Tim has grown up riding BMX bikes and rode them professionally for several years of his life. He still rides them when he can but doesn't ride as much as he used to, obviously, since he doesn't do it for a living. A few weeks ago on a sunny afternoon, he decided to get out of the house to ride for a bit. Afterwards, I get a text from him saying that his back was sore and he can barely walk. We both just figured he'd pulled a muscle and it would be fine in a couple of days. He went to his mom the day after for some body work to try to get the muscles to relax a bit and it definitely helped.
Fast forward two days later: we are at lying at the beach and all of a sudden I glance over and Tim is in excruciating pain. I ask him if he needs to leave and he says, yes definitely. He cannot move. He cannot walk. The lifeguard comes over to ask if we need help or to call 911. It looked bad. I let him lean on me and led him a little ways away from the beach to a spot where I can pick him up. We get him in the car and it seems like an isolated moment that was just weird.
We get home and have some snacks. He is sitting on the couch and all of a sudden just starts screaming in pain. He cannot move and is almost moved to tears by how bad it hurts. We try to get him up to walk and he cannot move. He walks 5 feet leaning on me and then collapses on the floor onto his back, in tears, where he lays for the next three hours because he simply can't move. We are both soaked from him crying. It is bad.
Meanwhile, I am researching back problems, calling doctors, etc. I decide that he needs to get to the emergency room stat. The only question is how? He can't move. What the hell are we supposed to do?
Three hours later, somehow, someway, we are able to get him to the ER. Mainly with the aid of a back brace and me using every once of me to hold him up and support his back. He is relatively ok during the time we were at the ER- especially compared to the rest of the day. The ER doctor is -sorry, mom- a complete asshole. He gives no consideration to the fact that we are not there because we want painkillers. Tim appears to not be dying so he says, "Yeah, back pain just sucks. Here's a prescription for pain medicine."
We go to Walgreens to get it filled. All of a sudden he is hit again with unbelievable excruciating pain. For the next 4 and 1/2 hours, he cannot get out of the car. We tried 800+ mg of Ibuprofen, Percocet (that the doctor had prescribed), muscle relaxers, ice packs, heat packs. He ate in the car and just stayed there. We tried baby steps. It did not work.
Finally around 10pm, his parents came over and with the help of his dad and some ice we were able to get him upstairs in to bed. For the next three days, he would require constant care- he was essentially flat on his back. He literally could not move. He will hate me for saying this but he was peeing into bags! I was giving him sponge baths and when the weekend was over, I made him lunches and left him pee bags to pee in if he had to. It. was. horrible. For both of us, obviously... more him than me! At least I was not in pain but it is hard to watch someone in that much pain.
We finally decided that he was only getting worse. We decided to try to get him to a chiropractor. Getting him out of the house and up off the floor was the only issue. His dad came over to help him. We find out that he has essentially dislocated his back. HOLY. SHIT.
The next two weeks would consist of daily trips to the chiropractor to get him to the point where he can actually be able to be mobile again. At least after just a couple of trips to the chiro, he was at least able to get up to go to the bathroom.
My parents came into town when he was just starting to be mobile. He was out of commission for their first couple of days. On the third day, he was able to come with us. Unfortunately, his body was so used to being flat on the floor that it kind of freaked out. When we were just about to start a tour in downtown Seattle he passed out on the bathroom floor. We rushed him back to the chiropractor, and luckily everything was ok.
Needless to say, the whole experience has been a huge learning lesson... don't take anything for granted- your loved ones, your health, your life. Everything can be a lot worse (and I know that even this is not the worst that it could get!) but times that are challenging and hard makes you really appreciate what you have in your life. Luckily today I can say that even though Tim is still seeing the chiropractor some and still having a bit of back pain, he is on the road to recovery and doing much, much better.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Quote of the day
"Today she decided to be suitably ambiguous, so you can think whatever you like about her (Amount of time scheduled for the opinions of others= zero)."
