SNOW

It started snowing here last night around midnight and is still snowing at 2:30pm.  So far we have about six inches of snow.  Which for NC is pretty much blizzard conditions and we should shut down the town for at least two days.  Luckily I didn't have to work today.  Kyle and I took Nala out to play in the snow for about 2 hours.  This is her first real snow and she loved it.

Nala trying to jump and eat the snowballs that I was throwing at her.

Me forcing Nala to stop playing for one minute so we can take a picture together.

Our apartment complex covered in snow

2 Peas in a Pod

We took this picture last June at my dad's work picnic.  It just happened to be one of the hottest days of the summer.  My sister who had just moved home from Denver was miserable.  Even though it was hot it was fun that the entire family was together.  I like this picture of me and my dad, we are 2 peas in a pod.

Finally Pages of my Finger

I finally had time to do a few pages of my finger.  Here is the journal writing:

On Tuesday, September 2 I was at flag football practice and we were doing a flag pulling drill.  I went to grab a flag and my finger got caught in a teammates shorts.  He pulled one way and I pulled the other.  My finger at the top joint went with him, but the rest of my finger went with me.  I immediately fell to the ground and grabbed my finger and pushed it back (not a pleasant feeling), but I knew I had to do that because if I saw my finger I was going to pass out.  My coach and teammates decided it was probably just a jam so I continued practicing.  I am playing with mostly undergraduate students who are nine almost ten years younger than me, so I couldn't be the old wimpy lady and kept practicing.  In only a few minutes my finger was too swollen to move, so I stayed on the field but didn't catch or pull any more flags.  I got home that night at around 9:30 and immediately iced it. 

The next morning my finger was huge and blue so I decided to go to the doctor.  I went to urgent care and the x-rays showed my finger was broken in a few places.  They made me an appointment for Thursday with an orthopedic doctor.  The doctor gave me 2 choices: have surgery or never be able to bend your finger again.  Of course I opted with the surgery.  On Friday I went for a CT scan and on Monday morning I was in for surgery.

 At the top joint of my middle finger the bone was broken and the pieces had moved.  So the result of surgery was five pins in my finger.  The pins are sticking out of my finger, but it is bandaged so couldn't see them.  Surgery went fine, but that night and the next day were awful.  I never knew a finger could hurt so badly.  At the beginning of October I went to the doctor for post-op.  And lucky me I got to see the pins for the first time, yuck.  The doctor said the finger seemed to be healing fine and I would get the pins out on Thursday, October 16, in two weeks.  I did start physical therapy on the middle joint and am supposed to go 2-3 times per week for five weeks.

Car Scraping

Here is a layout I did last week of my new car! I did a few others that I will try to post this weekend.

Walks at the New NC State Golf Course and Lake Raleigh

Today we met our friends Kelly, Adam, and their dog Harley for a walk at Lake Raleigh.  Nala and Harley ran like crazy for two hours.  We got some really funny pictures of Nala.

Happy Holidays

Thank you to everyone who kept my dad in their prayers during the holidays.  He is doing much better, but is still a little sore.  Hopefully I am done being the family nurse for at least a few years.  Did you hear that family?  No more surgeries! (I know that goes for me as well) 

On Sunday we took a casual stroll at Carolina Beach State Park, possibly one of Nala's favorite places on earth.  My dad was able to go and enjoyed getting some fresh air.  Here is a picture that Kyle took on the way back.

I hope everyone has a great New Year and has a wonderful 2009.

Do I really even need the top of my middle finger?

I got the results of the second CT scan of my finger last week. Ugh. One of the bones that was broken off fused over the joint on the left side, preventing my finger from bending any farther. Options: 1) have surgery again to rebreak the bone, move the bone to the correct spot, and plan/screw the bone in to place or 2) don't have surgery and not have a fully functioning finger for the rest of my life. I opted for option 2. How can I have another surgery when it took me 4 months to pay off the first one? Of course the doctor didn't understand that money would factor in to my decision at all. For the next two months the doctor wants me to start doing activities and such that I stopped doing after I broke my finger. So the next few weeks will be playing sports and having footballs and basketballs thrown at me.