Back in the Saddle Again

My orthopedic cleared me to ride a stationary bike with the aircast on. First I had to collect it from my friend Kristy who herself is recovering from a MTB crash (hers was way more impressive than mine). She hit the trail again this week and doing great I hear. Maybe hit the trail is a poor choice of words...

After a long day at the office and a long 8 days of inactivity and eating out I hit the trainer. It was a challenge to even mount the beast. I left the clipless pedals on the bike so that I could at least clip in on the left. If there were only a way to modify this boot with the SPD's I would be totally set. Maybe I should market something like that.

Anyway, I rode the trainer at a moderate pace for 45 minutes while watching the Food Network. I started to break a sweat near the end so that is good. I just can't get going very fast with this bum leg. It hurt a little bit when I pushed it hard so I backed off.

All in all, I felt good about it. I am doing the best that I can. I did not have much pain last night so I know I did not over do it or anything but I did start to get a soar throat which only got worse overnight. I decided to stay home today and try to sleep it off. It is rather pathetic when you can't even carry your hot green tea to bed with you because you are in crutches. I am convinced that my diet of late, lack of exercise, lack of sunshine and fresh air, and stress has contributed to this 100%.

Just finished my tea and am heading off to bed...

Have you hugged your Orthopedic Physician today?

It has been exactly 7 days since my MTB accident and I finally got to see the orthopedic doctor today. I went in prepared for the worst case scenario but came out with the best.

The official diagnosis is a transverse fracture of the right lateral malleolus or as my friend John likes to call it...broke ass ankle.

The first thing they did was remove the Chinese torture device the urgent care calls a splint. It was a hard piece of plaster that basically ended right in the middle of my foot. When they took it off they said "they did not even put any padding in there did they?" Um no, no they did not.

When they took off the splint I got my first look at my foot since the accident. Holy crap, there is something to be said about the mind body connection. I swear my leg hurts more now that I have seen the bruising. It looks like it should hurt so it just does. It could also be that he did some manipulation of the ankle during the exam.

The other surprising thing was the atrophy after only 7 days of non-use. It may be hard to tell in this photo, looking at it the injured leg is on the left look at the difference on the inside of the legs. It is really evident in person. I am going to look like a peg legged retard by the time my leg is healed.

The doctor reviewed my films and said that it is a simple injury and should heal with no complications. In fact he said if he were to have a crash like I did, this is the outcome he would hope for his own ankle. The ligaments on my ankle held on so tight that the ankle fractured rather than them tearing away from the bone. That means faster healing and most importantly no surgery!

I am happy to report that he put me in an Aircast walking splint. This means that I can remove it to shower! The first thing I did when I came home was to wash and shave my right leg. He said I can walk as the pain permits. I tried a couple of times and pain does NOT yet permit. I can stand on it with a little weight but that is about it so far. I can ride my bike in 6 weeks but not run just yet he says I should wait longer for that. I go back in 2 weeks for more x-rays and follow up. I still can not drive, it is too bulky and not safe. I am cleared to ride my bike on a trainer with the boot on and can do the Bowflex. The only possible complication is what is called a non-union which would require "intervention". That is so not going to happen.

If all goes as planned, my return to mountain biking will be on January 9th...the bike gods have smiled upon me!

con‧va‧les‧cence

Dictonary.com defines convalescence as: 1. the gradual recovery of health and strength after illness. or 2. the period during which one is convalescing.

I define convalescence as insanity. Mind you before my accident, I could not even spell convalescence so I guess I have in fact learned something from all this. Did I mention the dream I had last night? I was running through a soccer field with no cast but it hurt to take every step and that I was in a bikini top. What is that about? Do I feel unattractive with this lump of plaster on my right leg? I actually had a dilema this morning, do I bother to shave the left if I can't get to the right? In the end, I had to shave the left because although I have been known to hug a tree in my day - I draw the line with bushy legs or arm pits.

I have not had any Vicodin since Thursday morning at 5:30 AM. I am exactly 5 days into my recovery and have not yet seen an orthopedic doctor. I am guessing I will be laid up for at least 8 weeks but will not know for sure until I get in for follow up.

I went from being on physical overload unable to walk because my legs were too soar from soccer practice to being laid up flat on my back with my foot in the air. This morning I made coffee again, and did some dishes. I told Brent that my left butt cheek is going to be bigger than the other from standing on that leg and hopping around everywhere. I am going to try and cook dinner tonight, that should be entertaining.

Me trying to do anything reminds me of a Justin Timberlake song from the Shark Tale Movie Soundtrack "Good Foot".

The weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow, I can take comfort in that. Although I may need to make some modifications to my crutches so I don't kill myself or god forbid break my good leg. Maybe for the next 8 weeks or so it will rain and be so windy that I would not want to ride my bike anyway.

I just can't stand to do nothing, most of all I can't stand not doing the things that I love and that is going to cause me to go insane over the period during which I am convalescing.

Futsal

The term FUTSAL is the international term used for the game. It is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer", FUTbol or FUTebol, and the French or Spanish word for "indoor", SALon or SALa.

About a month or so ago Brent and I were at the AYSO board appreciation dinner. We were dining with Madison's spring competitive coach John. He was talking to Brent about this new indoor soccer team he started for men called Futsal asking him to join, etc. He then turned to me and said "hey, you should start a women's team". Before I could speak, he started to call over other women and asked them to join my team.

THAT my friends, is how Brent and I got involved in what we like to call "old man soccer" when referring to Brent's team. The rules of the game are very similar to outdoor soccer with a few exceptions. The game is played indoors on a basketball court 5 vs. 5 players (including the keeper) and the ball is smaller (about the equivelent of an outdoor size 4) and much harder.

The men's team is made up of coaches and parents from AYSO as is the women's team. The men are the Patriots and I named the women's team the Patriettes. We have been having a great time learning the game and making new friends. Not to mention, it is incredible exercise. The weekend before last, I ended up playing 2 hours per day! I had my women's practice at noon then went to watch Madison's basketball practice and then went to watch the men's practice at 2:00 and they needed another body so I scrimmaged with them. Then the next day the women had practice for an hour and then scrimmaged for the second hour.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) so when I over do it, my body tends to let me know. I guess mountain bike riding every day at lunch and the soccer was a bit much for my old ass. The exciting part is that it never shows itself in the same way each time. This time, my left knee swelled up as if it had been injured. Brent noticed it and told my coach to bench me. I was less than pleased with him for doing this. When my coach asked why I was favoring my left leg I said that I was fine. He allowed me to do the practice but said he would decide later about the game. Lets just say he made the right decision...Incidently we won the scrimmage by one point - not because I played mind you but I like to think that.

What a beautiful game I am really going to miss it...but I will be back

Happy Thanksgiving

Madison goes to visit her dad on Tuesday nights, she came home with these flowers, a card, and this angel bear. She was so proud of herself - she is a great helper to me.

I think so far the worst day by far has been the day after the accident (Wednesday). I woke up in such unbelievable pain that I was trying everything - even Lamaze breathing. Not sure why I was trying that since it did not work in child birth and I swear this hurt worse than that with nothing to show for after the pain. Madison came and got into bed with me for a few minutes before school and I just held her as tight as I could.

I spent most of that day in a drug induced coma - and was happy to be there. The pain killers they gave me were 500 mg vicodin and did not work at all. Luckily I found some that were 750 mg in our cabinet so I took those rather than taking 2 of the 500 mg which would have been 1000 mg. I would have been drooling with that much!

Thanksgiving was my biggest challenge of my convalescence thus far. I love to cook, and I am a control freak. If I am not cooking, I am telling someone else how to cook - that is just the way it is. Yesterday, I had the same morning pain incident but slightly less painful. I took a pain pill at 5:30 that morning which by the way was the last one I have taken. I wanted to drink some wine with my Thanksgiving dinner last night so I decided to rough it. I finally woke up at 11:30 am and called Brent on the intercom and asked him what he was doing. He said he was cooking, here is how that conversation went - me: “what are you doing?” Brent: “cooking” me: {heavy sigh} Brent: “you are mad that I am cooking?” me: “no!” {Lying}{Silence} Brent: “do you need anything?” me: “a bath”. So he brought me up a trash bag for my leg and then said he would be right back. I was bathed and ready to get out before he came back. I can’t even tell you how unbelievably hard it is to be dependent on other people for your most basic needs and therefore operate on their time. I am incredibly lucky to have Brent and the girls, they have been wonderful – I just don’t do helpless very well.

Today is Friday, Family day. It is the day that we decorate our tree and the house for Christmas and then this evening we will get dressed up and go to the Nutcracker. Maybe we will go out to dinner. Today I was not awakened by pain and I got up before anyone and made a pot of coffee. That seems like no big deal but the water for the coffee is across the room from the coffee pot so it was a challenge but I did it so I feel good. I have also arranged for a ride to work on Monday so I am feeling a bit more in control again. I had planned on going shopping today but that was before the fall...those special electronic carts may be fun but...I still have no patience for people or shopping injured or not!

Happy Holidays!

