A Request

So my cute nephew David in Washington called me on Skype a month or so ago, asking when he could come to my house, because he had neer been. I told him that he needed to talk to his mom about that. Since he has never been to our house he asked if I could take a picture of it and send it on the "puter". Well, with everything else that has happened, I haven't had the time to take a picture let alone post it. So while talking to him again today, he again asked when he could come to Jen Jen and Mr. Wiggles house, because he has never been. I again replied, talk to your mom. Then David, who has a photographic memory said, "Jen Jen you never sent a picture of your house to me." I told him I would make sure I did, and soon. Then I asked if there were any other pictures that he wanted. He said he wanted pictures of Rosie the goat, her house, my house, and pictures of my leg and crutches.

So this post is to fulfill my cute little Davey's request. Hope you all enjoy it! :) Rosie in her paddock
Rosie coming to check out what we are doing Rosie's House
Jen Jen and Mr. Wiggles House
Jen Jen on crutches and with her cast. Looking ever so lovely. :)

Every girl needs accessories

Every girl knows just how important accessories are to their wardrobe. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, purses, gloves, boots, shoes, hair thingies, scarves, etc. All these things help to make one's outfit complete. So I have been faced with a dilemma. What to do to accessorize this big white plaster cast on my leg. Well, as you can see from the pictures below...we've come up with just the perfect solution! This is one of the many pictures that my 4 year old friend Desiree drew on my cast. This is a picture of she and I at the park. Darran also had to get his hands on my plaster, and as you can see, this leg belongs to him...you can't read the small writing very well, but it says, (unless if it gets hairy) isn't he nice?! :) I get this plaster and the stitches removed next week, and then it's another blank canvas...should prove interesting.

My Great In-Laws

Many of you had the pleasure of meeting Pam and Russ at our wedding in America. For those of you that didn't I am sorry, because you truly missed out on meeting some of the dearest and sweetest people in the whole world. (and I am not biased)

I would be very ungrateful if I didn't go on record and let everyone know that I feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world to have them as my in-laws! They have been so wonderful since we got engaged, married and especially since I have moved to Australia. They have gone above and beyond to make me feel welcomed here in Oz. I am so grateful that they live in Victoria and we only are about an hour or so away from them. They have helped me transition into life in Oz, taught me the finer things of Australian culture, given me cooking lessons on how to make my husbands favorite sausage rolls and other yummy Aussie staples, they have loved me, supported me and have truly taken me in as their family.

So it comes as no surprise that when I had my accident and blew my Achilles that they were right there helping us out. Watching over me when Darran had to go to Queensland and visiting me in the hospital after surgery. They also came and spent this past weekend with us after I got out of the hospital. I have been spoiled...actually Darran and I both have been spoiled to have them here taking care of us! They have cooked, cleaned, nursed me back to health, motivated Darran to clean his office (which is a tremendous feat in itself!) and have watched over me making sure all my needs were met. It is truly a humbling experience having your in-laws come to your house and start taking care of you when they have knee and back ailments of their own as you lay on the couch with your feet up. Before Pam left she made sure that there were meals in the fridge for us so Darran would make sure to feed me (which by the way he is doing a tremendous job of taking care of me). She thought of everything and continues to check in to make sure "their girl" is being well taken care of. In a world today where you hear horror stories about relationships with in-laws, I am truly blessed to not only have them as friends but also as the worlds greatest in-laws! I love you Pam and Russ!

A Visitor from Perth

In between everything else that has been going on at our house and waiting for surgery, we had a fun visitor from Perth come to visit. Darran's brother Terry who lives in Perth (The distance from Perth to Melbourne is like flying from LA to NY.) came to Melbourne for a business trip and we were able to catch up with him and spend some time with him while he was here. It was great fun to spend time with him, and because my surgery got postponed we were able to actually see him twice while he was here. (Guess that is one of the positives of having surgery postponed!)

I met Terry about 2 years ago when I flew to Australia for the first time after Darran and I were engaged. Darran and I flew over to Perth for Terry's wedding, (surprised Darran's mum) and was able to meet the whole family at the time and be there for the wedding, which was a great event. But as everyone knows the days leading up to the wedding and the wedding are such busy times you really can't and don't get a lot of time to spend getting to know each other. So, since we really didn't get a chance to get to know each other while I was at the wedding I was happy to be able to spend time laughing, joking and hearing stories about Darran and Terry's childhood.

