Andrea's shoulder surgery

My right arm had been giving me trouble for a while ... a couple of years, in fact. I had to quit serving overhand at my weekly volleyball games with friends because it caused too much pain. That helped for a while, but eventually I went in to see a specialist because I'd wake up in the night with shoulder pain and even tasks like chopping vegetables were affected.

The doctor diagnosed bursitis with impingement. He said I could (1) go to physical therapy, (2) get a cortisone shot or (3) have surgery to fix the problem. I thought it made the most sense to start with the least invasive treatment, so I started going to physical therapy. I went for months. At first, I saw improvement, but over time I kept wondering when the problem was going to be solved. Eventually I brought it up to the PT who suggested I go back to the specialist.

This time, the orthopedic surgeon said that the bursitis symptoms may have been masking another problem. He suspected that I had torn my labrum and ordered an MRI.

You'd think someone would have informed us how a shoulder MRI works, but they didn't. So we were confused when they led me to the X-ray room at EIRMC. They patiently explained that they have to inject dye into the shoulder before the MRI to see where the problem lies. After the X-ray-guided injection, I was led into a room and told to take the Valium the doctor had given me prior to the MRI. 

(Valium side note: When the doctor ordered the MRI, he asked if I had any questions. I asked if my head would have to go in the machine. He told I would go in head first. I asked for medication and he delivered. I'm not claustrophobic when it comes to most things, but when I thought I'd have to go completely inside the machine when I was 15 for my knee, I panicked. And when we go into the Wind Cave, I opt not to even look at the part where you'd have to army crawl through a tiny opening.)

I've never had Valium before; it felt like a weighted blanket was covering my brain. I closed my eyes and sang Primary songs in my head for the duration of the procedure, and everything turned out well.

I got my MRI results back a short time later. The doctor said, "Your labrum isn't torn." I thought, "Hey, that's great!" Then he said, "Your rotator cuff is torn." I thought, "Wait. Isn't that worse?"

He recommended I have surgery within the next month or two. Despite having shoulder pain for years, I didn't expect my life to be turned on its head this quickly. But we scheduled surgery for November 2--after our cruise and in time to be out of the sling by Christmas.

The day of the surgery, we wished the girls goodbye before they left for school and Seth drove me to EIRMC. I was awake long enough to be rolled in to the ER and transfer myself onto the table. I woke up in recovery, and it didn't take long for my shoulder to start to hurt. I consented to a nerve block, which was a good decision. I couldn't feel anything in my right arm for hours, but I made sure to start taking my medication before it wore off completely. The prescription-strength stuff was welcome, but it didn't hold a candle to the block. The first few days post-op were spent taking pills every four hours and learning how to stack pillows in the recliner we borrowed from Grandma Hendricks so I could sleep comfortably. 

The first time I left the house was the following Tuesday (the surgery had been on a Thursday) to go to a stake Relief Society presidency meeting at the church. That was enough of an outing for one day. The next day I went to Fairview to conduct a student council meeting. That was enough of an outing for that day. Gradually I started being a normal person again by going to church, shopping and even subbing with my right arm in a sling. 

Some things I've learned from this experience:

• No matter how high-tech and comfy your sling is, it will absolutely drive you crazy sometimes. Sometimes it's the abduction pillow that seems to squeeze your ribs. Sometimes it's the back of the sling that seems to dig into your elbow with all your arm's weight resting on it while you're sleeping. Sometimes it's the strap that goes behind your neck that seems to dig into the side of your neck. And sometimes you won't even notice the sling is there at all.
• Doing things lefthanded or onehanded is hard but not impossible. And sometimes you can use your right hand even though it's in the sling. As long as it can reach what you're working on (like typing this blog post), it's handy.
• You'd think having one good hand would be enough. I quickly learned that a lot of tasks require two hands, and you can't always do your two-handed work at sling level. Seth (and occasionally Ana) had to put my hair in a pony tail or a clip whenever I wanted it up. 
• Don't think you can save yourself time by keeping the recliner in the reclined position when you get up in the night. That may result in the recliner tipping backwards when you go to lie back down, and you may fall and hit the back of your scapula on the desk. And you may cry because it hurts so badly.
• A wedge pillow in bed is more comfortable than a recliner.
• When you finally get the sling off after six weeks, you will still be incredibly gimpy-armed. I tried to insert the key into the van's ignition at the orthopedic surgeon's office, and my right arm wouldn't reach. I'm still driving onehanded for the time being.

