Even Cowgirls get the Blues

Well, it's about time i post. but i don't have any fun pictures to put up. and i really don't even have any fun stories to tell. i mean, how interesting is: I made it down the stairs to the basement today. or I get my stitches out this Wednesday.

My sister and 3 toddlers just left this morning. leaving us a very quiet, lonelier, and cleaner house. I miss them already though because they made the week go by very quickly. I don't have any measure against which i could compare my healing/progression, but i think i'm doing well. I have been off narcotics for a week now. i was never taking very much, but what i did take affected me quite strongly and negatively (fuzzy headed and dizzy all the time). i'm getting around much better and am more comfortable in general. I still can't sit in the same position for too long, and standing on my left leg doens't last very long either before i get tired.

i was actually very positive about it all until about 30 minutes ago when i committed an error. i think. i started browsing blogs and found a few friends blogs i didn't know existed and checked up on a few friends that i regularly follow and discovered that everyone, absolutely EVERYONE on this planet is having a fantastic, fun and adventure filled, ACTIVE, and fabulous summer. except me. because i can't even walk. now i'm having a full fledged pity party. really, i was proud of myself because yesterday i crutched the farthest i have yet to crutch. about 100 yards. to the bathroom at the park. and i thought that was so good and i was doing so well. and maybe i am. maybe i'm healing by leaps and bounds. but nothing speeds up the 6 weeks it takes until i can walk on my leg again. or the 20 session of physical therapy i have to have afterwards to get my leg actually working again. nothing speeds up the 3 months i have to wait to ride a bike. nothing speeds up the 6 months i have to wait for full recovery and a climbing harness.

This is just a vent post. i'm sure i'll be feeling happier and more positive in a few moments and life won't seem so.... sendentary.

all you who can bend, twist, cross your legs, pick something up off the floor when you drop it, run, climb, bike, hike, MOVE or WALK..... please be grateful. and think of me.

okay a positive- my mom is still here. and we're going to get italian hot chocolate this afternoon at a cafe b/c i'm feeling up to it for the first time. as long as we bring along a pillow for me to sit on.

Recovery

This is Eric, and I wanted to put up a quick post that Polly is recovering well (has good parts of the day and less comfortable parts of the day). She was able to stand and make a latte this morning and get into and out of a chair for breakfast. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, care packages, flowers, and support visits. It really is amazing the difference all that makes for Polly. Feel free to come visit or to call and say hi.

Thanks again!


All tucked in, but smiling!

City of Rocks

this past weekend eric and i went to a national reserve area in southern idaho called City of Rocks. Greg and Liz, our friends from Salt Lake went with us. My sister Miranda and Darin and the 3 kiddos came down from Boise and met us fora night of camping. It was a great weekend. I got to do some great climbing, for which i am thankful since this will be my last road trip for climbing before the surgery.



chillin' on top



happy birthday cake that miranda made for me!



the family in a covered wagon at the visitor's center



bloody fingers





setting that nut!




More Photos at Eric's Photostream

My Birthday Present

Eric bought me my birthday present just a touch early. i have been using a sunbeam we received when we were married for the past 3 1/2 years, and while it mostly worked it also mostly didn't work. i was constantly frustrated with how weak the motor and beaters were and had been longing for a stronger, smoother, faster, better mixer for quite some time. i got it! i finally got the kitchenaid artisan series mixer for my birthday! i found it used from our local news station's web site and i am so happy i've got it!!! Thanks E!