-Brian Andreas, StoryPeople.
-Brian Andreas, StoryPeople.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Summer fun and other ramblings...
It has been noted by several people that I have not updated this blog for a while. Um, yeah. Sorry about that. I have no good excuses other than I've just been trying to figure out how the hell time goes so fast!
Here's a recap since July of the major events (to be followed by pictures, as soon as possible):
-July 4th was spent in a rather mellow way... just a nice barbecue with T's family. We had every intention to go see fireworks that night but by the time we left the family party, it was already 10:30 and fireworks started at 10:30.
-Mid July- Rich and Stacie's housewarming party. http://www.stacie-rich.blogspot.com/. They had their housewarming party almost a year to the day when they will be getting married next year. They are such a cute couple. I got to know them when I first started at my job up here... they were both seniors as well at the time (and they had met at work!) Within a couple of months, they had both left for private accounting controller jobs and I was the lone senior. Shortly after they got engaged. They are a ton of fun to be around and it was such a good day to hang with them and other friends, see their new house, and even play flip cup. Um, that took me back to the day.
-Late July- work golf day. Good times. I'm on the event committee and we were in charge of coming up with a theme for the day. We picked most ugly golf outfit- basically meaning come mismatched. I hope that someone has a picture of me that day. I looked fabulous. Black flowery shorts, pink striped golf polo, blue and white knee high soccer socks, red shoes, pigtails, and a purple flowery visor. Classy. I was on a team with my friend Rhett and we had a good time playing, looking ridiculous and drinking mimosas at 8am. I actually played really well. Afterwards, we all headed out to the beach. The company gives us the afternoon off so why not seize the opportunity to lay on the beach and play beach volleyball?
-First week of August- SeaFair in Seattle kicked off on Friday night by a gathering at Rhett's house. Fun times. It took me a year to actually figure out what SeaFair means. I'm still a little sketchy other than it means that everyone spends the entire weekend on boats on Lake Washington. I think there are boat races or something. Also on SeaFair weekend, we hung out with the little girls all day on Sunday. I think I've mentioned before that they are 5, 3, and 1. They are very cute. And also good birth control.
-Last weekend we went to our friends Steve and Krystal's wedding. I work with Steve and have hung out with him and Krystal on numerous occasions. It was a pretty small wedding and usually if you plan a Washington wedding in August, you are almost guaranteed sunshine and warmth. Um, it rained Saturday. For seriously the first time since June! But their unprotected ceremony was rain free. As soon as we moved to the reception, it started pouring. Luckily, that was covered. Interestingly enough, right as Krystal was walking down the isle, a bird pooped on me. Lovely. The row of us was trying not to absolutely die but it was so huge and disgusting and strangely hilarious. I have bad luck with being pooped on by birds. It's actually very odd.
I think those are the major events that have happened in the past month or so. More blogging to come (and pictures!)
Here's a recap since July of the major events (to be followed by pictures, as soon as possible):
-July 4th was spent in a rather mellow way... just a nice barbecue with T's family. We had every intention to go see fireworks that night but by the time we left the family party, it was already 10:30 and fireworks started at 10:30.
-Mid July- Rich and Stacie's housewarming party. http://www.stacie-rich.blogspot.com/. They had their housewarming party almost a year to the day when they will be getting married next year. They are such a cute couple. I got to know them when I first started at my job up here... they were both seniors as well at the time (and they had met at work!) Within a couple of months, they had both left for private accounting controller jobs and I was the lone senior. Shortly after they got engaged. They are a ton of fun to be around and it was such a good day to hang with them and other friends, see their new house, and even play flip cup. Um, that took me back to the day.