Pre-op at EIRMC on November 2.

Eating a graham cracker post-op.

Settled in the recliner after coming home from the hospital.

Halloween

The Grovers were divided for our Halloween festivities, but Rebekah still celebrated from afar. We carved pumpkins, Winnie went trick-or-treating, and Miriam and Ana watched a scary movie (Nope) with some ballroom friends. Rebekah carved her pumpkin at a Family Home Evening activity. All the girls wore their costumes to school. I asked if I could go out trick-or-treating this year while Seth stayed at home and supervised the older kids.

Winnie with her pumpkin guts and the sheikah eye (from Zelda) pattern for her jack o'lantern.

Miriam's pumpkin guts.

Seth's white pumpkin.

Ana's pumpkin innards.

Family picture. I bought four pumpkins thinking Rebekah could carve one, but she had her own in Rexburg that she carved at Family Home Evening, so Seth carved our extra. 

Silly picture. Originally Seth and I were going to have a pumpkin together, but I used the time they had carving pumpkins to pick up the credit card I dropped at the corn maze while there with Winnie.

Ana's Jurassic Park, Seth's doge, Winnie's sheikah eye, Miriam's Zelda symbol.

Winnie's light art.

Miriam's light art. (It's an M for Miriam.)

Ana's dino head light art.

The monster Rebekah carved from one of her scary movies.

Miriam dressed up as a Camp Halfblood Kid (from Percy Jackson). She and a friend coordinated costumes and made the necklaces and T-shirts together. Unfortunately, the friend didn't wear hers to school on Halloween.

Miriam the vampire. She had made a cape from loop yarn that she received from her birthday, but it was a very short cape. For trick-or-treating, she borrowed an old cape of Ana's.

Andrea the dinosaur.

Seth as John Hammond from Jurassic Park.

Ana as Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park (recreating the scene when she tends to the sick triceratops).

Rebekah as Alan Grant from Jurassic Park. Most people at college didn't know who she was. Woody from Toy Story? 

Lagoon

We were going to go to Lagoon on Saturday, October 14. I purchased the tickets. Then I decided that everyone at our house was going to get flu and COVID shots before Seth and I left on our cruise because I knew of at least four people who had recently gone on cruises and come home with COVID. So we got shots on Thursday, October 12. And then Miriam and especially Ana got really sick that weekend. Going to Lagoon was out of the question unless we wanted to torture our children.

So instead we went to Lagoon on the last Saturday of the season: October 28. It was cold. It got colder throughout the day. I was sure that, because of the weather, there wouldn't be that many people at the park. I was wrong. But we all managed to have a good time. 

Seth writes a program that would route Rebekah's laptop sound through her phone and into her hearing aids while on the drive. Such a good dad.

Seth, Rebekah and Ana in the park.

Andrea, Miriam, Winnie and Ana on the pirate ship. We got the very end seats, so it was a great ride. Seth and Rebekah chose to sit this one out so they wouldn't feel sick.

Ana and Andrea on the swings. Seth and Rebekah also sat this one out.

Getting gelati as a treat. Why did we pick a cold treat on a cold day? I'm not sure. It was delicious, but we were all shivering.

Winnie, Ana and Miriam watch the animatronic in line at the new ride: Primordial. We waited for two whole hours to ride this one. If we had realized the line was that long, I think we would have spent our time fitting in a bunch of other rides. Lagoon doesn't have an app that estimates wait times and some of the line is hidden in buildings, so we had no idea what we were in for. It was definitely a cool new ride, but I don't know that I could say it was worth the two-hour wait.

Ana, Winnie and Andrea ride Reentry. Seth, Miriam and Rebekah had already headed out of the park. This was our last ride of the day.

Yellowstone

 The weather was lovely and we had season pass, so the Grovers who were available (Ana stayed home to do school work and Rebekah stayed at college because she had a band commitment) took a day trip to Yellowstone on Saturday, October 21. Our stops in the park included the Artists' Paintpots, Norris Geyser Basin, Artist Point (at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone), brink of the Lower Falls and the Mud Volcano area. 