Operation Walk 2009, El Salvador

I just returned from El Salvador last week where i participated in a medical charity called Operation Walk. We take a full team of anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, scrub techs, and physical therapists down and replace worn out hip and knee joints. This was my second time to go with Op Walk and I was very excited about the trip. We replaced 59 joints in 42 patients (so several were receiving bilateral joints) in 3 and 1/2 days. We were busy! But the local staff was very helpful and I feel were able to learn how to care for our type of patients. There is no option for having a total joint replacement in Sonsonate, El Salvador so we were providing a service for these people that would otherwise never happen. We basically took over the hospital there. The nursing staff I was working with had never had patients with these particular surgeries since the operation isn't even available, so it was great to work with them and teach them how to care for the patients. I found that the vast majority of the patients had an incredible pain tolerance. They still hurt, and for good reason b/c that surgery isn't a small one. However, they seemed to walk faster, farther, and better than most patients i have experienced in the united states. They were so very grateful and happy to have had the surgery done. I came back very refreshed about nursing. After all, this is why I wanted to be a nurse: to help others with less opportunity-specifically in third world countries. it was also a great opporunity for me to practice my spanish. it re-awoke my love for the spanish language all over again. We are hoping Operation Walk will become a yearly endeavor and i look forward to our next destination.





The Ladies gathered outside the patient ward to get some fresh-er air


The coffee plantation with our one and only REAL coffee and latte experience during the week.


A sweet woman who was a patient 2 years ago with our first Op Walk. She returned and made us the most delicious 'pupusas'- the regional food which is basically a corn tortilla stuffed with beans and cheese and fried fried fried. She made us dozens and returned just to say thank you and show off how well she was walking. It was very encouraging.



Ever and I. Ever was a jehovah's witness and very worried he might receive a blood transfusion during the operation. He waved me down multiple times to make sure everyone in the group knew he didn't want the transfusion. He was a very nice patient and had his other hip replaced by us 2 years ago.

Two women with replaced knees from 2 years ago returning to show off their gaits and scars.


These sweet men wandered out into the courtyard just outside the men's ward to get some air. It was really hot-around 90 degrees- with minimal ventilation, no AC, and high humidity. phew! i did a lot of sweating that week.


Putting on the anti-clot stocking. that was hot work! and yes, fanny packs are all the rage now-a-days.


a patient with bilateral hip replacements walking with Physical Therapy.


Flowers in the courtyard outside the patient ward.


Patients awaiting to be screened on the first day. we had to turn many away.

Surgery

So I found out this past february that i have a problem in my right hip. i've had pain in my hips for several years now, associated with activities like running, yoga, horse back riding, climbing, skiing- pretty much everything i do. i finally went to a sports medicine doc after one particularly painful run in january and a few visits and an MRI later we discover that i have torn the cartilage in my right hip. the reason why i torn the cartilage is that my right hips is 3 degrees off in alignment. that mal-alignment is causing the front of my femur to hit against the rim of my acetabulum (hip socket) and causes pain and damage to the soft tissue (cartilage). the fancy name for this is Femoral-Acetabular Impingment (FAI). FAI only occurs in active individuals, and i was told i wouldn't even know i had this problem if i wasn't as active as i am. where it comes from is still under research- possibly it is congenital, possibly it develops in young children who spend any amount of time with deep flexion and internal rotation of their hips (think hocky goalie stance or, in my case, long hours horse back riding). all of this results in needing a fix to that damaged cartilage. i would have said no thanks i'll be just fine except that with the initial damage done and continuing to worsen basically every day and every activity, i will eventually progress through all of the soft tissue protecting my hip socket and start to wear bone on bone (osteoarthritis). at this point the pain is usually so bad the only option is a total hip replacement. I thought that was fine too b/c many older people have these. but i was told that my progression would actaully happen so quickly i would have the total hip replacement by the time i am 40. now that's a different story. i still want to be climbing and skiing and hiking and hopefully running when i am 40- not recovering with artificial hips! so surgery has become my reality. on june 8 i will have an open dislocation and debridement of my right hip. basically they cut a 6-8 inch incision on my hip, physically dislocate the hip joint, suture/sew the torn cartilage back in place, shave down the rim of my acetabulum, and shave down part of the femur. a pretty gnarly surgery. i'll be staying in the hopsital 1-3 days to recover. crutches for 6 weeks. cane until i stop limping and full recovery expected in 3-6 months. PER HIP. i have the exact same symptoms/pain/problems with the left hip as well but we have not imaged that side yet so we can't say what's going on. but 99% sure that i have the same problem and possibly worse on the left side. sooo, i'm looking at taking a full 12 months off from my almost daily life activites. sad. i've spent a lot of time processing this and preparing my mind for the change in lifestyle. i've never been so active before in my life as when we moved to utah. i love, absolutely love, climbing and the acitivity and exercise it brings me. but i am looking at this surgery as taking 1 year off now to save 40 years later on. this surgery will hopefully stave off having a total hip replacement, perhaps permanently. i may be able to ride a bike and maybe do some easier climbing and light hiking somewhere in that 3-6 month range. i'm hoping to have the second hip operated on in january. i've tried a few things to possibly avoid the surgery- namely some body work called Structural Integration or "rolfing". it is similar to deep tissue massage except that it focuses soley on the fascia(the connective tissue encasing every muscle) in hopes that i might be able to correct the 3 degrees and losen the hip socket to stop grinding away my cartilage. i'm half way through this rolfing process and i've still committed to having the surgery done. unfortuantely cartilage will never heal itself and that torn cartilage needs to be tied down so it will stop causing damage within the hip socket. so i recommend structural integration to anyone and everyone- we could all use some re-aligning and releasing within our bodies and i am seeing many positive changes from the rolfing. but i don't believe it can change the damaging process going on in my hips.

