Magic Legs

This is my new motto! I went to Dr. K today and he has released me to walk. This is a little more exciting for me today for the simple fact that I figured I would be walking with crutches for a little while as I am getting used to putting weight on my right leg again. Apparently, Dr. K had other ideas and thinks I am Wonder Woman or Sheerah or something because he let me walk right out of his office-no crutches!!!

Yesterday was 6 weeks since my surgery and I have literally counted down the days to this moment. It just so happens that I woke up yesterday with horrific pain in the back of my leg around the knee area. I could have died when I realized that I had so much pain and in the back of my knee. I had no idea how I could have done something from the moment I went to bed the night before to getting out of bed that morning. I went to physical therapy and as I was fighting through tears, the physical therapist was examining the back of my leg. It turns out that I had pulled my hamstring in the process of trying to build my leg up to walk again. We have been adding weight lately to my exercises since things were getting a bit easy as well as the plain and simple fact of holding my leg up while on crutches to walk for 6 weeks straight. Apparently I "stressed" my hamstring which doesn't surprise me since the rest of my body was stressed along with it! So, I cried the whole way back to work thinking that I have waited 6 LONG weeks to finally get to start walking on my own two feet again rather than one foot and my magic legs. Alison assured me that if it was hurting my leg more to hold it to keep from walking on it, then there was no way he would continue with that process. And luckily for the rest of you, only Alison and Chad had to witness the complete meltdown yesterday. But sure enough, she was right. Dr. K said that at this point it was ok for me to start walking on it and actually told me that if I wanted to walk out of his office with no crutches, then I could. So, being the stubborn, hardheaded person I am, I was determined to do so. I think I held my breath all the way to my car!

Needless to say, it is still quite a process from here, but I literally got to make a step in the right direction today. I am crutchless and I can't say that I have felt anything better than the peace of mind that goes with that in a very long time. I still have to wear a new brace that they gave me while walking and I have to continue physical therapy 3 times a week, but from here on out, it is on my own two feet. Woo-hoo!!!!!!

I have had enough!

Ok, so I think I have had all I can take with this injury thing that my husband and I have going on. So, I am just going to let it all out here for a minute. This might offend some people and it might make others laugh. I decided before I started this blog that I am not going to apologize for anything that I am about to say.

I am pretty sure I am going through a bit of depression. There are a lot of factors contributing to this so I am not even going to try to blame this on any one thing. I do, however, have to say this: I have had enough! To be honest, there are several things about this that have contributed to me being in the place I am right now. We will start with the obvious: I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON CRUTCHES. I can't cook, clean, get dressed standing up, carry groceries in, carry anything in for that matter, feed my animals, walk my dog, upkeep our lawn, upkeep our house, take out the trash, make the bed, wear normal clothes (and by that I mean anything other than freaking sweat pants that I have LIVED in for the past 2 3/4 months), go ANYWHERE without being stared at the whole time I am there, and most of all I can't go shopping. What's the one thing a girl needs when she is depressed? I will go ahead and answer that for you-Ben and Jerry's and shopping. Neither of which I can accomplish without help.

Which brings me to my next point-I have had enough of asking for help. There is only so long that a person can go without being able to do anything on their own before it starts to eat away at their ego. Supposedly on this Tuesday, I will be able to start bearing some weight on my right leg for the first time since surgery 6 weeks ago. Even then, I will have to work my way off of crutches. I will be able to walk with both crutches for a few days, eventually converting to walking with one crutch, and finally walking on my own. Two weeks ago I got my hopes up that I would already be through this process because the dr. tells me that I would be able to walk in 4-6 weeks. Apparently he didn't really mean the 4- part of the 4-6 weeks and really all along meant the 6 week mark. It gets old after a while having to say every other sentence, " Hey, would you mind..." or, "Hey when you get a minute, could you...." People have got to be sick of helping us as much as we are sick of asking. Our poor friends have taken the brunt of our injury and I feel so bad for anyone that knows us and we are comfortable with right now because they have truly been punching overtime on their friend cards.

