment to reading the Bible chronologically that some members of my church undertook this year.  I was asked to create a blog for this journey and did that, almost as haphazardly as this one!  I've since purchased a new chronological study Bible and started reading it again from the beginning.  I think this will be my 5th time through the entire book, but am not sure about that!

Another month.....

And of course it's been busy!  I recently came to the conclusion that although we talk about various times of the year as being "so busy" that, in reality, EVERY time of the year has its own share of busy-ness.  Gets so bad for me that when I do have a couple/few hours of quiet and someone makes another request that I react badly.  Sigh.

In any event, the weekend after Easter we enjoyed a short visit from Tom's mom and her husband.  They live about a 9-10 hour drive away and there's not an easy way to fly from there to here, so we're so thankful they made the effort to come down and participate in some of our busy-ness!

The following weekend my parents came down (11 hour drive this time -- again how we appreciate it!) to enjoy Abby's grandparent's day and participate again in the busy-ness of our life.  Maggie went to Baton Rouge (with Tom and my dad) early Saturday morning to take the Geometry test for the State Rally.  Mom, Abby and I left a bit later to meet with them at an outlet mall in Gonzales.  Enjoyed some Starbucks while waiting, then the boys headed back home and the girls went birthday shopping (a bit delayed, especially for Abby!).

So we were able to see all sets of grandparents 3 weekends in a row -- gotta be a record since the girls were quite little and we were living in Houston!

Meanwhile, Tom has started a new role at Shell and is settling in well.  Back to external technology research for the purpose of making recommendations for the company to take up.  He's traveling more but we're pleased that we don't have to make a move while one is in high school and the other is rapidly approaching it.  There's no ideal time to move, and while New Orleans hasn't been my favorite location, I'd rather get them both in college before heading out!

As for me, I FINALLY have gotten some treatment and (praise God!) relief from my hip pain.  I was going back and forth with the orthopedist and pain management doctors trying to find out the status and kept hearing that it hadn't been approved yet.  It finally became my check-in with the orthopedist.  And while we ended up there THREE HOURS, it finally got resolved -- one of those cases where a code got entered incorrectly, a key person (insurance company liaison) was on vacation, and no one kept the ball in the air.  The PA at the orthopedists got the injectionist's office on one phone and the insurance company on the other and got it resolved.  3 days later Tom took me to the hospital for the injection.  They're using Synvisc, which is derived from rooster combs, to effectively lubricate the space between the bones that in normal joints has cartilage.  They'd told me I'd be unable to drive until the next day, so I was anticipating something to relax me.  No dice.  They drove me on the gurney to the OR and had me move myself onto the table.  Covered me in a sheet and had me pull down my pants.  Cleaned and got ready for two shots (first to numb, second to treat) directly into the hip joint directed by xray/fluoroscope.  Back to the gurney and back to the room where Tom was, a drink and snack and wheeled to the car.  When my friend dropped Abby from school that afternoon, she'd warned Abby that mom might be loopy -- nope.  Stone cold sober and without any discomfort until that evening.  Improvement wasn't immediate, but now it's been 16 days and I'm quite pleased -- I can get into and out of the car more easily (Tom's sedan is a bit more tricky when I'm driving as it's the left hip).  I can walk without pain.  I can go up the stairs without putting weight on the railing (or even hanging on to it!).  Still discomfort when pivoting on the joint or sometimes rolling over at night.  And it gets stiff when I stay in one position too long.  But I'm pleased and hope it continues to help delay the eventuality of a total joint replacement.

Enjoy the beginning of summer!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Maggie was off school on Thursday and she and I decided we HAD to get our nails done (duh!). Went to collect Abby from school in the afternoon and relaxed in the evening. On Friday the three of us got in the car to head to Houston. Unfortunately I managed to get a speeding ticket -- I suppose I'm a bit thankful that Tom got a ticket recently for an illegal u-turn so that he wasn't able to harass me too much. I used it as a learning opportunity for my soon-to-be driver, instructing her on what to do when you're stopped (get out the license, registration, insurance) and how to be polite to the police officer even though you're irritated that you were the one stopped when "everyone" in traffic was going to same speed (sigh). I'm also thankful that he didn't keep us too long as they are sometimes wont to do -- 10 minutes later we were again heading west.