October was a wonderful time to visit the park. There were people at every stop, but the crowds were manageable. We were always able to find parking no matter where we went. If we had to do it over again, we'd skip the steep hike to the brink of the Lower Falls and instead try out Uncle Tom's Trail. And every time we're in the Canyon area of Yellowstone, we will have to revisit Artist Point; it's amazing.

Hiking the Artists' Paintpot Trail. It was brisk in the morning, and there was a lot of fog before it burned off later in the day. This was probably my favorite part of the day because everything looked ethereal.

Artists' Paintpots.

Steamboat Geyser at Norris.

Winnie drinking two apple juice boxes during lunch at the Virginia Cascades picnic area. This was perhaps the best picnic lunch I've ever had in Yellowstone. It was sunny with no wind and just one other group of people at another table.

Miriam taking a breather during lunch.

Artist Point. We couldn't believe the spectacular beauty of this place. We'd all seen the Upper and Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone before, but never from this vantage points. It was breathtaking.

Pacific Coast cruise

Seth and I celebrated 20 years of marriage back in August. That's a busy time of year, what with back-to-school events and activities, so we postponed our celebration until October. We were able to use miles and the annual companion fare from our credit card to get flights, and we booked a three-night cruise from Seattle to Vancouver.

Sunday, October 15

We went to church with the kids, then Ana dropped us off at the airport after 2 p.m. Our flight from I.F. to Seattle was uneventful. I finished reading a book Miriam had recommended to me at least a year before. Seth watched short creepy films. We paid $50+ for an Uber ride from the airport to our hotel for the night: Staybridge Suites in Fremont. We got checked into the hotel and walk to Paseo, a restaurant recommended to us several years ago by friends and re-recommended this summer. We ordered their Caribbean roast sandwiches, fried plantains and some fries. Then we walked around the neighborhood and just happened to end up at the Woodland Park Zoo. The zoo closed, but there are public rose gardens adjacent to the zoo. We walked through them and admired the vegetation. Seth played music on some chimes. At that point it was dark, so we walked back to the hotel, I took a bath, and we watched part of the Elvis movie until I was too tired.

Plane selfie.

On a pedestrian bridge that crossed the road.

At Paseo.

A bunny we saw on our walk.

Monday, October 16

I woke up at 6, which is 7 Idaho time. Seth woke up at 7 Seattle time. We got dressed and ready and went down for breakfast at the hotel. Seth had forgotten to pack a belt, so after looking at nearby options, we decided to venture out to Fred Meyer. It was lightly raining when we left, but it continued to get heavier and heavier as we went. We walked a mile to the Fred Meyer and saw some dead rats next to the railroad tracks. We didn't want to spend 30 bucks on a belt, but we found a $10 ladies belt on clearance and also bought some gum. By the time we were ready to go back to the hotel or go on a walking tour of Fremont (something we thought we'd do for fun that morning), it was raining even harder than when we left, so we scratched those plans and got an Uber back to the hotel.

I took a nap while Seth watched more of creepy short films. When I woke up, we packed up and hitched another Uber to the cruise terminal. We got our medallions (a circular plastic dealio on a lanyard that unlocked our rooms) and boarded the Crown Princess. We went straight to our cabin to watch the safety video and then checked in at our muster station, then walked around and got ourselves oriented with the ship. By the time we made it back to our cabin, our luggage had been delivered, so we unpacked, got our swimming suits on and searched for a vacant hot tub.

We thought we found one, but it turned out just to be a weird small circular pool that was definitely not hot. We wandered around longer and then decided to ask if I could share one with someone. We met two ladies from Vancouver and stayed in the hot tub for more than an hour and a half. The ladies left, which meant we had the hot tub to ourselves when the ship left port. It was lightly sprinkling, so we had a brilliant view of Seattle with a rainbow.

Seth and I went back to the cabin to the showered and dressed for our dinner reservation. We ate in The DaVinci dining room. I have antipasto and mahi-mahi and pineapple brulee. Seth had prawns and pork tenderloin and bananas foster. We met two ladies from Seattle and mother and daughter from Vancouver but originally from Sweden. After dinner, we went to the Explorer's Lounge and kind of listened in to their trivia game while we made good use of our drink package and ordered mocktails before calling it a night.

