I am a Slug

I threw my back out at the gym on Saturday morning.  It was awful.  I was crying.  And crawling on the floor so I could get to a wall to pull my sorry self up into a standing position.  I didn't have my cell phone to call for a ride so I inched my way out to the car and drove myself home as hot pain shot up my back and down my legs.  It was bad.  I laid face-down on my bad and cried as I knew my active lifestyle of running and boot camp workouts would now be replaced with yoga.  This made me cry harder.
I called a couple friends who suffer from chronic back pain and they came to my aid with ice packs, heat packs, and lots of empathy.  And I apologized to them profusely for not supporting them in their back pain.  I had no idea it could be so bad.  The pain was right up there with heavy labor contractions as I could literally feel the muscles in my back having spasms.  I will never pick up another kettle bell again.  Ever.
I've been laying on the floor with ice packs for the past two days.  I've watched more TV in the last 48 hours than I have in the past year.  It is awful!  My boys know how to help me roll over so I can shift positions and Randy helped me get dressed.  It's been kind of nice seeing my boys be so helpful though.  They will have lucky wives.
I got into a chiropractor this morning and now I'm feeling so much better.  In fact, I'm kind of in love with that man.  Thanks to him, I can bend over and almost touch my knees!  Hooray!  He taped up my back so now I look like a real athlete and the pain is only bad when I sit or drive or stand up.  Randy is doing the laundry and a friend is bringing over dinner so my mood has shifted for the positive. I just might get my life back to normal after all.
For all of you fellow back pain people, I am so sorry.  So, so sorry.  It is horrible and you have my deepest empathy.

Memorable Memorial Day

We had a great weekend until we didn't.
I'll skip over the good stuff {like my amazing 11-mile run through the woods as pictured above} and get to the bad.  Marcus was mountain biking with his friend at a nearby bike park when he crashed.  He went off a jump that had a gap in the middle but unfortunately he didn't know there was a gap in the middle and he crashed down in between the ramps, flying over his handle bars and skidding across the ground on his face.  He scraped skin off his knees, shoulders, wrists, knuckles, and his face.  His face took most of the fall.   He bit his lip as he skidded to a stop and has rows of bite marks going across his tongue.  His teeth are all in tact but hurt like he just got his braces tightened so he's hardly eating anything.  The worst part is he has a mild concussion which means he can't run in the track finals this week which is a bummer because he had to qualify to do that, and he can't play in his lacrosse tournament which he also had to try out for.  Plus, his face is nasty and oozing gunk so going to school is not happening for a few days.  Oh, and because of the craziness of life I never posted about his recent knee injury that put him on crutches for a week, and a knee brace right up until he crashed on his bike, causing him to miss a previous track meet and more lacrosse games.  Marcus doesn't do well with sitting on the sidelines but it looks like it's how he'll be ending this sports season.

Took this shot before I started cleaning him up.  He actually looks worse now with all the swelling and oozing wounds but I can't post such a gory picture on the internet.  Just know it's bad!

Pre-Scar Face

Ironically after he left to go biking I was thinking how great life was, especially to be living where we are living.  Ethan was swimming at the lake with his friend, Marcus was biking {and falling} through beautiful forest, and I was biking home from the store with Landon and Parker after our traditional sushi/donuts snack. It was a beautiful day, sunny with temps in the 70's, and the smell of fresh pine needles making me feel like I was in the mountains.  I seriously thought to myself, this is the life!  Little did I know I'd spend the next hour scrubbing dirt and rocks out of my son's face while he screamed!  Those unexpected curve balls life throws sure are fun...
But we had a great Memorial Day barbecue hosted by our friends who live on the lake.  Everyone had a great time swimming, except for Marcus of course!

Ethan paddling Parker out to the trampoline so he wouldn't get wet.  What a spoiled boy!

I love that my Japanese baby loves to eat sushi and that our sushi/donut tradition is still going strong.  We started this back in 2010

Forget the sushi, he only wanted his brother's soda

Randy spent his Memorial Day car shopping.  It was successful!

Man Down!

Football season is officially over for Marcus.  The last team he played against was tough!  The sound of the pads crashing together on impact was so loud I knew Marcus would come home sore, especially playing defensive tackle the whole game.  Unfortunately he also came home injured.  We figured he had a minor sprain in his wrist but by Monday night he couldn't even use his hand to do his homework so I figured I needed to take him to the ER.
While we were at the ER getting X-rays, Randy was home dealing with Parker who put his four teeth through his bottom lip.  It was bad enough that Randy debated taking him to the ER as well but figured that would look really bad if we had two kids there at the same time.  Plus, we no longer have Tricare insurance so we are paying out the nose for medical costs for the first time in our lives.  Anyway, back to Marcus...
They put him in a splint after deciding he needed to go to orthopedics to make sure he hadn't cracked any growth plates or torn any ligaments.  Three days later we met with orthopedics, got more X-rays and a real cast.  Marcus chose pink just to make his dad mad because Randy hates pink.  The next morning I get a call from orthopedics telling me the hand specialist looked over his charts and recommended an MRI.  They wanted me to bring Marcus back in so they could cut off his brand new cast and put him back in a removable splint so he could have an MRI done at 6:30am on Halloween morning.  I was not happy about this and neither was Marcus.  {Ironically, the techs never got the memo to remove the splint for the MRI so it was all for nothing anyway. }  Monday we went back to the doctor to get another cast put back on and to find out that his hand/wrist is fine, and surgery wouldn't be needed.  He just has a really bad sprain.  Hooray!
In the meantime Marcus pretty much can't use his right hand to do anything so I am now his scribe.  I'm relearning all that math I forgot, typing essays, doing science homework, and helping him get dressed. I.Love.IT.

Getting a splint at the ER

This is what 3 hours of doctors office/waiting rooms looks like and me losing my mind

Coming home with his new cast

Saying goodbye to his new cast he hadn't even worn for 24 hours

The grainy MRI image showing another birth defect.  They'll fix it if he ever breaks his wrist.  Knowing Marcus, that will probably happen.

His new Sea Hawks cast.  He'll wear it for 2 weeks then we go in for more X-Rays

OK, so that's a lot of details.  The moral of the story is this was way too complicated.  I don't know if I should be thankful he didn't need surgery or upset at the doctors for being way to paranoid.  I'm sure I will cry when we receive the bills.  TriCare, we miss you!