07/09/08 Update

Hello All,

You are receiving this because you have requested that I keep you in the loop
about my current situation or I figured you may not have the detail and I should
fill you in. I apologize for not being more personal, but it’s about the best I
can do right now.

A few weeks ago, while on vacation in WA, I slipped down a small flight of
stairs and busted my right leg up pretty badly. At first we thought it was just
a bad sprain, but the pain was pretty severe and I heard crunching when I fell.
We were staying at my dear friends Dane & Crystal’s at the time. We were
supposed to be wrapping up our vacation there and heading home. The Universe
had different plans for moiJ

As it turned out, my fibula is broken in one spot, as well as two smaller
fractures beneath it closer to my foot. The fibula (for those of you who don’t
know, because I didn’t know) is the small leg bone next to your tibia. So, the
dr. at the urgent care facility gave me a boot, some pain meds and sent me on my
way, insisting I see a podiatrist/orthopedic specialist upon our return to CO. I was also
under strict instruction NOT to fly, so we had to postpone our flight and we
didn’t return to Denver until Tuesday 07/02/2008 (postponed from Sunday
06/29/2008.) With the 4th of July holiday; I wasn’t able to get into Drs until
today.

Today, Mom came and took me to the Drs, more x-rays were done and unfortunately,
my fears about surgery were solidified and I am scheduled for surgery Wednesday
or Thursday next week (07/16 or 07/18.) They are going to plate my fibula and
insert screws to get everything back to normal. I’m going to have hardware, woo
hoo! I’ll set off alarms at airports for real now.

The prognosis thus far is that I will be in recovery mode from surgery for a
minimum of two weeks after the surgery, most likely I won’t be able to work from
home at all during that time. Thus far, I’ve been lucky enough to still be able
to work some hours from home and I should be able to continue working from home
after that 2 week period is finished (hopefully, dr said some folks take up to 4 weeks to
get past the initial surgery depending on pain and what not.)

I will have a hard cast for 4 – 6 weeks after surgery; it is my right foot so I
am unable to drive. I will be in a boot cast for another 4 weeks after that.
We are looking at a minimum of 2 –3 months recovery time. Like the doc said, I
sure didn’t mess around on this one! Apparently when I hurt myself I do it up
right!

I am not 100% sure about what's going to happen with work, I need to get with my
boss and see what's the best for everyone involved. I am lucky to have a pretty
great employer, my supervisor totally rocks for which I am also grateful. I
feel pretty confident that we'll get things worked out in such a way that
addresses everyones needs. Some people might think I am nuts, but I will miss
being in the office these weeks. I'll miss my coworkers, that's for sure.

A lot of people have expressed concern about pain. Right now, I am pretty ok.
They gave me a splint until the surgery, it’s like a soft/half cast type of thing
and it’s not comfortable, but it feels more stable then the boot cast. Bathing
should be interesting with this, argh. Pre surgery, I am going to try and just
stay on the ibuprofens for the most part and maybe some pain meds at night (it’s
usually pretty creepy by the end of the day) and then when the surgery comes
I’ll probably be pretty doped up for the first few weeks. So I’ll be doing a
lot of sleeping I’m sure. Resting people heal quicker, go figure huh?

In the midst of this we have Max starting his sophomore year of high school next
month, I am still unsure of how long we have at the house and I have no idea how
much all of this is going to cost. Thank the gods for insurance, but even with
that and because I will have less income and not mention our regular bills
(food, etc…) it’s still looking a little scary at the moment.

But, I keep telling myself to hang in there. Lots of deep breathes. Again, I
do feel surprisingly positive. Everyone has been so supportive. I need to give extra props
out to Dane for his patience with the situation while I was in WA and to my mom,
Kristen and everyone else who has gone grocery shopping, given me rides,
listened to me cry, brought us food, etc. Thank you so much! I suspect I will
be calling on all of you again in the coming weeks and months, actually you can
pretty much expect it at this point.

And, Max of course deserves a pretty significant high five. We’ve had a few
rough days, but he really has been amazing. I can’t imagine doing this without
him. I also have Thomas (my teddy bear) and two very sweet kitty cats too keep
myecompany.

If I could get the hang of the crutches on the stairs we’d be in good shape. I
never once thought I be in crutches when we moved in this place, ah well, I’m
learning to crab crawl well and my abs and upper body are getting a good work
out that’s for damn sure.

That’s about it for now. I will update more as I can. Keep us in your hearts and thoughts; we need all the good juju we can get right now.

My love to you all
Xo
S