Drenched outside the Fred Meyer in Fremont.

Checking in at the cruise terminal.

On board at Seattle.

Our "strawberries on fire," which turned out to be our favorite drink this time. It's Sprite with strawberry syrup and pulp with a jalapeno.

Tuesday, October 17

This was our one day at sea. Since it's only a 2.5-hour drive from Seattle to Vancouver, the ship left Puget Sound and tooled around in the ocean for a full day before coming back and docking at Victoria. The seas were choppy, so we spent this day enjoying whatever the rocking ship had to offer. 

We took it slow this morning by sleeping in. We tried to go to the dining room for breakfast but it didn't seem like they were open so we went to the buffet instead. Apparently this was a Hollywood effects theme cruise, so we went to the theater and listen to Michael Westmore talk about movie makeup. He worked on Star Trek and Rocky, among others. Then we listen to Johnny Spence and Tym Buacharern talk about their makeup and animatronics in Hollywood. Tym did makeup for the movie Dreamgirls and for Janet Jackson while she was on tour. Johnny did animatronics for Alien Versus Predator and Dungeons and Dragons. For lunch we went to the buffet. Then we borrowed Scrabble from the library and played it by a window. Andrea beat Seth by one point (Whaaa?!), but Seth earned the most points in one turn. 

Then we went to Club Fusion for some landmark trivia (which we didn't win). After trivia we went back to the cabin and took a nap. When we woke up, got prettied up, watched the beginning of The Flash and went to the Michelangelo dining room for our dinner reservation where we were seated with Marion and her husband Dan and Jennifer and her friend Kim. We enjoyed the delicious food and conversation, then excused ourselves to go to karaoke. Seth sang two songs: "Your Song" and "Santa Monica." Back at our cabin, we watched a little more of The Flash before going to bed.

Breakfast buffet.

Seth listening to Michael Westmore talk about his work on Star Trek.

Andrea playing Scrabble.

Watching some Halloween Simpsons in the cabin before our dinner reservation.

In the dining room.

Wednesday, October 18

We saw another rainbow at breakfast while in port in Victoria. We walked around the deck as the ship prepared for us to deboard.

We watched more of The Flash while we waited until we could go into the city. I had made reservations with a bike rental company for this day, but we found out (after illegally cutting through the parking lot and having someone kindly shout at us to follow the appropriate path) that they were closed. We tried calling, but nobody picked up so we left a message. Seth emailed them, and three hours later we got a reply saying that someone was supposed to be there for us, and we could get the bikes for half-price due to the inconvenience. At that point we were well into the city, so we just walked.

First we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and walked among the boats and the houses on the piers. As we headed in the direction of downtown we stopped and did a self-guided tour of the parliamentary building. Then we did some souvenir shopping in downtown Victoria and China town.

We had planned to walk to a restaurant on our way to Craigdarroch Castle, but the maps let us astray and we totally missed the restaurant and were almost to the castle by the time we realized it. We ate some granola minis on a wall and drank some water from our bottles. Then we finished walking to the castle and enjoyed learning about its history on a self-guided tour. From the castle, we decided to walk to Beacon Hill Park. We used Google Maps to pick out a taco place along the way, but it was closed. So we continued down to the park and saw the largest freestanding totem pole and walked along the beach covered in driftwood before heading back to the ship.

Back at our cabin, we took quick showers before getting dressed and heading to the dining room well before her reservation time. Apparently when you don't make a reservation, you still get in and seated, but you don't have to wait for a whole table's occupants before eating? There was one lady already there, Devorah, and she was most of the way through her meal already. Nobody else ever joined us at our table, and Devorah left while we were still working on our main dishes. She turned out to be a fascinating person: musician, adventurer, jungle treasure finder, military pilot. We learned in our short time with her that she had lost 87 pounds and had a total knee replacement. 

Seth and I both had two starters plus an entrée plus dessert plus an ice cream cone because we had not eaten any lunch. After dinner we went to the Explorers' Lounge and listened to a comedian. He was mostly funny and only slightly offensive. (He also made fun of Mormons a couple of times.) As part of his shtick, he would walk around the audience to comment and make fun of things. He said my shirt was funky. (It was a red and black flannel checkered shirt.) He said Seth shouldn't pretend that he has hair and just shave his head all the way. 

