Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Stupid winter

The best part of taking the cast off was being able to take a very long and very hot shower. For a week I was limited to showering while awkwardly balanced with a bag wrapped around the cast to keep it dry. I kept the showers as short as possible. The first shower after taking the cast off was an incredible waste of water, but it may have been the best shower I've ever taken.

I'm fully but slowly mobile. No cast, no crutches, no cane. Getting my sneaker on over my taped toe was an ordeal, but it sure is easier to walk with the support and constriction of a shoe. Sneakers are the only thing I can put on right now, but there's an unfortunate amount of snow outside and sneakers aren't nearly warm or weather-proof enough. I opted to go through the ordeal of shoe removal until my shoes dry and my feet warm up.

Follow-up x-rays on Saturday.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

One foot, two foot

I took my cast off early. The (formerly?) broken toe and the one next to it are a bit achy. They've gone more than a week immobilized and aren't too happy about having to move again. The rest of my foot feels very odd, as well. For now I'm taping the toes for support and walking carefully, with a cane or crutches depending on how far I'm going.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Jenn: 2. Stupid purse lady: 0

The clinic was quite crowded when I got there. I checked in and looked for a place to sit. I wanted somewhere close to the reception desk and exam room hallways that was fairly unobstructed, since I was on crutches. There was an annoyed looking woman with her purse on a chair; she had just been whinging to the nurse about the long wait. I wanted that chair. She ignored me as hard as she could, so I just stood in front of the chair and stared at her. She moved her purse. One for me!

Then about two minutes later I was called up and got to see the doctor first. Hah! I win!

Toe update

I dutifully went back to the clinic this morning for the follow-up on my toe. The toe was poked and prodded (the toe left the clinic hurting more than when it went in). The doctor determined that it seems to be healing fine, but since it was a bad enough break to put a cast on it I should err on the side of caution and leave the cast on until Wednesday. It's a partial cast held on by a bandage, so after a couple more days I can try taking the cast off to see how the toe feels. I'll probably want to tape it for a few days after the cast comes off as well. As long as I try to keep the toe as immobile as possible, I can take the cast off to shower and sleep, but don't do anything that hurts. I also need to keep it elevated more often. I have to get more X-rays late next week as a further follow-up.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

For the first time in far too long, I went to the dentist. I told them it's been seven or eight years, but it's closer to eleven. I went willingly and by myself. I think the only reason I didn't chicken out was that I knew they wouldn't even be doing so much as a cleaning today. I have a mitral valve prolapse which requires antibiotics prior to certain dental and surgical procedures, so today was just an exam and x-rays. I was a little concerned; I haven't been to a dentist in so long, I almost never floss, and my diet tends to be heavy on sugary items. I do brush at least twice daily, though. Turns out I have only two tiny cavities just starting. I have no wisdom teeth on the bottom and the ones on the top aren't looking problematic. I go back on March 17 to have one cavity filled and a partial cleaning, then I'll go again for the second cavity and a full cleaning.

I don't believe I will be nearly so calm or brave next month.

Monday, February 16, 2009

An even worse day

I broke my pinky toe. There's a heavy chair that I had just put back into its usual spot, except it wasn't at the usual angle. I was walking by it and stubbed my toe, which I have done before. Except this time there was an unpleasant cracking noise. I went back to my bedroom and decided to wait the pain out, figuring it was just a slightly worse stubbed toe. Then I took my sock off and saw that my toe, like the chair, was not at the usual angle. I texted David to tell him that I thought I broke my toe. He told me he was almost home and to put some ice on it. He then called the landline to get his mom to bring me some ice from upstairs. I was very much in denial about the state of my toe, but her reaction confirmed my fears.

David took me to the Medicentre (carrying me to and from the car, of course), where I was wheeled into a little exam room and made to wait for a long time for a doctor to see me for thirty seconds, poke my toe, and give me a request for Xray form. Before he poked it he asked if he could touch it. "I guess so. You're the doctor, do what you need to do." Off we went to the xray place, where I was quickly taken care of and sent back to the doctor. I was wheeled straight into the cast room and made to wait for a very long time. I was barely keeping it together because I was going to have to get a needle to numb the toe so they could reset the bones. I am very phobic of needles and I thought about asking them to do it without the local anesthetic but once he got started yanking on my toe I was glad I'd suffered through the needle. I have a partial cast and I have to go back in five days.

