Favorite quotes from a loooong week

Here are some of the comments made by me or others about me this week in reference to my, er, chemically altered state due to pain medication after surgery - these aren't going to be funny to anyone else, since you are either not altered by chemicals/lack of sleep or might not know the back story (but trust me - I'm hilarious!):

• "What would you do with a drunken sailor?" (Sung to Travis by me"), "what would YOU do with a drunken sailor?" (Travis back to me), "Feed him pancakes! I learned that's a good hangover food from the Gilmore Girls." (Sadly this was my response)
• "Hey Erin, have your crazy pills worn off yet?" (My niece Tiara when seeing me again hours after I tried to tell her about a strange dream I'd had the previous night)
• (Said while looking at my hands) "I need a pedicure!"
• "Wooo! Spinny-winny!" (pretty much each time I stood up)
• Mom said that if she left me alone at night I'd decide I was a rooster and climb on top of the roof. My response: "I'd go and crow at Travis's window, he deserves it!"
• There are plenty of others that I for some reason that I cannot remember. :) However I have been composing more music, songs about how yummy cucumbers with salt are, there's a cat looking in the back door at me, etc.

It's been kinda a rough week, I've been very frustrated with how much pain I'm still in and therefore how much of these hated pain pills I still need to take. My doctor's appointment went well though I did get a lecture about taking my pills because my body can't heal properly when it's in too much pain. I'm not sure that I'm gonna be better as quickly as I was hoping but I'm still holding out hope. My PTSD had been getting better but it somewhat came back as well this week. Plus I realized that I was too busy with worrying about the surgery to celebrate Taylor Lautner's 17th birthday that was on the 11th-the day of my surgery (So happy birthday my dear little jail bait). I did have one day when I got to have some retail therapy, buying some things I needed to buy, and then a couple other little things myself, the retail therapy was unfortunately online, but better than nothing!

Nikki did take a day off work to come and hang with me, it was so nice to see her. It's definitely been hard not seeing her every day, we've lived together for so long that we're so close, it's strange to be apart for any length of time. She's so great, it was nice to see her and just be with her for a bit, I think I really needed that.

Today has been much better; I've stayed awake and coherent a lot longer today than I have since the surgery and I even got to play a game I got for the Wii called Endless Ocean - it was really fun! I do have a bunch of fun pictures from the last week and a half (most of them fuzzy since taken from my phone) that I plan on posting soon. Soon I'll get the pain under control, get physical therapy to fit me in and convince my doctor I can go back to work before the end of March! (I'm not waiting that long, I'll go nuts and I can't do that to my work!)

Love to all.

(I figured out how to do hyperlinks in case you hadn't noticed! Weeee)

Hello from the grasp of the torture device!

So I just finished my 10th hour in the torture device, aka CPM, aka that thingy that moves my knee all day! (The last 5 minutes there was a song about "5 more minutes!") The days are interesting when you are essentially sequestered to one spot for 10 to 12 hours every day. I have apparently been particularly crazy today; maybe it's cabin fever, maybe it's just the pain and the meds are cutting down all my barriers that normally keep the crazy in, who knows. Adam found The Transporter on TV (it was almost as exciting as finding the Goofy Movie on TV, but I made sure that I didn't forget what we were watching during the commercials), my mom says that I sang through the whole thing - when I wasn't giving her a play by play of what was happening, of course. I thought that there had just been some humming but she says that there were words involved, I wish I remember what I was singing about, I'm sure I could have won awards for my music if anyone had written any of it down. Well it's about time for me to take something to get me through the night so I'd better stop before I decide to share everything... G'night all!

Every thing's great here in LaLa Land!

I just took a Percocet about an hour ago and so the draw to blog is pulling me! So I'll do a quick update and try to stay focused and on task: (no promises though)

I had my surgery yesterday and things seem to have gone really well, going into the operating room was so scary, there was this huge table full of torture devices (also known a surgical equipment) and so I just kept my eyes down and then when they had me on the bed I closed my eyes and I think I was out the moment they put the IV in my arm. When I woke up my first thought was "wow that guy's cute", which I think I just thought it but maybe not since he was super nice to me, even more than the female nurses were (and they were all great). It took a while to fully wake up, they gave me a cracker and some water to take a pain pill and I remember telling the lady that it was the best thing I ever tasted! When I was finally awake enough I was wheeled out to my parents (by the cute guy!) and then the nurse and anesthesiologist talked with us one more time then I was wheeled out to my dad's truck while I told the nurse the story of how I'd hurt my knee, I told anyone that would listen yesterday, I also wore my pink "Forks Outfitters" shirt and the shoes I was wearing the day of the accident as a little shout out to what'd happened. :) I know, I'm a nerd!