Oh My Aching Ankle

Yesterday on my usual lunchtime mountain bike ride I crashed and welll you can read the whole sad story here...

Another One Bites the Dust

Shayna Turns 15!
On November 10th Shayna officially turned 15 years old. Since she has visitation with her mother on most weekends we always have her birthday party on the Thursday before Veteran's day.

This year she had 3 friends come over after school and they all dressed up like princesses. We had pizza and took them to see the movie Flushed Away in Minden.

That meant we got an extra long car ride (20 minutes or so) with some giggling and very loud teenage girls.

After the movie we went to Cold Stone Creamery and had ice cream and opened gifts.


Only 6 more months and she will be getting her learners permit and driving!

Veterans Day Ride
Today I had the privilege of riding with Kathy and Mike up Lakeview to the turning point for either Ash Canyon or Hobart reservoir. We had intended going all the way to Hobart and then down Ash Canyon but it was getting cold and Mike had an appointment to get to (oh, and I was tired, did I mention that?). Brent had to work today; he was missed on the ride that is for sure.

This ride is an intense climb for a good 2 ½ hours. If I read this trail map description for Hobart to Snow Valley Peak correctly, we climbed 2450 feet! Or it could have been 1740, I am not sure I am sure that it was a heck of a climb. I had a protein shake for breakfast, some Hammer endurance drink they made for me to sip on during the ride, and then Kathy gave me some large white pills which she said were electrolytes – I trust her completely.
We ran into the forest service worker tracking an animal she called a Mountain Beaver, she had some fancy equipment that looked a lot like what you see those people looking for ghosts use with the long rod that spins around. We never did spot this so called beaver or any wild life for that matter and that is a good thing.

We also met a guy named Foley who lives in Lakeview. Evidently he saw us ride past his house and got geared up and followed us. He was a nice guy, so I hear; Kathy rode up with him for a bit on the hills while Mike pushed me (literally) from behind so I did not die on the trail. I had never had a push before; it was quite handy in that situation. He thanked us for inspiring him to get out and ride today. He also had heard it was my first time on this ride and was impressed with my positive attitude.

Remember how I said the climb was 2 ½ hours? We turned around at the crossroad and headed back the way we came to a single track that drops in at Timberline. It took us 9 minutes to get back down the hill that took so long to climb. The downhill was super fun and fast. The single track was very cool too.
Upon our arrival back at the William’s place Kathy made us some lattes and we visited for a bit. There is nothing like a hot latte after a hard ride on a cold day. (That is Mike on the right, he was our photographer today so this is the only shot of him that we got) I had a great time the only thing that could have made it better was if Brent was able to join us. I am so grateful for such good friends. They have helped me so much with their tips and support as I learn to be a better rider.

I am a lucky girl!

Red Finned Step-child

In a previous post I wrote about how I got my co-worker Jared a fish cos he had been missing work and seemed a little down. As I wrote before, he went and got a 3 gallon aquarium for the betta cos the vase I gave it to him in was not good enough.

Then he started introducing other fish to the tank. The betta (who if you remember was the first) did not like the new tank mates. He allegedly started nibbling on the tails of these new friends and allegedly killed one of them. Then the second new friend had some tail missing (you can see in the pic, he is the guppy with the spotted tail). Jared added a few more friends and eventually the betta started flaring at them, who could blame him he did not ask to be put in this situation.

So, we decided to remove him from the aquarium and place him back in his original container. I am pretty sure he is on death row; Jared has moved on, replaced him. I have a feeling he never really liked the betta to begin with although he did appreciate the gesture. One day he will "accidentally" knock over the vase and step on him and it will be done. Sad really, he is just doing what he was born to do...he is a Siamese fighting fish after all.

I am glad that I rekindled an interest of his and he is getting so much joy out of it even if it means an innocent betta has to die in the process.

my best puppy!

My puppy is the best puppy in the whole wide world! he is my best friend,I love him! He loves to play soccer and so do I. My mom and I went to OLD NAVY and bought him a cool toy. his name is Chili dog. 'cause when we first got him he had a collar with chili pepers on it. My mom made it up. 'cause she is wierd! But we all laughed and named him Chili dog. It was a cool name for him,and he liked it so much. Now he is safe and sond at my house with a fire so he can sleep good.

I love him!!!

My Best Mother

This is my mommie . We were at my triathelon last year on August 6th, 2005 she is the best mother you could ever ask for, she always made cookies after dinner YUMMMMY!!! I love her so much. she takes care of me 'cause she is the bomb! I am greatfull that she is my mom. I am greatfull that I am her daughter!!! ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) !!!!!!!!! I love you so much

I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!