To go along with the asking every 5 seconds for help, I think I have had about all I can take of the pet names that people so graciously have come up with for Chad and myself. I think if I have to hear the words, clutz, clumsy, gimp, or gimpy ever again, I will scream. I don't know why people after 11 weeks since my injury still feel the need to call me Gimp or Gimpy, but I think I am going to punch the next person that I hear say those words. Ha, ha, ha, laugh, laugh, laugh, chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...WE GET IT. Along with that, let me clear something up for the world-NO, MY HUSBAND AND I DID NOT GET IN AN ACCIDENT TOGETHER, NO, WE DID NOT GET MAD AT EACH OTHER AND BEAT EACH OTHER UP, AND NO, WE DO NOT SIT AROUND AND GET ANGRY WITH EACH OTHER AND FIGHT WITH OUR CRUTCHES WHEN WE GET MAD. I hope I have eased everyone's curiosity with those three grueling questions that seem to weigh on every person's mind and come out of their mouth with a half smile and a chuckle when we cross someone's path.

The last thing that is really getting to me is that everyone and their mom (including my own) seems to feel the need to be sure that Chad and I are finished playing sports for the rest of our lives. Never again will we play sports for the fear of getting hurt ever again...yeah right. How ridiculous can people be? I get that we aren't getting any younger-thanks for that reminder-but that doesn't mean that our lives have to stop. We are still in our 20's. There are professional athletes that are older than us that if they got hurt, they would get better and go right out there and play again. There are college athletes that we personally know that have had the same surgeries multiple times because they go out and keep playing. If I were in college and tore my ACL and meniscus, would my mom have asked me to stop playing and forfeit my scholarship money? No, she would not have. But since I am not young anymore (thanks for the reminder world) we are supposed to give up everything we love. My boss even asked me to quit playing sports in my free time. So, does that mean that everyone else that I work with has to cut out their recreational activities (and we won't go into what some of those are!)? Why just me? Because I got hurt for the first time in 28 years of playing sports?

And I wonder why I am depressed.

I do want to take a second, however, to say thank you to all of our friends and some family that have been punching that card overtime lately. We have some wonderful people in our lives that have been so kind as to go grocery shopping for us, cook us meals, go with us out to eat and get stared at along with us, tend to our lawn, help feed and give water to our animals, and clean our house. I have to say that I can't imagine what my state of mind would be without our wonderful friends and family. You guys have truly been a blessing to us and you still help us every time we ask for help and you do it with a smile on your face. I am sure we still have months and months of the, " Hey, would you mind..." or, "Hey when you get a minute, could you....".

My favorite nephew ever!!!

Ok, so he is my only nephew, but he is still my favorite. My sister-in-law, Andrea, came to spend some time with us and brought the most precious boy with her. He has grown so much in the past few months since we have seen him. He is trying so hard to crawl like a big boy and he has this move where he is gearing up to try to start crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees and sways back and forth. He is literally days away from crawling. Of course, by now, he is probably crawling but we won't see it until next time. I have posted under every picture so you know who my awesome family is.

We met my Aunt Heather, Uncle David, and Aunt Dorothy (my great aunt) at Uncle Julio's in Addison so that they could spend a little time with Kaden before he left. 3 generations of aunts to spoil him. Those are some good looking women if I do say so myself! Lucky kid...

Kaden posing with his two favorite aunts! Isn't he the most precious thing ever with his John Deere shirt on? His daddy would be so proud!

Kaden with is great great aunt Dorothy. She is 88 years old and still loves to spoil her family including the "big" kids. Thank you for a great lunch, Aunt Dorothy.

Kaden with his coolest Uncle David. Kaden was proud of this picture. He loves his Uncle David!

I think Kaden's mommy has gone CRAZY!!!! Do you think that mommyhood has gone to her head already???

Kaden "Smash" McDonald

Kaden loves him some Biscuit. They are best friends every time Kaden comes, and Biscuit always thinks that Kaden is here to see her. They have so much fun together.

