S&*% D@&% H#!!
There was one thing in particular that I didn’t want to hear when I saw the orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doctor today. ONE THING. One thing was all I asked NOT to hear.
I heard it.
I have a torn ACL.
Here’s the weird part. According to the doctor, when someone tears their ACL for the first time, there is an artery in the ACL that bleeds profusely into the knee. Usually, the doctor said, he has to use a needle to take the blood out because there’s just so much of it in there. I don’t have that problem. He must have asked me at least three times, while he was wiggling my knee around and showing how it’s not supposed to move, if I ever had a knee injury before, if I had torn my ACL before.
I haven’t. He said that when someone tears their ACL for the second time, it’s like mine (very little swelling), so he thinks that maybe I had already torn my ACL in the past. He also said that it’s a possibility that I will wake up tomorrow with a lot more swelling and pain.
I’ve never really had knee problems though. I remember a couple years ago when we were moving out of our third floor apartment. My knee was bothering me at the end of the day, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed with a couple ibuprofen and a night of rest.
Mr. BBM went with me and asked all kinds of questions. I heard him ask about a partial versus a full tear. The doctor said that it’s not a partial tear, not with the way my knee was moving during his exam. It’s torn, plain and simple. It’s sort of feels like things just aren’t connected in there anymore which is exactly what a torn ACL is, I guess.
He talked about surgery options, and rehab options. It seemed to me like he was leaning more strongly towards rehab, especially since I don’t have all the swelling and I didn’t tear the meniscus too. He said that no matter what, I’ll be fitted for a good knee brace and that will be part of my karate uniform from now on.
He asked if I had any questions and I could only think of one: "I was hoping to maybe test for my black belt in February. Any possibility of that still happening?" I think I cringed while waiting for the answer.
"With surgery, no way," he said, "with rehab and a good brace, it’s still a possibility."
Doctors orders are to put no weight on it, keep it elevated, and ice it over the weekend; and then call them on Monday to tell them how I’m feeling, and plan the next steps.
I’m out for a minimum of a couple weeks. Grouchy BBM posts to follow for the foreseeable future.
Hanshi told me last night that injuries always happen in three’s.
Whiplash,
Sore wrist,
Torn ACL.
I am SO done. I hope he’s right.
S&*% D@&% H#!!
There was one thing in particular that I didn’t want to hear when I saw the orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doctor today. ONE THING. One thing was all I asked NOT to hear.
I heard it.
I have a torn ACL.
Here’s the weird part. According to the doctor, when someone tears their ACL for the first time, there is an artery in the ACL that bleeds profusely into the knee. Usually, the doctor said, he has to use a needle to take the blood out because there’s just so much of it in there. I don’t have that problem. He must have asked me at least three times, while he was wiggling my knee around and showing how it’s not supposed to move, if I ever had a knee injury before, if I had torn my ACL before.
I haven’t. He said that when someone tears their ACL for the second time, it’s like mine (very little swelling), so he thinks that maybe I had already torn my ACL in the past. He also said that it’s a possibility that I will wake up tomorrow with a lot more swelling and pain.
I’ve never really had knee problems though. I remember a couple years ago when we were moving out of our third floor apartment. My knee was bothering me at the end of the day, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed with a couple ibuprofen and a night of rest.
Mr. BBM went with me and asked all kinds of questions. I heard him ask about a partial versus a full tear. The doctor said that it’s not a partial tear, not with the way my knee was moving during his exam. It’s torn, plain and simple. It’s sort of feels like things just aren’t connected in there anymore which is exactly what a torn ACL is, I guess.
He talked about surgery options, and rehab options. It seemed to me like he was leaning more strongly towards rehab, especially since I don’t have all the swelling and I didn’t tear the meniscus too. He said that no matter what, I’ll be fitted for a good knee brace and that will be part of my karate uniform from now on.
He asked if I had any questions and I could only think of one: "I was hoping to maybe test for my black belt in February. Any possibility of that still happening?" I think I cringed while waiting for the answer.
"With surgery, no way," he said, "with rehab and a good brace, it’s still a possibility."
Doctors orders are to put no weight on it, keep it elevated, and ice it over the weekend; and then call them on Monday to tell them how I’m feeling, and plan the next steps.
I’m out for a minimum of a couple weeks. Grouchy BBM posts to follow for the foreseeable future.