We arrived in Houston about 2:30 and met Tom and his brother Troy at a Starbucks (Tom had been in Calgary for work the week before and Troy had kindly picked him up at the airport). Tom and Troy headed to meet a lady who'd written about one of their ancestors and the girls and I headed to Rice Village for a bit of shopping. Tom met us there and we headed down to where the rest of his family was gathered. His youngest sister has a brand new baby as well as a 4 and almost-3-year-old which, of course, were the highlight of the visit! I did my fair share (and probably then some) of "helping" by holding the new baby, William. We enjoyed dinner out and the four of us headed to our hotel after a long day of travelling.

Saturday morning we headed back to Kay's house and spent the day visiting with family. My brother-in-law made a SUPER supper of salmon which we all enjoyed. Back again to the hotel for the night. Sunday morning we got together and attended mass. I "had" to help again with the baby to enable the Catholics in our family to take communion -- the sacrifices one has to do! After mass the baby was baptized and we all headed over to a picnic meal. Sunday evening was back to Kay's for more visiting and then we made our good-byes as we'd be heading back to New Orleans Monday.

Tom drove us home and we had a safe and pretty uneventful trip. Home to lots of laundry and settling back in. Abby was back in school Tuesday and Maggie had her final track practice that morning. She was back in school yesterday and I ran LOTS of errands. I've managed to get both cars inspected (whoops, the brake tags expired in March!), got Abby's new violin, corrected some investments for tax purposes, paid Tom's library fine, dropped of Maggie's summer work contract, grocery shopped, finished my Bible study homework, and ironed 14 shirts of Tom's (he was both gone a week AND I've been a bit delinquent in my ironing -- thankful that he's got a lot of shirts!).

Tomorrow Tom's mom and Lou arrive for a visit which will be great. I'm back to the orthopedist Monday. And then we have my parents coming the following week -- all the in-laws/grandparents within a three week period. Life is great AND busy!

Aging

I like to consider myself an active, fit person. I exercise very regularly (to the dismay of my family!), eat reasonably well, and keep my weight down. But as noted in my previous post, of late I've been plagued by hip "issues". Which have finally been accurately diagnosed. Unfortunately, the diagnosis is of severe (slightly premature!) osteoarthritis in my left hip. The cartilage is pretty much gone and the bones are rubbing against one another. Not a pleasant sensation. I'm likely looking at a total hip replacement (both the femur and the pelvis are damaged) in the pretty near future. I'm looking into some faux-sinovial fluid injections (name brands of synvisc, euflexxa, and suppartz) but so far my insurance company isn't agreeing with this option. Meanwhile, I'm "allowed" to continue yoga (skipping poses I either cannot do or modifying them), riding the bike and the elliptical. No impact exercise. You know it's bad when you cannot sit with your legs crossed in front of you OR do the pose your yoga instructor calls "downward facing easy pose". At least I can still touch my toes!

Meanwhile Tom recently had his second cataract removed. It's suspected that it was "caused" by his previous use of nasonex (if you hear the add on TV cataracts is one of the possible side effects). The surgery went well and he flew off to Calgary on a business trip 4 days later. I joked that we should get a long trench coat, have me wear it and sit on his shoulders and button it up -- I could do the seeing and he could do the walking! Sort of like what you'd see a costume on Scooby Doo.

Then we have the girls -- Abby continues to be 12 with all the "issues" 12 year old girls experience. She's getting her braces on in June, but should only have to wear them about 18 months. Her bite is pretty good and she's only got a bit of crooked-ness. Sixth grade is going well -- at her school they have the same teachers for 6th that they had for 5th, so it's pretty much familiar and after almost 2 years she's ready for something new. I'm just thankful that I'm still able to help her with math homework! She continues to enjoy her violin and is ready to move up to a full-size one. Maggie is doing very well moving towards the end of her freshman year. She turned 15 and will take the driving portion of driver's ed at the end of May, then the ready to get her permit. I'm both thrilled and terrified of her driving!

Spring is definitely upon us and the azaleas are done with their blooming and the gardenias are budding. They are my favorite so I'm looking forward to them. Thankful for every day we continue to be here!