We Are Still Alive!!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. Needless to say, there has been DRAMA in the Turner household. For anyone that may have been in the dark with us, I tore my ACL almost 2 months ago. Apparently, my husband was jealous that I was getting all of the attention and he decided that we didn't have enough struggles in our house with trying to re-arrange schedules and paying the bills that he decided he needed to be hurt too. So, almost a month ago, he (also while playing volleyball) broke his foot in 3 places and dislocated his foot. So, not only am I on crutches, but he is too. Our house literally came to a SCREECHING halt!!! So,, Chad and I have literally been laid up for the past several weeks. I had surgery last Tuesday and Chad has been off of work since he hurt himself. I took 6 days off and I am now back at work.

Since I have heard from several friends that I haven't updated my bog lately, I thought I should at least put something up. There isn't too much going on with us, needless to say, but we are doing well considering. My surgery was on the 17th. We thought I was just going in for repair of my ACL but it turns out that once they got in my knee, they saw that I also tore my meniscus on both sides of my knee. So, instead of me being off of walking for 2 weeks, it is now 4 weeks of no weight bearing on my right leg as well as not being able to bend my knee past 90 degrees for 4 weeks. I have physical therapy 3 times a week and I have a motion machine that I put my leg in to and have to do for 8 hours a day. It is a machine that constantly moves my leg and bends my knee to the degree that we set it at. Since I am already back at work, I typically have to go to sleep with my knee in the machine.

Our computer is not in the living room, so needless to say, when I get home, I am exhausted and crash where I fall. I am sorry we have been so out of touch, but there isn't really much going on with us at the moment anyway. We have WONDERFUL friends and family that have brought us meals, cleaned our house, watched our dog, driven us places, and come to visit us just to keep us sane. We truly appreciate all of you that have supported us and prayed for us through this unbelievable situation. I keep telling myself that we will laugh about this some day. I hope all of you will be there to laugh with us. We couldn't imagine our lives without all of you.

Unbelievable

I think my title says it all...UNBELIEVABLE!!! So I have to go to our other office this morning to drop off invoices so that we can have checks cut for people by the end of the week. First of all, might I mind you that this is a 14.5 mile round trip now that everyone keeps moving offices. It now costs me 8.00 a week just to take invoices to our other office and go get the checks once they have been processed. I don't turn in mileage for various reasons that would make this a very long post, so I won't go there. However, I have decided that I am probably going to have to start turning in mileage. However, the mileage issue isn't even what I am writing this about, but something along the way on this invoice trip triggered this "UNBELIEVABLE" moment for me as I am referring to it now.

So, on the way to take invoices to the other office, I notice that there is a brand new Dunkin' Donuts at the corner of one of the intersections I go through. Let me tell you a little something about me and Dunkin' Donuts...I have one word...INCREDIBLE!!!! I grew up with a Dunkin' Donuts in Tyler which was 30 minutes away from where I lived. On the rare occasion that we were in Tyler on Saturday night and my parents were getting along and we had money, they would stop and get donuts for us to eat before church the next morning. Dunkin' Donuts was a special treat for my family, at least to me. I know, I know...nothing special to most people, but it was special to us. Dunkin' Donuts became the tasty little treat that began to rule my life. I will take a Dunkin' Donut treat over Krispy Kream any day. Sorry, but it's true. Ok, back to my "UNBELIEVABLE" moment. So, on my way back to my office, I decide that I am going to treat myself this morning to some donut hole treats. One of my personal faves from DD. So, I stop and get myself some donut hole treats and an iced coffee (which is slowly moving into my new favorite treat). I will have to say, though, that no one has McDonald's on their iced coffee. Trust me...I have taste tested. As I am one of those people that don't like to eat while I am driving and I am only about 5 miles from my office at this point, I resist temptation to rip open the box of tasty donut hole treats and wait until I get to my desk to make a total pig of myself.