MY ALLSTARS TOURNAMENT!!!

BY MADISON

This year I was picked for Allstars!!! It was the bomb, I loved it so much!!! I got to play with my whole patriots team! It was 13 girls isn't that a lot of girls? But we made friends, it wasn't that hard. Because they were all really nice. We had a tournament this weekend on Nov. 4th-5th, 2006. My team won the second game on Saturday the first day of our tournament, We lost the first game, It sucked real bad because the team that we were playing were bad sports. 'cause when they won they rubbed it in our faces! But we were good sports about it, It was okay we did not cry at all!!! IT WAS AWESOME !!!

Kit Carson Shootout All-Star Tournament

This weekend was the All-Star Tournament for AYSO fall soccer. This was Madison's first year making the team and they practiced very hard! Our team was called the Star Strikers. The first game was at 9:00 AM on Saturday and it was foggy and cold. The girls we barely awake for the first half but picked up a bit in the second half. The final score was 1-2, we lost to the Truckee Tornados.
The second game of the day was at 3:30 and the girls were ready to play. We won against the Mammoth Flames 3-0. The final result for our flight was we got second place. Sunday's game was again at 9:00 AM and again, our girls were still sleeping. We ended up losing the game against the Truckee Lightning 0-1. In the end, we were 4th overall.

All in all it was a fun weekend and a good experience for Madison and the other girls on the team. We are looking forward to the spring season to watch our girls develop into the amazing players that we know they will be.

My New Pot Rack

I have been wanting a pot rack in my kitchen for a very long time. In fact, I think it was a year ago that I bought the nice pans with lids that stay on when hung for the pot rack I did not yet have. Brent is a welder so he wanted to make us one, we just never have the time. So, last Sunday after we bought our washer and dryer we stopped in to Bed Bath & Beyond and picked up a pot rack. I love the way it transforms our kitchen. We also freed up a cupboard to store more food. Now all we need is the granite countertops, new stove, new dishwasher, over the stove microwave, and paint. Oh, and a crap load of money to pay for it all.

Our New Toys

This is our new washer and dryer that was delivered on Thursday. They are the LG Tromm Steam Washer and Dryer. We had been shopping (and saving) for a new set for about a month since our washer was broken, or on its last leg. Last Sunday I went onto Home Depot.com and found this set but in Wild Cherry color so we went to the store to get that set.


Once we got there they sold us the set in the picture, cos it had more RPM's on the spin cycle (1300 plus) and an LCD screen. I have washed all our laundry already this week and I love my new machines! The washer is super quiet and completely idiot proof.
The best part is that it uses way less water and energy to do the wash. The dryer also has a sensor to stop drying when the clothes are dry.

I am a gadget whore!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is our favorite time of the year. This year Madison (9) did not want to get a costume or go trick-or-treating! She wanted to stay home and pass out candy. Shayna finally talked her into putting on a Tinkerbell costume that Aunt Trish made for Shayna last year. The top did not fit her so she wore the skirt and shoes with a Tinkerbell t-shirt. Shayna also did her hair and make up for her.

Shayna (14) was a cat, and unlike her sister she wanted to go out trick-or-treating but settled for passing out candy and watching a movie on the Disney Channel with us.

The girls got pretty creative with their pumpkins.

Shayna did a "Pumpkin Pie" Since she is in Geometry she thinks that is funny. Must be a math thing...













Madison did "Bob" the pumpkin. Neither one used a pattern, they did it old school. I baked up the seeds and we snacked on them.


The girls also decorated cookies this year, they were very meticulous about it too. Everything is always a competition between the girls. When Shayna got home and saw how good Madison did on her cookies she knew she had to step up her game a bit.

Next year it is Disneyland for Halloween, we can't wait!

Nevada Day

Every other year we go to Disneyland on the Nevada Day weekend. This was one of the years were were at home so we decided to go to the parade. Madison and I had never been but Brent was born and raised in Reno so he has been to many a parade. This photo was taken on our way to the parade in our neighborhood.

This year our nephew Brennan was in the parade as a member of the Color Guard for his high school. He is on the far left of this photo. Doesn't he look handsome, we are very proud of him.

Madison had a great time at the parade, she especially liked that people gave her candy and balloons. She and her cousin Anjeanette sat in the street o keep warm since that was where the sunsine was. We had to rush her to soccer practice afterwards so she was certainly pooped that night.