The picture was taken at a Chinese restaurant in Melbourne the night Terry flew into town. Aren't they a good looking group?!?!? We were also able to see Terry on Tuesday night before he flew back to Perth Wednesday morning. Pam had us all over for an Aussie barbecue and I was even able to meet Darran's Auntie Shirl (who is a true crack up). We laughed, ate good food and enjoyed being together as a family. It was great fun! We just hope that we are able to see Terry and his lovely wife Jo soon and it doesn't take us another 2 years to see them.

A long winded surgery update

Well, it is done!!! I have had my surgery and am alive to tell you all about it. Aren't you all excited?!?!? :) It happened March 19th and it was a process, but it is done and I am happy to be home and recovering! We got to the hospital at 11am and after Darran went to find a wheel chair for me and we were taken to XRay instead of admitting, from there we found our way to the admit office and got checked in. By 11:30 we had been seen by a nurse, had vitals taken and been given hospital gowns to change into. After changing into the hospital gowns (but leaving my "tracky" pants on) we were then ushered into a waiting room with other patients to wait for my surgery time. There were four other patients there waiting for surgery and one of them was a gentleman who had ruptured his left Achilles tendon, which I thought was pretty funny. After waiting a few hours (now it's about 2pm) Darran is starting to get a little antsy. So I tell him to go move the car (which has been parked in the 15 minute loading and drop off zone since we got there) and get a bite to eat. By this time two of the patients waiting for surgery have gone in and they have filled their seats in the waiting room with two new patients. At this point in time a doctor/nurse person comes and gets me and takes me into another room to tell me about the surgery and the "things that could possibly happen". After visiting with her I was brought back out to wait in the waiting room. Darran came back from lunch and moving the car and sat to wait some more. He isn't a good sitter and waiter, and at one stage I actually started to laugh and said, "What happens when we are pregnant and in labor for 18 hours?" (heaven forbid) He looked at me with shock and horror and in all seriousness said, "Labor for 18 hours? It only takes 15 minutes on TV." I just started laughing...boy does he have a lot to learn! :)

At this time the anesthesiologist comes to talk to me about my options. I can have a general or an epidural and be awake for the whole thing. I do not do well coming out of anaesthesia and have heard horror stories about epidurals so I didn't know which would be the worst of the two. But finally decided that I would go with the epidural, as I thought it would be really cool to be awake for the surgery! I love stuff like that!!! It is now 3:30 and the gentleman with the Achilles tendon has been taken off to surgery. By now Darran is getting really restless and wanting something to be done with me. We finally get a bed in the recovery area and wait for my turn to head to surgery. We are there maybe another 30-40 minutes before they come to get me. Darran asks how long the surgery is and when I will be out, the nurse replies that he should be back in 2 1/2 hours to see me, so with a kiss goodbye he headed off to his parents house and I headed into the surgery area.

Once in the surgery area I am met with the anesthesiologist again and a very friendly nurse named Lauren, whose mum is a recreational therapist. They go through all my paper work again (4th time that day) and talk to me about the surgery again. When they are satisfied that I have answered all the questions correctly I am wheeled off to surgery theatre number 6. Once in theatre 6 I meet a cute and very funny nurse from Ireland. We start laughing and joking and I am feeling really at peace with this whole thing. That is until the anesthesiologist starts prepping my back for the epidural. At this point I guess my heart rate starts to fluctuate because the next thing I know nurse Laren is saying, "Here love put this on, it's called an oxygen mask." I start laughing because hello, I know what an oxygen mask is. And oxygen is quite nice! After repositioning me for the epidural they were able to get it in and get the numbing stuff working, because it sure didn't take long for me to start being able to not feel my legs. My stats came back up and I was able to get off the oxygen.