SOOOO...I get in the office, get to my desk, and carefully unlatch the hooked ends of the box of my tasty goodness that is going to start my day off right. "How could my day be bad when it starts off with Dunkin' Donuts' Munchkins Donut Hole Treats?" I ask myself. Well, let me tell you how my moment of angels singing as I open the box comes to the record screeching end. Like a flock of starving vultures, everyone in their mom decides that they need to walk by my desk at the moment I unleash my tasty goodness in front of me. Being interrupted...whatever, stopping to swallow and not choke myself...whatever. Those are minimal compared to what I am about to tell you. I WORK WITH THE RUDEST PEOPLE EVER!!!!! Apparently the people I work with were raised in a home that you don't have to ask to take other people's food. Apparently the people I work with assume that my casa is their casa. Apparently the people I work with were born and raised in a barn. APPARENTLY the people I work with are RUDE. Not one, not two, but 5 people walked by my desk and without asking, stuck their dirty, nasty little fingers in my box of tasty goodness and proceeded to help themselves to a donut hole...without permission, I might add. Yes, let me say it again...not one, not two, but 5 people walked by my desk and without asking, stuck their dirty, nasty little fingers in my box of tasty goodness and proceeded to help themselves to a donut hole. No, Sherry, may I have one, or Sherry, those look good, may I partake, or Sherry, I realize this is your breakfast and your incredible moment with your tasty goodness that rules your life. No, just grabbing. All I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!!! I have to say that I have NEVER in my life walked up to anyone's desk at lunch and assumed that I could just take a bite of someone sandwich because I thought it looked good and it was acceptable to take something that wasn't mine. Did anyone chip in on my tasty goodness this morning...NO!!! But for some reason, everyone thought that it was ok to partake in my awesomeness that is the Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins. I get that they are hard to resist, but is it that hard to ask permission to stick your hands in someone else's treat box?

Maybe I was raised differently. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind sharing, but you should at lesat ask me first. Am I crazy??? Please, someone help me understand what goes through some people's mind. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

Arkansas Pictures

This is a taste of the fun we had on vacation. Sherry has been working real real hard and has been meaning to work on this blog. I took the liberty of posting some pictures. Stay Tuned for Sherry's next post.

I'm Baaaack

Ok, I know, I know. I suck at keeping a blog up. However, you all can't say that I didn't warn you because I did. And yet again, I am posting a blog with NO PICTURES. Why do I do this, you ask. Because the only moment I get to post anything is between bites of my lunch at work and even then I shouldn't be doing it.

Basically I wanted to update everyone on us. Chad and I are good. We went on vacation last week to Arkansas with our family. That went well. It is always nice to return home with your own bed, a variety of clothes choices, your own bathroom and shower, and things like that. It was nice to spend the time with family as well. I will try this week to post some pics of our vacation because my camera-happy husband took 134 pictures, so there should be plenty to share.

Before we went on vacation, I tore my ACL in the volleyball tournament. We were well on our way to winning first in that tournament, too and we had to forfeit as Chad and I both had to head to the emergency room. It stinks to have to forfeit when you KNOW you are going to win. However, we did place first in the overall season, so I guess there isn't much to complain about. As far as my knee goes, I am doing physical therapy this week and I have an appointment this Friday to schedule surgery. I will have to have surgery on my ACL if I ever want to play sports again and do the things that I do. That was a no brainer to me. However, the surgery options are a bit scary and it freaks me out a bit, but I guess no matter what, I have to figure out what I am going to do by Friday.

I just want to take the time to thank our friends. We have had an awesome support group with everything that has happened with my knee and Chad and I are continually blessed every day when we take time to reflect on what we have. We have had a lot of e-mails and phone calls offering help and assistance when I have surgery. You guys are awesome! Chad and I do want you all to know that we do know what wonderful people we are surrounded with and we know that we never want to take that for granted. You know you are loved when you have people sitting in ER's, dr.'s offices, sending constant check-up e-mails, and phone calls constantly. And you all give up your own personal time to help us. Thank you all and we really appreciate each and every one of you. We have the best friends in the world!!!!

Stay tuned for pictures later this week...