-Late July- work golf day. Good times. I'm on the event committee and we were in charge of coming up with a theme for the day. We picked most ugly golf outfit- basically meaning come mismatched. I hope that someone has a picture of me that day. I looked fabulous. Black flowery shorts, pink striped golf polo, blue and white knee high soccer socks, red shoes, pigtails, and a purple flowery visor. Classy. I was on a team with my friend Rhett and we had a good time playing, looking ridiculous and drinking mimosas at 8am. I actually played really well. Afterwards, we all headed out to the beach. The company gives us the afternoon off so why not seize the opportunity to lay on the beach and play beach volleyball?
-First week of August- SeaFair in Seattle kicked off on Friday night by a gathering at Rhett's house. Fun times. It took me a year to actually figure out what SeaFair means. I'm still a little sketchy other than it means that everyone spends the entire weekend on boats on Lake Washington. I think there are boat races or something. Also on SeaFair weekend, we hung out with the little girls all day on Sunday. I think I've mentioned before that they are 5, 3, and 1. They are very cute. And also good birth control.
-Last weekend we went to our friends Steve and Krystal's wedding. I work with Steve and have hung out with him and Krystal on numerous occasions. It was a pretty small wedding and usually if you plan a Washington wedding in August, you are almost guaranteed sunshine and warmth. Um, it rained Saturday. For seriously the first time since June! But their unprotected ceremony was rain free. As soon as we moved to the reception, it started pouring. Luckily, that was covered. Interestingly enough, right as Krystal was walking down the isle, a bird pooped on me. Lovely. The row of us was trying not to absolutely die but it was so huge and disgusting and strangely hilarious. I have bad luck with being pooped on by birds. It's actually very odd.
I think those are the major events that have happened in the past month or so. More blogging to come (and pictures!)
Friday, July 4, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Mailbox Peak-June 22, 2008
Crazy, insane hike. There really are no words.
We finally made it! The guy next to me is hiking Rainer in a couple of weeks. He asked if that's what we were training for too (or if we were just trying to kick our own asses). In the mailbox, people leave whatever memento they feel like and there is a log to write down your name and date. Not sure who actually decided to put a mailbox on top of a peak, but it works.
After hiking on a trail blazed by mountain men (meaning lots of stepping over tree roots, climbing rocks, trying to make sure you were going the right way), you get to the tree line and see this. Straight up- your pick, snow or boulder field. I picked snow, Tim picked rocks. The snow was actually fun and for a second I regained some energy at this point because I thought we were almost done. Quite the contrary, after this there was about another mile of climbing the to the peak.
We finally made it! The guy next to me is hiking Rainer in a couple of weeks. He asked if that's what we were training for too (or if we were just trying to kick our own asses). In the mailbox, people leave whatever memento they feel like and there is a log to write down your name and date. Not sure who actually decided to put a mailbox on top of a peak, but it works.
Resting against the mailbox, snow in the background. I just can't get over the fact that there was snow. In June. At the end of June. Crazy.
What we were looking down on...
The nice lady training for Mt Adams took our picture together.
Absolutely astounding view. On the way down the sun totally broke through the clouds.
Gorgeous. Would do it again in a heartbeat even considering the next day I was thinking cookie sheets as aids to get down stairs.
Mount Si-June 14, 2008
This was a round trip 8 mile hike to the top of a peak close by us- in North Bend (which is only about 30 minutes away). It was a great day hike- the path was well marked and it was not too challenging and the view was fantastic!
Looking over the side of the mountain.
Pretty waterfall close to the base.
Looking over the side of the mountain.
I had to put the above picture of Tim in because I spent 10 freaking minutes trying to get it perfect. We have identical frames that he wanted to put pictures of us in (me in one, him in another) on top of Mt Si. He took an identical picture of me first so then I had to try to match it. I am not a very patient person so that was not a fun 10 minutes.
Pretty waterfall close to the base.
Bellingham, WA
Tim and I took a trip up to Bellingham (which is about 30 minutes south of the Canadian border, 1.5 hours north of here) right after we got Duncan, the FJ back in February. We wanted to take the FJ for its first cruise so we decided to explore up there since I had never been there. It was a pretty cold day but Bellingham was a pretty cool town. It's pretty like here but it has a much more small, college town vibe.