Hanshi told me last night that injuries always happen in three’s.
Whiplash,
Sore wrist,
Torn ACL.
I am SO done. I hope he’s right.
They Really Can Help and Shark Teeth
Lil C is going to be a witch for Halloween. It’s the perfect contrast to Big I’s Alice in Wonderland. So today, we went in search of a small broom for the little witch. No one had a small broom.
At Home Depot, we found a wisk corn broom and were standing there trying to figure out how to attach the thing to a dowel and make a proper little flight mechanism, when one of the workers there asked if he could help. We told him we were trying to make a broom for Lil C, who was busy dancing in the aisle with Big I, and instead of rolling his eyes at us since we didn’t have a "real" project, he said, "Cool, let’s go look at dowels." He grabbed us a short dowel and then we followed him back to the aisle of a billion screws and nails. He gave us the perfect screws and wished us luck.
Whether it’s a Halloween broom or a closet rod cut down to become a beater bo, those guys are always willing to help, no matter what the project. In fact, before we found the wisk broom, we told another woman that we were looking for a small broom and why. She went to the back of the store, came out with a small, used plastic broom and offered to give it to us. In an area full of a lot of not so nice people, Home Depot is chock full of them. I’m thinking they must import them from other counties.
***
Last week, when Big I told me she had a cut in her mouth, I assumed that she had burned her mouth on something hot, or that she had cut her gum on a sharp piece of chip or something. When she was still complaining the next day, I took a look. There, inside her mouth, were not one, not two, but the beginnings of three new molars. I almost fell over because I didn’t realize kids got 6-year permanent molars. A quick trip to google taught me otherwise; but I was still surprised considering that between my two girls, they sprouted five molars in one week. That’s a whole lot of teeth, and a whole lot of cranky too.
This week, Big I started complaining that her gums were sore behind her bottom front teeth. Both of those teeth have been loosening up lately so I thought it was just from the impending gap. Big I opened her mouth and what did I see but two permanent teeth coming up right BEHIND her bottom front baby teeth. They have just broken the surface so it’s not really a big deal, but once again, I panicked. A quick visit to the google tooth fairies told me that "shark teeth" are actually quite common and that they may come completely in before her front two fall out. After the baby teeth leave, the tongue will move those permanent teeth up into place.
Big I has always had perfectly straight teeth. I’m sensing there will be braces in her future, as she must apparently suffer from the same small mouth (I know-hard to believe right?) that her mother has.
When the Saints Come Marching into Your Living Room
My daughter goes to Catholic school. I am not Catholic. Many things about the Catholic church confuse me to no end. That’s why when Big I brought home the important assignment of choosing a Patron Saint for an All Saint’s Day service, I was completely lost. As I often do, I called another Mom who happens to be Catholic to help me out. She explained to me that the students can pick any saint they want. They can choose one that has their name. They can choose one that has a feast day near their birthday. Pretty much anything goes.
In addition to researching their saint and finding some connection with the saint, the children also have to dress up like their chosen saint and do an oral report. Did I mention that I can’t sew? Getting a karate patch to stay on my gi is about the extent of my skills and that doesn’t mean I don’t stab myself half a dozen times. Needless to say, this project was causing me great stress.
When Big I brought the assignment home, I immediately turned to the internet. I found many helpful web pages, but finding a saint for Big I was not going well. They told us to try to avoid saints whose entire life was tragic, and those who had lives that ended in stonings, beheadings, etc. It’s not exactly an easy task. Then I found Saint Catherine of Bologna or Catherine de Vigri. She is the patron saint of art/artists and was also a writer. I told Big I a little about her and she took great interest. Unlike many of the saints who suffered horrible deaths, Saint Catherine of Bologna died of an illness, so I didn’t have to give her any scary details either. I chose to leave out the visions of Satan that Saint Catherine apparently suffered, telling her instead about the holy visions she also had.
I hadn’t shown Big I anything on the internet about Saint Catherine of Bologna. I hadn’t told her about any of Saint Catherine’s paintings, only saying that she was an artist, which is why what happened the other day is so remarkable.