They then roll me through these double doors and I am in the surgery theatre. I have had surgery before but it was a cool experience being wheeled in awake and able to see all the monitors machines and the instruments all there waiting for me. When we got in there I was told that I needed to roll onto my stomach and then move myself from the bed I was in onto the surgery table. Um....has any medical staff remembered that I have just had the lower half of my body numbed????? I'm sure it was a very funny sight to see me trying to get myself over onto the table. But with a bit of help I was able to get over just fine. During all this there are 6-8 medical staff in the theatre there. Lauren, the anesthesiologist, the Irish nurse, my doctor (whom I had never met, but was told his name was Dr. Chatter) and 3 other male nurses and an orthopedic resident/student person. The Irish nurse (feel bad that I didn't get her name) helped get me comfy and before I knew it the surgery had started. I sat and chatted to the nurse, asked her about the heart rate monitors, and the other monitors and machines that were sitting up by my head. I even had a tourniquet machine (who knew) there to monitor the pressure in both my legs. The only thing that was bad about the whole surgery is that I didn't have a mirror to watch the surgery with. Since I couldn't see what was going on I started playing with the heart rate monitor and enjoyed making the line bounce up and down and fluctuate from fast to slow. At one point I asked the nurse to find out how long my scar was going to be. She went back checked it out and came back and motioned with her fingers about 3-4 inches. She then said that they were finished and that they were starting to cast it. So I turned around and saw 4 of them working together to put my cast on and thought, "boy that hour went by quickly."

After they were finished casting and took the tourniquets off my legs I was then told to roll over and back on to the bed that I had come in on. Again...anyone realize that I still can't feel the lower half of my body?!?!?!?! With help I was able to do that and within minutes of getting back on the other bed I started trying to wiggle my toes on both legs. I can't tell you how EXCITED I was when I saw the sheet move when I wiggled both feet! I was told that I was the last surgery for the day and everyone in the surgery theatre was excited to be able to go home and start their long Easter weekend. I thanked everyone as they wheeled me out into recovery.

**Told you this was long winded, you might want to get up and stretch your legs or get a drink or something.**

Once in recovery this male nurse came over with a ice cube put it to my forehead and asked if it was cold. He told me that he was going to check where the block was in my legs and I needed to let him know where I felt the same cold in my legs that I felt on my forehead. So he put the ice on my waist...same cold...then my hip....same cold...my thigh...same cold...my knee...couldn't feel anything. At this point the head Orthopedic surgeon came over and told me the surgery went very well and that I did a bang up job on my Achilles, the worst of the three they had to fix that day. He told me that the surgery is one of the easiest for the surgeons but one of the hardest for the patients as it takes about 6 months to rehab from this kind of injury. He then told me that I would be in this cast for two weeks (non weight baring), be seen at the clinic to get the cast and staples/sutures removed and then recast. Would be on crutches for 6-8 weeks (non weight baring) after that. Then I would be moved into a heel boot and every week they would adjust it to stretch my Achilles for 6-8 weeks (again on crutches and non weight baring through this whole time). So then this is 3 months after surgery I would then be in PT for 3 months and not able to play sports for a year. Does that mean all sports? Or can I bike, hike, jog, swim??? Didn't get a chance to ask him about that, but will when I see him next week for the uncasting/staple removal.

After he tells me all of this I then get whisked off to the SouthWest 4 where I am spending the night. The orderly wheels me up to SW4 and into my room. It's a nice room, and I am by the window, which is nice, near the bathroom which is great...and I have room mates...which is okay, until I see that they are all male and over the age of 70. Then a great nurse named Lee comes in and introduces herself to me and gets me some food and some pain meds as the orderly takes my vitals. It's good to be out of surgery, not throwing up, have the feeling starting to come back to every where but my bum and then...in walks my dear hubby and in-laws...it is a wonderful thing to be alive! By this time it's about 7:30pm (I think) and Darran quickly dials my parents in America (2am their time) and I chat with them for a few minutes. Just as soon as Darran, Pam and Russ come it seems like the announcement over head is telling them that visiting hours are over. We say goodnight and they are on their way home.