We look very northwestern here. Which is I guess what we are... but Tim even has a flannel jacket on- that's rustic! Now I need one I guess to really fit in..
We look very northwestern here. Which is I guess what we are... but Tim even has a flannel jacket on- that's rustic! Now I need one I guess to really fit in..
Stunning views of the ocean.
Um, ok, so the purple star fish was a little weird to me.
I think this picture is from right around the same time period but on a different hike called Edgewick just east of here... it was FREEZING that day but we wanted to get outside so we did Edgewick which is easy but also has a huge waterfall so it makes you forget you are actually freezing to death.
Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis
Ugh.
This is the phrase of the day for me that FINALLY explains my stupid eyes for the past two months.
So, at the end of busy season, I went to the eye doctor up here since I needed new contacts and hadn't been since 2005 in Phoenix. I got new contacts, an eye exam, and was on my way. I think I may have posted about my experience with eye dialation but other than that, no issues. The dude changed the type of contacts I had but they seemed fine so no big deal.
A few weeks later, I arrived in Phoenix after experiencing dry eyes for a couple of weeks. That night my right eye was insanely dry and I spent the better part of the night attempting (and failing) not to itch it. I woke up with it swollen shut and looking like someone had implanted a golf ball into my eye socket. At 8am the first morning I was in Phoenix, the day I was supposed to see all of my friends, I landed myself right into urgent care. I got a few drops of stuff that made the swelling go down and thought I was good to go.
Three weeks later, my eye is still swollen but you can't really tell unless you're two inches from my face. It's gooping yellowy crap which is very unusual for me and I can't really keep my contacts in because they get dry and my eyes start to itch.
I go to the eye doctor- again- explaining the whole Phoenix debacle, what eyedrops I had been using from them, etc. I say that maybe I have dry eyes or allergies- I'm not sure. Then...
He. is. a. total. asshole.
He gives me some sort of retarded attitude telling me that "it is allergy season here" and "since both eyes itch, it's definitely allergies." The whole time he's talking to me like I'm a total idiot or hypochondriac and shouldn't be there wasting his time. This is my problem with arrogant pricks like him- ESPECIALLY when I am paying for his services. I mean, seriously, dude, what the hell?!?! Oh and then the best part at the end of my visit, he doesn't even thank me, he just leaves me sitting in the exam room and I figure out I'm done when he walks in with another patient. Nice, now it's my turn to thank him for wasting MY time.
So I leave feeling pretty pissed and like I'm stupid because apparently "it's just allergies" but I have another dose of some eye drops that should help, assuming I do just have allergies. I start using these eyedrops and they seem to help but I'm still getting the gooping and itching. I start taking over the counter allergy medicine thinking that HAS to be what's going on.
Finally, this past week, I have had enough. There is no crease in my right eye because it's so swollen and I just can't believe that it's allergies anymore. I've NEVER had allergies like this. So I make an appointment with a new eye doctor. SHE. IS. THE. NICEST. LADY. EVER.
Thank god.
But apparently, I have this giant papillary conjunctivitis which guess what that means?! I am allergic, all right. To what, you ask? TO MY NEW CONTACTS! UGGGGGGH! That stupid idiot switched the type of contacts I use because he claimed they were better (according to this new amazing lady, they are actually a cheaper kind and not better at all). So these new cheap contacts he claimed were better are made of materials that apparently my eyes absolutely despise. She said she has never seen a worse case of this in terms of inflammation of my eyelids, specifically my right eye. Lovely. And she didn't even see any of the goop! Gross! So now, I have to start wearing my glasses for a month (after getting that prescription filled since I haven't since, um, college) and then start aggressive treatments to treat the inflammation and THEN once that has gone away I get to wear new contacts... which are actually going to be the old type of contacts I wore. What. a. pain.
