the INCIDENT

So, last weekend was quite interesting! It started out well, with my little sister, Lena's, birthday! She is now 15 going on 21, so grown up and adorable! We went to Classic Skating on Saturday, the 9th, to skate and have a good time! It was fun, until I heard Dad do his famous "hockey stop". Now, my dad is so graceful on his skates, he's been doing it for 20+ years, and is really so good at it! So, I hear him do his hockey stop, where you stop really fast by turning fast and shifting your weight so you don't fall over. This kind of stop makes kind of a loud skidding sound.

I hear this and look up over at my dad. He is sitting on the step that separates the main walking floor with the skate floor. My first thought is "Oh he's just resting there for a minute", but as I keep watching him, he starts rocking back and forth and has his left leg raised up. At that point I know he is hurt and I run over to see what happened. I ask him if he's ok, and his reply was "Um no, I think I broke my ankle." Very calm and collected. I run over to my mom and tell her what he just told me, and she says "Are you serious??" Uh, yeah Mom, I'm not lying to you! While she comes over to look at him, I run and grab some ice to put on his "swollen" ankle, which I later found out was not swelling, but the actual bone poking out. It didn't break his skin, thank goodness, or I probably would have thrown up on him!

So I grab the ice, and run over to the manager, who I know from working there a few years ago, and let him know what happened. So he comes over with a makeshift ankle brace and a wheelchair to get my dad out to the car. Mom and Dad go to the hospital, and the doctors tell him that from the X-ray, it looks like he broke both the tibia and fibia bones, which are the 2 bones in your lower leg connecting your knee to your foot, and also dislocated the actual ankle! Poor guy, he was in so much pain and was such a trooper, but he didn't panic, which was good because it might have made us all panic. Later I also found out he thinks this happened because there was something on the floor that stopped his left foot too quickly, and that's why he fell.

The surgeon was not there to put it back together (which I found interesting, isn't there supposed to be one "on call"?) so they set it, wrapped it up, and sent him home....WHAT? Sent him home? Yeah, and with Lortab.....your kidding right? Lortab? Thats for when you get your wisdom teeth pulled out, not a floppy broken ankle! Yeah, I was pretty upset. He went home, and Sunday morning, the 10th and Lena's birthday, Mom called me and said that she was taking him back, because he was in so much pain (duh, stupid doctors). They put him on a morphine drip, and kept him there overnight for observation. My sisters ended up spending a couple nights here, which they were excited about.

Monday morning the 11th he went in for surgery (finally!) and it took them 2 and a half hours to put in a metal plate and some screws to get his ankle back where it needed to be. Mom said he was pretty funny afterwards, waking up from anesthesia saying things like " the meaning of life is 42", and asking her " do you think the doctors have any experience with Legos?" HAHA, funny stuff Dad!

So he is now home, and doing pretty good! He has a walker, crutches, and a wheelchair....so now I can make fun of him, saying he's an old Grampy now! He does pretty well getting around, and he is pretty happy as long as he has his pain meds. I love my dad, and I am so glad he is ok. Thank you to all who have sent their prayers and thoughts his way, we are so grateful for the support and love! Get better Daddy!

On another note, Heath has now cut his two top teeth! He is so cute with them, and loves to smile a big cheesy grin to show you his teeth. He also now recognizes his name, and will look up at me when I say it, so cute! Paul has a couple of jobs coming up, and is excited that things are picking up a bit for him. He leaves this Sunday, and will be gone for about 2 weeks, so if anyone wants to do something, Heath and I would love the company! We love Paul, and are grateful that he has been able to go to work everyday, but he is excited to travel and make some money. Its almost harder to have him home for longer periods of time in between jobs, it makes it that much harder when he does leave. I still cry every time I drop him off at work before he leaves on a trip. But again, we are grateful for work. It allows me to stay home with Heath.

Although I do try to help out in more ways than one. I do get paid to donate plasma, which is the fatty, blood-clotting substance in your blood. Its kind of like kidney dialysis, where they hook you up to a machine that cleans your blood and gives it back to you, but with doing plasma, it takes your blood, spins it really fast and the plasma separates from the blood. The plasma goes in a bottle, and your blood gets returned to you. They use the plasma to help hemophiliacs. A hemophiliac is someone who has a condition in which their blood doesn't clot, so if they get a cut, they would bleed to death. Its pretty serious, and the plasma is used to treat them. So I am helping here by making a little money, and I'm also helping someone else who has a serious condition. And, I get a couple hours to myself to read or watch a movie. Its pretty rewarding.

So far, 2010 has proven to be exciting, and I hope it stays that way! I have made a New Years resolution to get healthy and lose some weight, and have been doing really well! I have lost 8 lbs, and it really has been a fun challenge. Just changing what, when and how I eat has made a big difference, and I also jog early in the morning about 3 or 4 times a week. I am also looking for a good deal on rec center memberships, specifically for swimming, because I have heard that swimming is one of the only sports that you use all of your muscles at the same time, and its no-impact. This is a really big deal for me, and I am excited to keep going! If anyone wants to join me, it would be fun to have someone to push and to push me!