my mom is coming out for the month of june to help out as i am taking a full 5 weeks off of work to recover. it'd be hard to adequately work in the ER on crutches so i'm hoping to be off of them in the 5 weeks and return to our 23 hour short stay unit with a cane and then back to the full ER as soon as i can limp without assistance. the summer has drastically changed in light of my recovery. Eric and i changed our vacation plans and went to Red Rocks last week as a grand finale. i've got one more climbing trip planned to a nearby area in southern idaho and then i won't be climbing for a few months. lots of things will change, but hopefully it will be for the better. hopefully my hips won't hurt anymore. hopefully i'll be able to high step while rock climbing. hopefully i will run again (although the surgeon wasn't very positive about that. i guess running is just a pretty rough activity on our bodies). hopefully my hips won't hurt while ski touring. i'm hoping a lot of good will come of this- both short term and long term.

this is a fairly new diagnosis in the medical world. as in within the last 10 years. there aren't a lot of doctors familiar with this pathology or where it comes from. the surgery itself is still being pioneered. in fact, most insurances won't pay for the surgery at all. so i guess i am being a bit of a guinea pig with this, however, my particular surgeon has been studying on this very thing (FAI) for the full 10 years and i believe he can do a perfect job. i'm thankful i even have the option for the surgery.

so i will let all know how the surgery goes, recovery, physical therapy and the like. and if you have any hip pain at all you should get it checked out!

Spring Holiday

Eric and I spent a week climbing in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. Nelson joined us for a day of multipitch climbing. The weather looked so great on the forecast- temps in the 60s or low 70s but i missed the wind forecast. it was WINDY! and the wind dropped the temps about 15 degrees. i was cold and annoyed at the wind 90% of the time. but i still had a good trip climbing and hanging out with eric. one night the wind was probably gusting around 50 mph b/c it was slamming the side of the tent into our faces and we had a bent tent pole the next morning. we're lucky we didnt' blow away. but i guess the proximity to the desert with the cool nights and warm days creates a perfect environment for wind. it's a beautiful place with thousands of climbs. we'll be back!




weather moving in


summit pic


climbing to the anchor


where should we climb next? AND avoiding the wind inside the tent!



