October and Foot Surgery

Well Folks, it's October now!  And it sure feels like it too!!!

UGH!!!  Cool today, better than last week's snow, rain, and night temps below freezing -- completely took care of any green life left in my garden, but that's okay with me.  Yep, it really did snow here in Maeser, at one point there was about 1 inch outside, but it had quickly melted before we went to bed.  Rain also fell extensively, and the cold temps outside were enough to make us all seek heavy blankets, winter coats, socks and slippers, and hot cocoa!  However, this cool day has turned out to be lovely with sunshine and light fluffy clouds, so I'm grateful for small things.

In other Jackson family news, I went to my appointment last Tuesday October 1st in SLC at TOSH (the orthopedic specialty hospital) to see Dr. James Morgan.  The end result of that being that he completely agreed with Dr Kelly Gomez (hurray! People actually agreed!!) that my foot would be better off by having the heel fused back under it and supporting the foot and ankle, rather than going with Dr Stan Phillips who insisted that I would need my whole foot & ankle fused together.  Dr Morgan said there is no reason to make me lose my range of motion in my foot while I am still young, and while I would need to be caring for my young children -- yay, I so didn't want to lose the limited motion that I currently have.  I will still limp, perhaps worse than I do now, but he thinks that much of the pain I feeling on the side of my foot will be greatly reduced.  Very happy to know that much of this pain that keeps me awake at night will be going away.
So.... surgery healing timeline is:  8-10 weeks non-weight-bearing, 8-10 weeks some weight-bearing (likely in a walking cast), then 2-4 months of additional physical therapy.  That sounds a whole lot better than 4 months non-weight-bearing, 3-4 months partial weight-bearing, then 4-6 months of additional physical therapy!!

Oh don't get me wrong, I know,  I KNOW, that this is going to be difficult for me to do.  I have 5 young children, ages almost 11, 9, 5, 2, and 8 months -- and I will only be able to do least minimal care for them.  Tasks that I take for granted to be able to do now, will be come extremely difficult and even impossible for me to do while I wait for my body to heal itself, however, I believe that this is the right time to get the surgery done. 

I have faith in Heavenly Father that he will help me get through this painful trial, and i am hopeful that I can find others in my Ward and neighborhood to help me with my concerns regarding getting my boys to and from school.  I have already talked to my Ward Relief Society presidency about them arranging meals for my family for the first couple of weeks, after which time I should have my pain regulated enough that I can help my family out a tiny bit.

I have begun to make freezer meals, and casseroles, that can be easily pulled out to put to cook either by my husband or by one of older boys - with Mom's supervision - for that night's dinner.  I am going to be teaching my older boys how to wash laundry.  I am sorting through clothes, and putting baby E's next sizes close at hand so should she grow out of her current size, then her clothes can be easily changed around.  Same thing for K who will be 3 in December.  The old out-grown clothes will be sold or given away (as will any sizes 0-3T boys stuff that I still have).

I will also be setting up a diapering station in my living room as I believe that starting to toilet train K now would be a bad idea.  I plan to continue to breastfeed baby E, and have done extensive research regarding nursing and anesthesia/pain killers coming out in breast milk, and I believe that we will be okay.

But if anyone wants to come stay with us to help for awhile, I will be thrilled.  Our guest room is always ready for visitors (okay I need to clean off the out-grown clothes first, but that takes just 5 minutes).

I fully admit to being a bit scared about this coming event in my life, but I am determined to put my faith in Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.  Maybe I will even be able to get some sleep between now and then too... well a girl can always hope, yes?

And now, my darling daughter K has informed me "I stinky Mama, change me," so I'm off to take care of her before we need to go pick up her brothers from school.

April

Is it just me or is April flying by??!!  It's the 16th today, and hard to believe that this month is half gone.

Hubby is gone traveling for much of this week, son C went with him.  I am going to sew while they are gone, i am feeling the sewing bug biting again, going to make spring dresses for my girls, plus one of these for dd K.  I have the cutest fabric!

It's supposed to be spring but today is the 2nd day in a row that I have woken up to snow on the ground.  According to the KSL 5 Noon news, we actually have another day of potential snow, and definitely more of cold cold wind!

Yesterday during the Boston Marathon, some idiot set off 2 bombs (2 more were later found unexploded), killing 3 people, one of whom was an 8 year old boy who was there to watch his father run in the race.  How sad for this family, especially since the boy's mother is critically injured with a wound to her brain and his sister lost a leg to the same bomb blast that killed her brother.

It is good that there are still people in this world that are willing to come forward to help when the evil ones of the world decide to hurt and maim.  There are so many stories of the kindnesses shown after the bombings, shows there is still hope for mankind.

Monday Jan 18

It's snowing a bit outside, really nothing too heavy, but just enough to make the roads & sidewalks slick.  It is nice to see a fresh coat of white over the dingy gray left from the last snow storm, though.

My brother Chris called last night to wish me a belated 'Happy Birthday,' which reminds me that this is my brother-in-law William's birthday today (he's 36), and a week from today will be my husband's birthday; he will be 34 (& I'm 35).  William & I joke sometimes about how we're the same age for a week.

So all of my boys are sick now, Cole seems to have caught the cold from Joseph.  However, I'm not surprised by that as Joseph refuses to cough directly into the crook of his elbow, instead he coughs over his elbow; I fully expect to get his cold soemtime this week as he coughed & sneezed all over me last night at dinner.  I just hope that if I get sick, it's after Thursday as I really want to go to my Quilting Guild on Thursday evening.

For now though, it's time to put together a late lunch (and maybe a crockpot stew for dinner with some home-made dinner rolls or bread) then go do something productive as I just feel like having a nap while sitting here.

=) Gayle

"Baby, it's cold outside!"

I'm sitting at the computer over by the window, and my fingers are chilled.
The Today Show is playing in the background, and every so often they break for the weather -- KSL Weather keeps saying that it's going to snow here today. The weather pattern they show indicates that the Uintah Basin is going to be right down the middle of the snow coming (it's already snowing in SLC), plus we get to have more snow tomorrow -- not a good thing when your spouse's job is driving! Our high today for Vernal is 50*F and the low for tonight is supposed to be 26*F -- now I live in Maeser, so our low will be 3 or 4 degrees colder than Vernal.
LOL, the funny thing is that when I was listening to the radio (98.5), they said that the high today wasn't going to be above 40 degrees -- both the radio & TV agree that it's going to be windy though.

I guess it's time to get dressed (I'm still in my flannel jammies), and get outside -- to hang the extension cord to plug in the dog house light, to get the cases of "free" water [from my brother Glen] out of the back of our white truck, to gather up hoses & garden tools & anything else I've forgotten about, and most of all to get some wood so I can get the fire going again.

Back in the house, I'll be getting some apples cooking to make applesauce, and of course continuing in my battle against the never-ending laundry pile.

=) Gayle