Big I came home from school, and as she often does, she sprawled out on the floor and started drawing. She usually draws princesses and fairies, and an occasional pirate. But on this particular day she drew this:
I asked her what she was drawing and she said, "Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus." Hmm, that’s different, I thought, so I asked her what made her decide to change up the usual repertoire of princesses and princes. She said, "I don’t know. It just came to me in my head." I was impressed with the halo’s around all of their heads (something she hadn’t done before in any drawing) and thought the picture was definitely a keepsake.
It was later that evening that it occurred to me that the drawing Big I did was familiar in some way, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
The next night I went to the school for an informational meeting about the Saint assignment. I couldn’t help but feel entirely out of place. While the other Mom’s were crossing themselves, I sat there wondering how we were going to raise our daughter. Would we raise her Catholic? Was I always going to feel like an outsider? Would I forever be sitting at informational meetings because I was completely lost? Would I always be afraid to say "Oh my God" in the presence of the other Mom’s, and what if I swore? I was getting myself all worked up and stressing entirely too much.
I came home and went back to work on researching Saint Catherine of Bologna. I was searching for images so I could get an idea of what kind of costume I was going to have to come up with when I found this (image from www.csupomona.edu):
This is a painting that Saint Catherine of Bologna did after she had a vision. Because I thought maybe I was reading into it a bit much, I sent both pictures via email to a friend of mine who teaches in a Catholic school. It gave her chills too. The blue head covering, the halo’s, even the angle of her nose, mouth and the blushed cheeks, all seem eerily similar. I mean, I know Big I is only six, and her drawing certainly looks like it was done by a six-year old, but the similarities that do exist between the two are just amazing to me.
I’m thinking that maybe this assignment is speaking, not only to Big I, but to me somehow. It just seems too coincidental that Big I drew what she drew when she drew it. Perhaps we’re having a little saintly intervention in my living room; but I think it’s quite clear that we chose the right saint for Big I.
**The latest review is up at The BBM Review. Especially if you’re a woman, check it out. The review includes information on how you can win a free pair of shoes or athletic clothing. Check back frequently as the site will be adding a new writer or two in the weeks to come, and we’ve got some cool product reviews coming up!
So it Turns out I’m a Pack Rat
In anticipation of the holiday season, which will be here before we know it, I decided to organize some closets today. Both closets had a ton of gift boxes and gift bags, bows, and ribbons, and it was a real challenge. I don’t know why it suddenly became urgent to get organized. It reminded me of the whole nesting instinct, except there is no baby on the way. It was probably the coffee, way too much coffee today.
For years now Mr. BBM has been frowning every time I walk in the house with more wrapping paper, bows or gift bags, especially the gift bags. About a year ago, he decided to organize the gift bags. He made a pile of ones to throw away and I put the nix on that and fast. He wanted to throw away my baby gift bags! I don’t throw anything away or give anything away when it has to do with one of my kids. I have every onesie, every outfit, every piece of baby paraphernalia that you could possibly imagine, and yes, that includes the gift bags. My entire neighborhood could give birth to baby girls and I would still have leftover gift bags.
Because my hoard of gift bags has never been organized by me before, I had no idea just how many I had or exactly what I had. So, I’d see a gift bag I liked and buy it. I’m often throwing a gift into a gift bag as I make my way to the party (Procrastinate much? Why yes.) so I have a ton that I swear I’ll use but never do. I never quite understood why Mr. BBM was so annoyed with me about those gift bags.
Today I think I finally get it.
I counted my gift bags, which are all organized now into four bags/categories: holidays, birthdays, baby/wedding, and general. Care to take a guess at how many gift bags I have?
If you guessed 90, you would be correct. I would have had more. I actually threw about ten of them out. What, only ten? Hey, that’s 10%. That’s progress for a gift bag pack rat. Progress, I tell you!
Yeah, I definitely had too much coffee today.
When I was finished throwing out all the trash from the closets (receipts, old gift tags, wrinkled up wrapping paper, bent beyond recognition gift bags), I threw out three full bags of trash. When I decide to clean a closet out or embark on an organization mission, I finish what I start.
Then there are people like my neighbor.
Last week, she decided to clean out her cat’s litter box. She used a hose in her front yard, which is directly beside my front yard. Instead of drying the thing off in the back yard or drying it off immediately and taking it back inside like I would have done, she did this:
That’s her litter box strewn across the sidewalk in front of my house. I had to sidestep in order to get my groceries in the house. This isn’t the first time either, but that’s for another post.
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