While listening to him, we had a couple of mocktails. The bartender accidentally added rum to Seth's virgin pina colada and then just poured it off the top. Then we played a music trivia game where you have to name the song in the artist. We thought we were doing really well by earning 32 points, but the winner got 38 points. We didn't feel too bad about losing when we learned that the prize was a bottle of champagne. Then we got our ice cream and stuff got a slice of pizza and walked around the deck and then went back to her room and finished watching The Flash.

On the ship in Victoria. 

Seth walking among the floating houses at Fisherman's Wharf.

Near the parliament building.

Walking along an alley in China town.

Outside Craigdarroch Castle.

Seth and the worlds' tallest freestanding totem pole at Beacon Hill Park.

Going down the stairs to the beach.

At the beach.

Our fancy desserts in the dining room.

Thursday, October 19

The cruise was at its final port by the time we woke up, so we finished packing and went to the buffet for breakfast. Andrea was disappointed; she didn't get French toast a single time. (On our last cruise, the Princess French toast was to die for.) It wasn't time for us to go yet, but we were packed and ready, so we headed to disembarkation station early? We got there and soon realized that although it was past time for the first group to leave, they were still waiting. So rather than waiting until it was our time to walk off, we went with the first group. We walked about a mile to our hotel and asked if we could just leave our luggage since check-in wasn't for another 8 hours. The nice lady at the desk told us that there was room ready. It was an upgraded room, but we could check into it at that time. So we got a free upgrade and we got into our room way earlier than we expected to, which was the loveliest unexpected perk of the trip. 

We went up to the 15th floor and dropped off all of our luggage, got connected to the wi-fi, and made a plan. We paid for a 24-hour pass to the cities bike rental stations, walked to the closest one, and rode bikes to Stanley Park. We went all the way around the park stopping at various places along the way like the two light houses, the totem poles, the beach, etc. We had to trade bikes from time to time because we were limited to 30 minute rides. We had one hiccup at one of the stations: after we checked in our bikes and they locked, we didn't receive conformation that the ride was completed. Then we were unable to unlock those bikes or any other bikes at the entire station. We had to walk 20 minutes to the next closest station and try to get our next bikes there only to have the app say that we still had bikes checked out. Seth called their company and explained the situation. They said that the totem pole station was offline, so she ended a ride from earlier and that allowed us to check out bikes at our current station. 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a ramen restaurant for a late lunch. Then we walked the rest of the way back to our hotel where we watched a little bit of our Elvis movie and take a nap.

After relaxing evening an hour hotel room, we got showered up and walked to a nearby place to get poutine for dinner followed by gelato for dessert. (It was my first time eating poutine.) Seth's favorite gelato flavor was the ginger cookie. Mine was the salted caramel. We ate the poutine at a nearby park and the gelato outside the gelato store. It was a mild and lovely evening. Then we walked back to the hotel and went to bed early.

Andrea at the disembarkation station.

Andrea posing at an art installation in Vancouver: A-maze-ing Laughter.

Seth posing with his chosen statue.

Seth at the beach at Stanley Park. We took off our shoes and walked along the sand. The water was (unsurprisingly) very cold.

Seth walking his rental bike to the second lighthouse at Stanley Park.

Eating ramen after Stanley Park.

A funny sign at the poutine restaurant.

Eating poutine at the park.

Eating gelato outside the store.

Friday, October 20

Our flight left Vancouver at 6 a.m., so we had to leave our room at 4 to catch our scheduled Uber ride to the airport and go through customs and security. We timed it just right and made it to our flight just fine. The only flight from Seattle to Idaho Falls didn't leave until noon, so we bought ourselves some breakfast in the Seattle airport and did a little research to try and find the most comfortable place to camp out until our flight. We found some lounge chairs next to a window in a quiet corner of the airport and tried our best to nap. The chairs proved too hard and the window too drafty for us to be completely comfortable (Seth did move to the floor and did sleep a little based on his snores), so we mostly listened to music/watched shows on our phones/read until it was time to board.

When we finally boarded in Seattle and then landed in Idaho Falls, Ana came to the airport to pick us up, and we were reunited with our three girls at home who had held down the fort and taken care of themselves while we were away.

On our hard lounge chairs by the drafty windows.