My leg that was almost chopped off

Okay, so maybe I had a slim but more like none chance of my leg being amputated, but that doesn't mean I didn't have the desire to break the machete out of the 72 hour kit and live one legged for the rest of my life.

My Valentines day consisted of taking a nice hour long nap while my surgeon, Dr. Young You, (that is absolutely his name. I did not make that up) shoved a camera and 2 instruments inside my knee joint with hopes of shaving out some damaged cartilage. I was home by lunch time, and stayed put on the couch 99% of the time for 3 days.

The night before surgery I wanted to make sure Dr You and I were on the same page as far as which knee was to be operated on. 

The couch wasn't so bad. I was the neighborhood watch for a few days being able to see everyone who was going or coming, who was getting a package, and who was having pizza for dinner. When there is not much else to do it is quite entertaining.

Three days post surgery, I was instructed to remove all bandages and do simple exercises such as bending and lifting my leg, which turned out to be not so simple. Here, for your enjoyment, is the unveiling as seen through my eyes.

Swollen, slightly bruised, but not as bad as I thought.

Nine days post surgery I went to see Dr. You to have stitches removed, get a run down of everything he found while creeping around my knee joint, and hopes to get the okay to take an actual shower, and drive. Turns out I had two small meniscus tears which weren't very bad, and Dr. You says they were only causing about 10% of the pain and swelling I was feeling. The other 90% came from behind my knee cap where once smooth cartilage morphed into a jellyfish looking creature.


This is what the cartilage behind the knee cap is supposed to look like:

smooth

And, this is what mine looked like:

Turns out that is a big problem. Dr You did his best work to shave the cartilage down to this:

Unfortunately, this is a common problem in women, and this cartilage actually begins to deteriorate after age 15. It can not be repaired, bummer, but I can resume normal activities in a couple months, and I assume my knee will tell me when to slow down. For now, I am happy to sleep in my own bed, shower regularly, drive Chappie, and surprisingly, wear normal pants.

9 days post surgery. Stitches out, and only a small amount of swelling.  Not too shabby Dr. You.

You don't mess with a sleeping Talan

Bath time butt dial

Last week Grams had an especially bad week of butt dialing everyone in her contact list. This week, Aunt Tanya has discovered Talan might not know the actual meaning of butt dial.




Aunt Tanya: "okay Talan, turn around so I can wash your butt."

Talan: "haha! butt. thats a funny word"

Aunt Tanya: "okay. lets rinse."

Talan: "make sure you butt dial me!"

Aunt Tanya: "i have never butt dialed you...ever"

Talan: "well....could you?"

This is how Talan leaves his pants after most baths. As if he is still inside them and has dove straight into the floor.

Adolescence

Ashton:

"I think when I come home from school I'll start eating goldfish or something healthy instead of snack cakes every day. Also, I think I'll start working out. I'm about to start puberty and that is when my muscles start changing."

Several months ago I picked up a puberty for boys pamphlet at one of Syphr's routine check ups as a joke. Ashton has not only read, memorized and recited the pamphlet cover to cover, but is also beyond thrilled, and not shy at all, to begin this new chapter in his life which he believes will start the day he turns 10. Lovely.

Things I love:

#37:

Walking into parent teacher conference, only to end up having a conversation about Ashton's massive collection of woot shirts, or his vast scientific knowledge with his really awesome teachers, one of which is a Harry Potter fan and welcomes Ashton's constant Harry Potter references. All this because there is no negative news to report. 

How I love my nerdy kid. He does his all of his homework, studies for tests, and googles the periodic table of elements in his free time while watching episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy on Itunes. His current most favorite things are pi, the periodic table of elements, the Pythagorean Theorem, and anyone in history that did something great (Ben Franklin, Einstein, MLK, John Hancock). I'm thrilled girls are not on that list yet, although Ashton is still highly confident and makes it known that he could get a girlfriend any time he wants. 

This kid is seriously refreshing. 

The phases of the moon....awesome style

This is the first big project of Ashton's school career. There were no instructions. Twenty two kids were sent home with the knowledge they gained the past 5 weeks in class about the phases of the moon, and told to create a project. 

Mr. Science came up with the idea (with slight help from google), and executed the project with very minimal help. (I got out the paints, and bought the supplies) I offered a suggestion of using star stickers for the stars, but that got an eye roll, sigh and lecture about how stars don't actually look like stars. 

Anyway, I am super proud, and impressed at the excellent job he did. It made me think back to when I was in fourth grade and my dad helped me make an incredibly awesome model of the California Gold Rush. He had a creative mind when it came to building anything like that. I think he would be proud to see Ashton has that quality. They would have loved to build stuff together.  Instead, Ashton is stuck with his lame mom who suggested star stickers for his masterpiece. Guess the creative mind skips a generation.