The nurse came to check on me while waiting for the cast to harden. I declined to see the x-rays, but she let me know that I messed it up pretty impressively. She said that the little toes are usually pretty tough and I really did a number on it.

I've never broken anything before and this was very upsetting. I cried a lot. And the anesthetic is starting to wear off. I came home and made some tea, then dropped and broke the sugar bowl and I got sugar on my still-damp cast. I'd really like to go back to 8:30am and start this day over.

Friday, February 6, 2009

It all happened so fast

Yesterday, in the thirty minutes that I was between work and home, David took Super Parties to the next level. We have a blog, a facebook group, and the email address superparty@live.ca

I'm not sure if this is getting out of hand or just right in hand.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Free at last, free at last...

Soccer is done for the season. Huzzah! Our very last game was on Saturday. David and I rented Londonderry pool and their conference room for an hour each to give the team a season-end party. We had only three kids unable to come (a better turnout than several of the games). The kids had a blast in the pool and a few of the parents helped us out by bringing drinks, chips, and some fruit and veggie trays to supplement the cupcakes and cookies we brought. 

The parents also came through with some donations to offset the cost of the rental, which was unnecessary but very much appreciated. Even better, we received a card they passed around and signed and gave us a restaurant gift card as a thank you for coaching this season. That meant a lot since through most of this I've felt we were somewhere on the spectrum between incompetent and adequate. We went into this knowing little about coaching or soccer. Several of the parents said we did a good job given how many kids we were dealing with and a couple asked if we were coming back to coach the same team in the spring outdoor league.

The league director seemed annoyed that we were having our party when we did. I guess the league does medals for all the kids and hopes to have the team pictures ready to give out. He thinks we should have waited a week or two to have our party. We (and several of the parents) disagree:

1) We didn't know that the season went on for another week for some of the teams at the time we booked the pool, which is the kind of booking that needs to be made in advance
2) We weren't given advance notice regarding the medals and photographs and it sounds like they still aren't sure that the photos will be ready for next weekend
3) A week or two later the celebratory mood will have faded
4) It's harder to round everyone up once we're not seeing them twice a week
5) Everyone was planning for January 31 to already be committed to soccer and may have made plans for future weekends since the expected to be soccer-free

I'm satisfied with the party choices we made, no matter what Soccer Guy thinks.

The crazy thing is that I think David and I are both kind of considering coaching again. Bizarre.

Super Video Game Super Party

Last Sunday, January 18, was the inaugural Super Video Game Super Party. I think a good time was had by all. Despite being officially uninvited due to my blasé attitude, I was allowed to stay. Joey was the first to arrive and he helped David move our television upstairs. The Wii was hooked up on FIL's television in the living room, the main XBox was at the kitchen table, and Rock Band 2 was set up downstairs in the kids' room on the second XBox.

Joey got right down to business playing Carcassonne in the kitchen while I made ready the snacks, got a rotation of batteries onto the charger, and synched controllers. Stephanie (or Snephanie, as the kids call her) arrived next and Joey got her playing Carcassonne while waiting for David to show up to his own party. Soon enough he arrived with Sheri. Sheri, David and I played a bit of Boomblox, and we were joined there by Steph and Joey. We put out chips, salsa, pretzels, cheezies, and I made popcorn.

It wasn't long before we headed downstairs for some Rock Band. There were five of us and only four instruments, so we all took turns. Steph really found her groove for drumming (not surprising, since she likes hammering so much). Everyone but Joey took a turn at vocals. Yes, even me. I gave in to the peer pressure stepped that far out of my comfort zone. I admit, it wasn't as awful as I expected, but I still maintained my hate for it. We had so much fun with Rock Band that we played for about 4 hours. David's mom even joined us on vocals for a couple songs and the party ending two hours later than we'd anticipated. Everyone got a ride home while I cleaned up.

I think it all went smoothly. Next time I'd want to plan for some more substantial food. We had counted on wrapping up by 5:00 and that everyone would be home for supper, so everyone had to get by on snacks until we finished at 7:00. Next time we'll do better at feeding people and make some pizzas or a pot of chili or something. There's talk of making this a monthly event; hopefully everyone had a good enough time to come back.