Ankle Update

Below are a few pictures of my "not-so-cute" ankle. The past two days the swelling has gone down a bit. But my toes started going green. I am walking without my crutches and just with the boot now. My physical therapist says I am doing really good. I go see the Orthopedic Surgeon next week (so does Emma), so I will post an update on both of us then. So for those of you who have had a sprained ankle, and I guess, for those of you who haven't, I have posted the following pictures for your viewing pleasure. Notice the size of my left ankle. My physical therapist tried to tell me that I didn't have "kankles", but I knew better.

Easter

Dusty went to Washington D.C. with the kids, and Maryland too. Aunt Kristin technically lives in Maryland but very near D.C. I wanted to post some of the pictures from their trip. They had fun visiting "The Mall" (I don't know why they call it this or exactly what it is, but that is what he said, so that is what I typed), the Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, The White House and the zoo.

They hung out at Kristin and Adam's house. They dyed Easter eggs and played with cousin Emily. And the Easter Bunny even found them at Aunt Kristin's. There were lots of eggs to find on Easter morning!!

Even though it was a short visit the kids and Dusty had a great time.

Sprained Ankle

I sprained my ankle yesterday. I was on the step stool in our closet and blew out my ankle. There was a huge popping sound when it happened and I thought it was broken. Immediately after it happened I got this huge bump on my ankle that looked like a baseball. I had to pull myself out of the closet and then yelled for Jacob to get my cell phone from the car. When I called Dusty he thought I was playing an April Fool's joke on him. I had to have Jacob tell him that I wasn't lying. So, 3 hours in the emergency room with x-rays and a lot of waiting revealed that I have a Level 3 sprain on my right ankle. I have to stay off of it for 7 to 10 days. I am icing 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off. We visited the orthopedic surgeon today and he fitted me with a super sexy boot. He told me to be prepared for the bruising and ugliness yet to occur.

We were supposed to go to Washington D.C. to spend Easter weekend with Dusty's sister, Kristin. So we decided that Dusty and the kids would go and that I would stay home and rest. I am in enough pain that I did not want to make the 5 hour drive. So I opted to stay home and rely on my fellow ward friends to take care of me. I am really mad about all of this. The reason I was on the stool in the closet was so that I could get my "yard clothes". I have plants and top soil that need to get in the garden. I have weed killer to spray and flowers to plant. A picnic table and outdoor firepit to spraypaint and no time for this. Ugghhhhh!.

Dusty prayed last night for me that I would be able to understand and realize that my body is getting old. He always likes to use humor with Heavenly Father. Am I really that old? Don't answer that.

So I will be lying here thinking of all of you out in the beautiful sunshine. It is 80-something here and I am inside on the bed. At least I will catch up on some HGTV and some much needed sleep.

Jacob's Baptism

Jacob was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints last Saturday, March 6, 2010. He was able to have Grandma and Grandpa Burke and Grandma Brown and her husband, Paul visit. Aunt Kristin and cousin Emily drove down from Washington D.C. as well. Our friends, the Gardners, and our neighbors, the Pegrams, came as well. It was a special day for Jacob. We gave him new scriptures with a camouflage scripture case (I knew he would love the case!).

Update on Emma

Emma is home resting now after her knee surgery. The surgery itself took about an hour and a half longer than we expected. So after waiting 3 hours and still hearing nothing Dusty and I were very anxious and concerned. But the doctor finally came out and told us that everything had gone well. We still had to wait another hour for them to let us go back and see her. When they finally took us back we had to wait in the room where she would be staying, but she was still not there. They finally wheeled her back and all I wanted to do was hold her (of course I couldn't though).

That night turned out to be a rough one for Emma. They had been giving her morphine, but her last dose of it caused a rash up her arm and they were concerned that her i.v. had gone bad or that she was having an allergic reaction the the morphine. So they decided to switch her to oral drugs, Motrin and Tylenol with codeine. About 10 PM, right after she had fallen asleep, they told us they were moving us to a new room. This left us with a new nurse who asked the same old questions all over again and who thought they needed to poke and prod.

This began our night from HELL. Emma cried all night long. We couldn't get her to take her medicine because she was so upset that she hurt. I was finally able to help her do it, but this was after the nurse had bribed her with a stuffed animal. We ended up with 4 new stuffed animals from this night. Emma wouldn't eat or drink either. She had a bad cough from the tube they had put down her throat and she kept coughing which she said made her leg hurt. About every 2 hours she would wake up crying and we would start the process over again with medicine and trying to get her to drink. When morning came and the housekeeping lady came in to refill our stock of paper towels I let her know what I thought about needing more towels. Dusty was supposed to go back to work that day, but without even knowing what kind of night we had, he felt like he needed to come and help with Emma and he took the day off. When he showed up around 8:30 AM we were both sleeping.

We got Emma to eat some breakfast and got her resting. And then the blasted physical therapist came in. They expected Emma to get up and walk with a walker. The walker is so cute and is a miniature of what they give old people, but at the time when the therapist was telling Emma to walk and Emma was screaming at her I did not think it to be a cute little walker at all.

Our doctor visited and decided that it was best for us to take Emma home where she would be more comfortable and bothered much less. We finally got out of the hospital about 2. We got Emma settled on the couch, her new permanent home, and she actually fell asleep. Dusty and I also laid down and slept for a bit.

That night Emma cried more and more. We couldn't get her to eat or drink anything but knew that we had to in order for her to take her medicine. I finally got her to drink some juice and Dusty got her to eat a piece of bread. I was a wreck at this point and left to get Lex and Jake from the church and to pick up a prescription. While at the church I called our home teacher and asked him to come help give another blessing. I didn't get home in time for the blessing. What I did get home in time for was the vomiting. That's right. Poor Emma was so nauseous. Somehow we got her cleaned up without hurting her and got her to drink, take her medicine, and fall asleep. She actually slept fairly well and only got me up a couple times (just like old times).

Today was a much better day. She asked to eat food today. She has been pulling herself up to sit and has been playing with her toys today. She also had me bring the laptop over and she playing for a long while on the computer. She seems to be feeling a bit better but won't even think about standing or walking. I also got her to let me carry her to the bathroom but she was not happy about it. We go visit the doc tomorrow and he is going to fit her with her knee brace. I don't know what kind of brace or what to expect. All I know is that for the next little while we will be carrying her. The doctor says that she will want to start walking within about a week.

Our ward has been very good to take care of us and watch over us. They have brought in meals and so many people have called to check up on us. I am so grateful for every one's help, prayers, and support to our family as we go through this rough time. Please continue to pray for Emma and our family.

Knee Surgery

Emma is having knee surgery today on both knees. She is having plates put in both of her knees and soft-tissue surgery on her left patella. Please have a prayer in your hearts for her.

Baptism