Kings Canyon - 10/22/2006

A couple of Sunday's ago Sandie and I took our Chili Dog for a MTB ride up Kings Canyon. It is a long gradual climb from Carson City to Spooner Summit with beautiful views especially in the fall with all at the leaves changing color. The hardest part of the ride is climbing without much of a warm up. You are about a mile and a half into the climb before your body realizes it can do this.

The last time we did this ride was shortly after we met in 2000. We did a "shuttle" ride where we left one car in Carson and drove up to the summit. After the ride we arrived at the bottom and realized the keys for the car in Carson were in the car at Spooner Summit. We had to ride from the base of the trail to my house in Carson to get my other car at which point Sandie swore I was trying to kill her. In her defense it was her first MTB ride ever. This time however, she did the 9 mile climb with no complaints and probably could have kept going if we did not have the dog to worry about.

Chili Dog was a trooper as usual, even after we almost killed him earlier this summer on the Flume Trail. That was 27 miles, which is too much even for our bad ass dog. After that ride we decided that 15 miles is probably his limit. This ride was slightly over that at just over 18 but he was in much better physical shape this time around. He loved to drink the fresh water from the streams which seemed to give him magical bursts of energy. When I would stop to take pictures or give him a drink from my bottle, he would get impatient because his mamma kept going without him out of sight. So he would run between us keeping an eye on both of us making sure we stayed together. It must be the Shepherd in him.

You can find great trail maps and descriptions at Great Basin Bicycles Here is what they say about this ride:

Kings Canyon Climb (Blue Trail)
19 Miles - 3000 Feet of Climbing (Intermediate)

From Reno, take Hwy 395 south to Carson City. Once in Carson City, take a right on Winnie Ln. Follow Winnie Ln. to Mountain St. take a left then follow to King Street. Take a right on King Street and follow the road until it turns to dirt. Park at the end of the pavement, and start your ride here. Follow the dirt road for 2.6 miles where your will have completed the worst part of the climb. This section is loose, rocky, and steep, but once completed, the rest of the ride is beautiful. Once at the top of the climb, you will see a road coming in on your left. This road takes you downhill into private property and will dump you out ½ way up Highway 50. Continue strait heading west. The rest of the ride is very strait forward. There are no other road intersections into this jeep road. So, all you have to do is ride to the top. Follow this jeep road up and down for 6.9 miles (9.5 miles from the start) where it will drop you out on the top of Highway 50 Spooner Summit. Now just turn around and ride back down to the car. Be careful on the last 2.6 miles. This ride should take the intermediate rider 2 – 2.5 hours to complete.

Fall Harvest

Last summer we built an enclosed garden in our backyard just off the kitchen.
It is our white picket fence.


We had to enclose it because the container garden on our patio was being raided by the dog. He apparently likes to eat chile peppers. At that time, since it was near the end of the growing season we just transferred our container garden to the new garden.

This year we planted all sorts of fun stuff although due to soccer, we got a bit of a late start at the end of June. We planted three varieties of tomato, asparagus, kohlrabi, corn, watermelon, leeks, three varieties chile peppers, and cucumber. The front right hand corner as you walk into the garden was an herb garden with two varieties of basil, lemon thyme, stevia, and garlic chives. The herbs did the best, and the Thai chile peppers. The corn never matured and just dried up and died. The watermelon went crazy taking over the space but the one that I harvested was not quite ripe. Madison’s favorite thing was the kohlrabi.

A couple of weeks ago we harvested as much as we could since the weather has been getting quite cool in the evenings. Last Sunday I made potato leek soup for our after ride meal, it was good but could have been better – next time I will do things a little differently.

Fall is my favorite time of year.

A Room with a View

Ok, so I have said before how boring my job is but here is one of the reasons I am still here 4.5 years later...I have a view of the park. In the fall the leaves on the cottonwoods are amazingly beautiful.

In the winter, the snow is breathtaking. There are geese that land there and then make a formation to take off like it were an airport. Sometimes the sheriff dept. drives through the park to break up fights at the skate park. We have seen Care Flight land there. There are guys that fly remote control airplanes. There is even a group of people that practice using a parachute. Field trips stop there and let the kids out to play. The motorcycle cops have a contest where they go through a course of cones and occasionally they dump their bikes. The carnival comes twice a year that is always fun to watch them set up. The high school track team runs through barefoot several times a week. Once a year a blackhawk lands there for the sheriff dept. annual safety education festival. There is a farmers market in the summer and latch key summer camp. Sometimes I even get to see Madison at camp if they are doing an activity on the grass. There is also a train that goes around the park. We had the special treat of band camp meeting at the park and practicing their drums - our windows are thin so we could hear them very well.

There is never a dull moment at Mills Park.