She said it would most likely be a long road. It is totally annoying but I am just glad nothing is really wrong. I actually called her as a final resort because I got freaked out from looking at the internet and reading everywhere that I was going blind. That and I was sick of dealing with swelling goopiness. At least now I know that I am going to be ok even if I do go insane from having to wear glasses for a month...or more.
This is the phrase of the day for me that FINALLY explains my stupid eyes for the past two months.
So, at the end of busy season, I went to the eye doctor up here since I needed new contacts and hadn't been since 2005 in Phoenix. I got new contacts, an eye exam, and was on my way. I think I may have posted about my experience with eye dialation but other than that, no issues. The dude changed the type of contacts I had but they seemed fine so no big deal.
A few weeks later, I arrived in Phoenix after experiencing dry eyes for a couple of weeks. That night my right eye was insanely dry and I spent the better part of the night attempting (and failing) not to itch it. I woke up with it swollen shut and looking like someone had implanted a golf ball into my eye socket. At 8am the first morning I was in Phoenix, the day I was supposed to see all of my friends, I landed myself right into urgent care. I got a few drops of stuff that made the swelling go down and thought I was good to go.
Three weeks later, my eye is still swollen but you can't really tell unless you're two inches from my face. It's gooping yellowy crap which is very unusual for me and I can't really keep my contacts in because they get dry and my eyes start to itch.
I go to the eye doctor- again- explaining the whole Phoenix debacle, what eyedrops I had been using from them, etc. I say that maybe I have dry eyes or allergies- I'm not sure. Then...
He. is. a. total. asshole.
He gives me some sort of retarded attitude telling me that "it is allergy season here" and "since both eyes itch, it's definitely allergies." The whole time he's talking to me like I'm a total idiot or hypochondriac and shouldn't be there wasting his time. This is my problem with arrogant pricks like him- ESPECIALLY when I am paying for his services. I mean, seriously, dude, what the hell?!?! Oh and then the best part at the end of my visit, he doesn't even thank me, he just leaves me sitting in the exam room and I figure out I'm done when he walks in with another patient. Nice, now it's my turn to thank him for wasting MY time.
So I leave feeling pretty pissed and like I'm stupid because apparently "it's just allergies" but I have another dose of some eye drops that should help, assuming I do just have allergies. I start using these eyedrops and they seem to help but I'm still getting the gooping and itching. I start taking over the counter allergy medicine thinking that HAS to be what's going on.
Finally, this past week, I have had enough. There is no crease in my right eye because it's so swollen and I just can't believe that it's allergies anymore. I've NEVER had allergies like this. So I make an appointment with a new eye doctor. SHE. IS. THE. NICEST. LADY. EVER.
Thank god.
But apparently, I have this giant papillary conjunctivitis which guess what that means?! I am allergic, all right. To what, you ask? TO MY NEW CONTACTS! UGGGGGGH! That stupid idiot switched the type of contacts I use because he claimed they were better (according to this new amazing lady, they are actually a cheaper kind and not better at all). So these new cheap contacts he claimed were better are made of materials that apparently my eyes absolutely despise. She said she has never seen a worse case of this in terms of inflammation of my eyelids, specifically my right eye. Lovely. And she didn't even see any of the goop! Gross! So now, I have to start wearing my glasses for a month (after getting that prescription filled since I haven't since, um, college) and then start aggressive treatments to treat the inflammation and THEN once that has gone away I get to wear new contacts... which are actually going to be the old type of contacts I wore. What. a. pain.
She said it would most likely be a long road. It is totally annoying but I am just glad nothing is really wrong. I actually called her as a final resort because I got freaked out from looking at the internet and reading everywhere that I was going blind. That and I was sick of dealing with swelling goopiness. At least now I know that I am going to be ok even if I do go insane from having to wear glasses for a month...or more.
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