My first Dim Sum experience. I'd like to rate this as 5.12 Dim Sum (on a climbing scale) Dim Sum is where they bring the chinese food by your table on little carts and you pic what you want. mostly it is composed of dumplings and the like, but the waiters were yelling about what they had and what you should choose in complete chinese and i had absolutely no clue what i was eating. i ate about 10% of it- i had a strong aversion to the texture of most. eric ate more.



nice weather setting in. of course it was probably extremely windy at the taking of this picture, but you can't see that.


first pitch of Dark Shadows



Last pitch of Birdland



Nelson, Eric and I on summit of Cat and the Hat




Eric and I on summit of Cat and the Hat



Nelson and I on summit of Cat and the Hat



Belaying on Cat and the Hat

blooms and spring!!

We left on a spring holiday for a week and came back to a bursting of color around our house. it was a lovely thing to return to. These are the pictures of the weeping cherry tree in our front yard. it only has these white blooms on it for about 2 weeks in the early spring, and the rest of the summer has only green leaves. the daffodils are going crazy, the tulips are just barely opening, and the hyacinths are still coloring the lawn too. i planted my peas, onions, and lettuce in the vegetable garden and started organizing my drip system for watering. it's so much fun to see what has popped open every other day.

Eric and I spent a week climbing outside of Las Vegas, Nevada at a place called Red Rock Canyon. my brother Nelson joined us for 1 day of climbing, other than that it was just the 2 of us. it was a great week and pictures will follow later. the weather was a tad cold and a lot more windy than i wanted, but at least there was sunshine to go around.






the weeping cherry


More photos here

Snowbird on a Powder Day!

Eric and I went up to our ski resort, Snowbird, on a sunday with actual powder! it seems to never really dump on the weekends around this place, so it was a nice treat- especially for eric since he can't get up there during the week. we had this tease of warm weather last week and the week before, and now it's nuking snow like it's january. march is actually a big powder month here with some of the best skiing to be had.









"I'm cold. no more pictures"


Eric, the beloved husband and photographer.

Let there be more usable space in our house...

We have finally finished the lighting in our front room. we haven't been able to use this room very much during the winter months b/c it is so dark in there and we didnt' even have a lamp. last night eric and our friend BJ finished installing track lighting and eric and i found a couple lamps to help light the way. i'm so excited! it's been a lot of fun to 'nest' in the house and add a few pieces of furniture to make it a home.

Tales from Joshua Tree

Last week Eric and I and my friend Jamie road tripped out to Joshua Tree National Park and met my brother Nelson and his fiance Krissy for a long weekend of climbing in the park. I developed a rather nasty head cold pretty much the day before we left and continued to feel miserable during the whole event. you can see my very red nose in the pictures from all the nose-blowing i had to do. :( We still had a great time. Joshua Tree is only 1 1/2 hours from where Nelson lives in victorville, CA. it was his and krissy's first climbing trip or experience ever and they did great. Eric took lots of great pictures for us. I've been checking the weather in Joshua Tree since december and it's been about 70 degrees. so the day we got there brought a cold front and we faced temps in the 50s and clouds with some sun while we were there. boo. and it was a bit windy. it's always a bit windy there though. nelson got to do his first lead climb ever, krissy developed sick rock climbing skills, and jamie- my friend who mostly boulders- got better on the roped end of things. Joshua Tree is about 10 hours from Salt Lake, so it's no small drive. the quality of climbing and the beauty of the area make it worth it though. i'd like to return again when i feel myself and climb more routes there. having a cold puts a pretty big damper on my motivation, energy, and spirits. i received the "complainer of the day" award for making sure everyone there knew just how bad my cold was. what, me complaining? never! :) i'm excited that my brother is getting into climbing and interested in doing more trips with us.






me on 'fun stuff'



a scenic view



Jamie pulling down



me pulling down



me looking unreasonably worried on a 5.7 climb :)



belaying with plastic smile



approaching a climb



sunset



nelson's first lead!



Jamie concentrating very hard on chopping those peppers!



fireside chats



me thinking "it's a long way down and more slab climbing ahead!"



krissy, jamie, and i



jamie and i being silly. wait, when aren't we silly?



krissy, nelson, me and eric. someone didn't tell me they were taking a picture...



little climber on lots of granite rock!