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug...

This is an extremely rare occurrence.

It lasted a whole 15 minutes before drama ensued. I'll take it.

Half Marathon Fail

Fourteen years ago I twisted my knee at basketball tryouts, and couldn't hardly walk on it for almost a week. I never went to the doctor. Needless to say I didn't make the team, but that was probably due to my lack of all skills necessary to play basketball. 

Fast forward  to when I am actually counting on my knees to take me 13.1 miles. 

Within a week and a half of training I ended up with a swollen knee and a nagging feeling that I better get it checked out. The doctor sent me to an orthopedic surgeon with an x-ray and a note that said, 'classic medial meniscus tear'. The meniscus acts like a cushion between the knee joints. After confirming I had no broken bones in my knee I headed for an MRI to see exactly what we were working with and how much damage had been done. 

Today was my follow up for said MRI. I am not pleased.

Not only am I AWESOME at medial meniscus tearing, but I am super great at horizontal tearing a meniscus which happens to be the only kind of tear which can not be repaired, and only gets worse through the years. Go me!! 

When I get around to it (a.k.a. after I stop feeling sorry for myself)I will call and schedule surgery where the doctors will go in and see how deep the tear is, and hopefully scrape out just the right amount of the damage so the tear is not causing a problem anymore but leaving enough of the meniscus behind so I have close to full mobility in that knee. 

I'm sad to not only be banned running until further notice, but also to leave my running partner solo, but I know she will do great anyways. I'm hoping to be fully recovered and have another chance at my 13.1 mile challenge by the end of the year. Hopefully before the world ends in December. 

Priceless pout

Coates family rule #7: 

Food stays at the table

All I had to say was, "Syphr." and he knew. He stopped in his tracks and began his pouting stance. He had gotten half way across the room, he couldn't back down now. I kept repeating his name, and asking him to take his bread to the table, but he didn't budge. 

I slowly reached for the camera, and crept very slowly closer and closer, still saying, "Syphr....." He put on his defensive pouting face. Looks like Talan is rubbing off on him.

When I got too close, he panicked and ran as fast as he could, then cried when I brought him back to the table. Such a good try. I'm sure he will try again at dinner.

Day 359 and 360 of 2011 as Ashton calls it

We spent Christmas Eve with good friends,  completely frozen, and fending off kids who were trying to steal our view at National Harbor because they got there too late to get a good spot. We were waiting for a good while in the wind chill for a chance to see Santa skii before he headed off on his present delivering journey (although I'm pretty sure he probably should have already been gone by that point). Anyway, after 30 minutes of watching the Christmas characters no one really cares about slowly ride by and wave, 2 screaming 1 year olds, waves from the boats crashing on the rocks and splashing the very much polluted and nasty Potomac River on us, we scrapped the plan and headed for our cars. Santa is overrated. 

After naps for everyone, we headed down the street to have dinner with our good friend who froze with us at National Harbor, and completely stuffed ourselves full. Ashton was in heaven with both ham and shrimp on the table. He ate enough for about 4 people. 

I was worried matching footie jamas would not go over well with the older boys, but it was a huge hit. Talan said, "I ALWAYS WANTED THESE KIND OF JAMAS!" Ashton said, "AWESOME!!" Syphr didn't say anything, but he did immediately give me his jamas meaning he would like them on right then. 

I didn't get many pictures Christmas morning. I underestimated the chaos of 3 super excited kids, presents, and keeping kids contained in a present wrapping area that was visible to our webcam so Brad could see via skype. 

Santa brought us a PS3 this year, and a vinyl hopscotch on the floor. He was hoping to help me in my quest to make my house kid friendly for the winter to minimize boredom and whining. He succeeded.

Syphr got to do the honors of opening the first present of the morning. He took one little tear of paper off, saw it was something he could climb in and didn't care to know anything else. He just wanted to get in. The boys had to take the rest of the paper off because Syphr was not getting out any time soon. He now spends most of his days sitting in his Buzz Lightyear spaceship. Not moving, just sitting.

Talan got a plasma car. This has to be the most fun car around. It is propelled by turning the handle bars back and forth. All 4 of us have been caught riding on it several times a day. Love having wood floors.

Did I mention my goal to have my house like a playground for the winter? You can't have a playground without a slide. 

We all sure did miss having Brad here with us, but we are ever so grateful for Skype and its ability to make our family as complete as it can be right now. 

I love Christmas. And, I love my family.