My medical woes

This year has been a year of physical maladies for me. Beginning in July I started having some pretty bad hip pain. After a couple weeks suffering I went to the doctor. Based on the symptoms he believed I had sprained the hip and advised to not do any activity that further hurt it and come back if it didn't get better. Stubborn outfit that I am, I waited until October to return. At this time he prescribed an anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxer and suggested trying these out along with full rest. He also had x-rays taken which didn't show anything apparently wrong. Two more weeks, no improvement, so it was time to see the orthopedist. He thought it might be tendinitis and thought it advisable to have an MRI done. Unfortunately the insurance company decided that physical therapy should first be tried. Some humor at the time was that I was getting therapy for some unknown condition. Sigh. So I went to therapy and while I liked my therapist a lot didn't have any improvement. I was humbled at therapy however, seeing the patients recovering from stroke or other major conditions. I was definitely more mobile than they! Back to the orthopedist and, FINALLY the MRI was approved. What an adventure. Despite the headphones it was quite loud. And I can see why people who are claustrophobic don't like them. I found it somewhat fascinating during my 45 minutes in the thing. Tom pulled double duty that day, not only picking Abby up at school, but when I realized how late they were running, picking Maggie and another girl up from track and taking them home. At about 6pm that evening I received a call from my orthopedist -- certainly hadn't expected to hear that quickly. Apparently, he hadn't yet seen the films but was called by the radiologist (a couple alarm bells went off at this time!). The MRI showed a small tear in the labram, arthritis on both hips, and (the scary part) a great accumulation of fluid on the joint. No wonder I was in such pain! In any event, the great fear was infection, so I was to go for blood work the next morning and he scheduled me for evaluative surgery the following Tuesday (by now we were in January -- just a couple weeks ago). I made the mistake of googling "joint infection". Don't do that. So Friday I went for the blood work and enjoyed a movie and lunch with 2 friends as a great distraction. I attempted to not worry over the weekend. Tom joined me for the pre-op appointment Monday morning where the doctor first said that the preliminary blood work was negative for infection (first good sign!) and showed us the films. I quickly figured out that the big white blotch was the liquid. I went then to the hospital for all the pre-registration stuff and was done for the day. Quite thankful for friends to help with transporting the girls to/from school Tuesday! Tom and I headed to the hospital Tuesday morning. I spoke with the doctor before the procedure and the rest of the blood work was negative for infection, definitely a GREAT sign. He ended up suctioning out 15ccs of liquid and injecting some steroid to try to relieve the pain. We went home and all was better, if not entirely well. I returned the following Monday to learn that the culture of the fluid was negative, but as I'm still having pain and limited range of motion, I've been sent to a "hip specialist" for evaluation for arthroscopic procedure to fix/clean out the tear. I go there on the 14th of February.

So, that's the hip story. Last Friday (a week and a half later) I discovered a broken glass in the dishwasher and threw it away. Later that evening I went to push down the trash and, of course, cut myself on the inside of my left wrist. Cleaned it and put pressure on it with a paper towel, then had Maggie help me wrap it tightly with an ace bandage. I went about my evening activities for another hour and went to check on it -- still seeping blood and looking nasty. At this point it's about 9pm and I'm thinking to myself -- I'm pretty sure this will need stitches given it's depth and location, but should I go NOW or wait until the morning? Knowing that Saturdays are always busy for the girls, Tom and I headed to the hospital. When we checked in, the nurse asked "has any information changed since last week?" You know you've been at the hospital too often when they ask that question! The took x-rays to make sure there wasn't any glass pieces, cleaned it with betadine, and "glued" it together. It was quite sore Saturday, slightly sore Sunday and continues to improve. Of course it's on my left hand and I am quite left-dominant. Sigh.

Since the name of the page is "(Almost) All about Beth" and I usually talk about the girls, I figured it was time to update you on me! Hope to have more news soon. In the meanwhile, signing off as the early-on-set-arthritic-person you know!