I am at my parents' place for the next week or so during the most difficult parts of my convalescence, I love being with my parents and they don't seem to mind taking care of me, even when I'm all doped up and super goofy. Speaking of Goofy, The Goofy Movie was on Disney or something last night we saw it was on about half way through and Adam changed to it for me. I was totally enjoying it but am a bit more spacey than normal because I forgot it was on during the commercials so when it came back on I got excited for it all over again!

Today I am very busy lying on my bed while my leg is in a machine that flexes it to get the new ACL (a cadaver Achilles tendon - I'm now part zombie!) stretched out. Today I am at 10% extension and 70% flexion, tomorrow I go down to 0% extension then I get to increase my flextion slowly until I'm at/close to full range of motion. While using the flexing machine I have this really cool pump that continuously brings ice water to a fancy covering on my leg, it feels really nice and soothing on my poor little confused leg. Most people know how stubborn and control freaky I am, and it has been so difficult to not fight against this machine but I'm getting much better, I even am able to ask people to get me things. It's taken 2 months (yesterday was day 60 since "the accident") but I have finally let go of some of my stubborn tendencies and will now let people help me without getting too frustrated with myself for not being able to do it all myself.

Wednesday

So I'm tired and I'm terrified but I am also so excited to get this finally over with! This weekend I've gotten the chance to see quite a few of my patients that I hadn't seen yet, so I was able to say hi to them and let them know that I won't be around for almost a month. I have so many amazing patients, I have had so many people wish me luck and even a few tell me that they'll be praying for me on Wednesday. How did I get so lucky to have all these amazing people in my life.

I got to spend this evening up at my parent's place, we were celebrating Mom's birthday last week with cheesecake and hanging out being the incredibly hilarious people that we are. :) I love my family so much and am taken care of so well that it's amazing. I love them all so much, I couldn't get for a better support system if I personally selected them myself. My parents, my siblings and even my nephew and nieces are so sweet trying to make sure I am always comfortable. I love you guys so much, I am truly blessed!

Update!

(First there is gonna be some exciting updates about my knee and then there is an angry rant you can ignore, but I had to get it off my chest somehow. XOXOXO)

So I went to see Dr. Badger for a second opinion on my knee because my doctor I was seeing made me very mad and Dr. Badger is our family orthopedist (how sad that we have one). He was worried about the break in my knee, the patella was smashed down on one side and he was worried about it so I went and got a CT scan to get a better look at the bone to see if it was gonna need reconstruction to fix it, a big procedure that would lead to 3 months of intense recovery! Thankfully prayers were answered and the break is in the perfect place, where it will not need the reconstruction to be done, not only this but the CT scan showed that the bones are now healed enough to do the surgery on my ACL! I am having the surgery next Wednesday and he says that I can even put some weight on my leg now before the surgery then only a few more weeks of recovery before I should be actually walking again!! I was so happy I started crying right there in the doctor's office.

I have been so worried all week waiting to hear what was gonna happen with my knee, not even wanting to talk about it but now I am so excited to finally be getting a glimpse of the light at the end of this never ending tunnel! Hopefully my work will someday forgive me for all that I have put them through, topping it off with "oh, btw, I know I was supposed to work next Wednesday but instead I'm gonna have surgery and be gone for about 3 weeks, ok?!" I have a couple more shifts before the surgery so I hope I can help make things right and actually get to say goodbye to people (coworkers and patients) before disappearing this time, unlike last time... Good times!

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(Now for the rant, avert your eyes, hide the children - the actually meanest Alldredge sister has something to say!)

There are things going on in my world that I am very angry and frustrated about but I cannot fix (thus making me even more frustrated). These are not injuries to me but to someone that I care dearly about. I cannot go into detail now but rest assured that there will come a time when those doing her wrong will realize that they made a mistake and they will get nothing but laughter and condemnation from me. You can hurt me repeatedly, I have proved over and over in my life that I will forgive you, but woe to anyone that purposefully hurts one of my loved ones! I have no physical capacity or ability to strike someone but that will not stop my angry words when all is said and done.

Stop it, fix it, or we're gonna have a little talk!!

The luckiest nerd-girl in town!

So I got a package delivered today and I am so excited! I found the funnest gift for April, my partner at work, since her birthday was last week. I decided that since I was already ordering something from this site it was finally time to order some stuff for myself from this site as well.

I got my new necklace and earrings. They are both made out of sterling silver and the necklace is in the shape of the serotonin molecule and the earrings are the dopamine molecule. I got April wine glasses that have the chemical structure for ethanol etched into them, they are so awesome! I work with her on Wednesday and can't wait to see what she thinks about them.

For any of my fellow biochem nerd friends that are interested in these awesome items, and many others that are available go to http://www.madewithmolecules.com/ to check it out.