Update for the New Year

2011 was quite the busy year (as usual) and the busy-ness continues. Abby is taking the babysitting certification class today. She was sick yesterday, so we're thankful all is well today as she was really looking forward to the class and wanting to earn some money! Maggie spent a good bit of last week (Tuesday-Friday from 9-5) at driver's ed class. Several of her friends were in the same class, so although she found it "boring" she had people to be bored with. Additionally, it was held at the JCC so she got to see some of her summer camp friends and go out for lunch with them.

Mom and dad came to visit the week before Christmas. They arrived Friday afternoon, just in time to enjoy Abby's play (a Cinderella Christmas). She was one of the narrators. It was with the Lakefront Youth Theater Experience (LYTE) here in New Orleans and where she did Peter Pan this summer. A great program -- staff are volunteers, and the overall aim is to put on a professional show but allow the kids to learn and have fun along the way. I've been very impressed with the program and thrilled that she wanted to do this play. Practices were every day after school from 3:30-6:30 for 2 weeks as well as all day on the one Saturday. She managed to keep her head above water AND prepare for both her violin recital and exams. And I managed with the extra driving all over the city! Mom, Maggie and I enjoyed the Friday evening show. Saturday afternoon mom and I met Abby's friend Ashley and her mom Lisa for the matinee. Tom and my dad went Saturday night. And on Sunday (rushing over after the violin recital!) mom, aunt Bonnie and I attended, followed by a short visit to the cast party (after 4 shows AND a violin recital AND a visit from grandparents we were all tired. Her violin recital also went very well. She played a quite difficult solo piece and played lead violin in an ensemble group which she seems to really enjoy (3 violins plus the teacher and a cello). After that Abby was ready to relax.

Mom and Abby went to see The Muppet Movie Monday. Abby and mom both hadn't seen it and, apparently, they laughed the whole way through. Maggie and I had seen it at Thanksgiving and I really liked it as well. Meanwhile Maggie was still having exams. She finished Tuesday at 12:15 and went to lunch with friends. Then she, mom, Abby and I headed shopping. We went to a different mall than normal to check out their selections. Somewhat successful trip for all of us. On Wednesday we all headed to see Sherlock Holmes. Definitely a fun movie (at least I thought so!). Mom and dad had to leave Thursday to celebrate Christmas with my sister.

On Friday Maggie joined some friends for an ugly sweater party. I think her's is quite a winner, no?

We chose to do all the Santa and presents on Christmas Eve this year. On Friday the 23rd our microwave stopped heating food -- the light worked, the fan worked, the turntable worked and even the timer worked, but nothing got heated. Since the girls weren't up Tom headed out on the 24th to try to find a new one (it's built in and the space for it is quite small -- below "standard" -- which makes finding a replacement difficult). 4 stores as well as my looking on line and texting ideas to him and no joy. By 11 he was home, the girls were up, and the unwrapping commenced. Nice to be together! We enjoyed our holiday dinner spread out at the dining room table and waddled off to bed. Christmas day we enjoyed celebrating with our church families and mostly relaxed. Maggie joined a friend and his family at Celebration in the Oaks that evening. The 26th Tom and I went to another appliance store and talked with a pretty knowledgeable gentleman. Tom'd scheduled a repairman for Tuesday so we decided to wait for that (4 days without a microwave is an eternity, no?). They showed up promptly on Tuesday and checked it out, ultimately agreeing with Tom's diagnosis of the problem -- broken magnetron -- had the replacement part and fixed it. Life is joyful again!

Wednesday evening we all enjoyed Tom's Christmas present -- the girls and I took him to Muriel's Jackson Square. YUM. Abby again ate her entire steak, the rest of us enjoyed fish and, of course, dessert.

New Year's Eve was pretty typical for us. Tom and I went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the afternoon. The girls each had friends over and we ordered in pizza. I took down all the Christmas decorations and enjoyed my 2 glasses of champagne (yep, I'm a lightweight!). My light was off by 12:05am. But I did make it up and saw Dick Clark on the TV. New Year's day Abby and her friend and I met her friend's parents and sister at church. We'd planned to go have lunch together. Unfortunately Abby fell ill so she and I headed home. The up side for me was that I got to see the entire Saints game. And make my baby some chicken soup. Maggie went to the mall in the afternoon with friends and all was well in our house.

That seems to catch us up! Hope your year is blessed in ways you cannot even imagine.