At this point the pain isn't so bad and all I want to do is sleep. The nurse comes in and gives me some more pain killers and tells me about the dangers of letting my pain get out of control, gives me my nurse call button and I am on my own. Just as I start falling to sleep I hear this older gentleman in the bed nearest the door start swearing as he gets up and shuffles to the bathroom, then when he has done his business opens the bathroom door blinding me and swears and shuffles back to bed. (This goes on every 20 minutes for the rest of the evening). The gentlemen in the bed across from me is on oxygen has been in the hospital for 6 weeks and gets confused when his O2 drops. Sometime between 9ish and 230am the epidural wears off and I am in PAIN! I call the nurse and ask for pain meds, but then start to worry that they will think I am a drug seeking patient. At about 2:30 in the morning we get a new room mate, and it isn't exactly quiet when they bring him in. After they finally get him settled he starts coughing, and clearing his throat. He is in for Asthma and has had a hard time breathing and is full of PHLEGM. So once I am able to block out the constant swearing potty guy and the phlegm man I finally get back to sleep, all to be woken up again by the oxygen guy across from me, who has stripped naked and is walking around opening up all the curtains between each patient. Now having worked with geriatrics for so long I know how confused they can get when they are without oxygen and I was actually more worried for him that he would fall and hurt himself so sat there and debated about if I should call the nurse for him, but he went back to his bed got dressed and fell back asleep. As I lay there listening to all the sounds of the evening I thought that it was only fair that after working with geriatric patients for 10 years I should be a patient with them at this time. It was a long night, but we were able to get the pain under control and I was able to sleep well into the morning until the PT came to give me a walking with crutches lesson. After my lesson she told me that as soon as the doctor saw me I would be able to come home...YIPPEE. Pam and Russ came for visiting hours and brought me a cute purple bunny to help me recover more quickly. Some friends from the ward came to see me and then finally the Dr. came to see me and I was able to be released and go home.

Here are a few pictures of me in the hospital thanks to Pam for her camera skills. Isn't the bunny cute? And aren't I a good looking patient! hehehe It's great to be home and so nice to be back in the quiet of my house. The experience with this surgery so far has really truly been great. I haven't taken my heavy pain pills except for the day I got home and I am feeling quite well without a lot of pain. I've got the hang of crutches (it doesn't take you long to remember how to use them...it's just like riding a bike). And I am being well taken care of and enjoying recovering at home.

Pre..post...pre...post surgery update

I just wanted to give you all an update on what is going on at our house. As you all know I am having surgery on my Achilles. That surgery was supposed to happen on Sunday (it is now Tuesday) but I was bumped due to a medical emergency that happened on Saturday. So I got a call from the hospital yesterday and I have been rescheduled for surgery on Thursday (Wednesday in the states). Darran and I are both anxious to get this show on the road and get this surgery done and taken care of. We just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your kind words, thoughts, prayers and well wishes with the surgery. We're sure it will all go well, once we get there! :)

Hoop Dreams....Vanish

It's been about 6 years since I played basketball in a league setting, and about 17 years since I played in Australia. When I first moved to Australia I wanted to get back into playing team sports as I had left my softball and volleyball teams behind in Utah. They don't really play softball in Australia, especially down here in the country where I live so that was out, and I hadn't been too successful at finding a volleyball team to play on (okay lets be honest I really didn't look hard). So fast forward to about 3 months ago... I was at the deli one afternoon and a customer approached me and asked if I played basketball. HELLO...do I play basketball? :) Anyway as we got talking she said that she and her daughters have a team and that they were looking for some more players for their team and she wondered if I was interested. I of course told her I was and went home that night and excitedly told Darran that I was going to play basketball, if I ever saw or heard from the lady again.

Well, three weeks ago she came back into the deli and asked me if I was ready to play because the league started in a week. I of course was ready and still excited so I signed up and became a member of the Bohems team. Our first game was very telling of the kind of competition we were up against and what kind of team I had been recruited to. I got there and met the rest of my team, all of who were 16-18 year old girls, plus their mom who I had already met. The tallest one is about 5'7'. They are darling and a lot of fun, however as soon as we started warming up I started hearing comments like, "oh wow, she's going to score all our points." "Oh we are going to win for sure because she is on our team." "We won't have to do too much since she is on our team." All very nice things to be said about a person, but when you are playing on a team you want it to be said about the team and not just one person. So after hearing all those things, I decided to pull back a little and let them see that together as a team we could do great things, and not just to rely on me. We won our first game 44 to 19. Everyone participated and had a good time scoring and playing, and I'll be honest I'm not as fit as I should be so pulling back not only helped the team realize that everyone was important, but it also helped me as well.

So last week game two of our twelve week season found us playing against a pretty scrappy team of shorties...okay short to me. :) Anyway, by the middle of the 2nd quarter we were up 22 to nothing. We were all playing well, rebounding, filling lanes and fast breaking. I was following up on a fast break and running down the court. Our player scored and as I stopped to pivot to turn to run down the court again. I heard a pop and felt like someone had kicked me in the calf. I turned to see what had happened, and no one was standing there. I knew something was not right and it is NEVER a good thing to hear your body pop. Anyway as I tried to step with my right foot I immediately felt like I was wearing high heels, which is an odd sensation when you are wearing court shoes. My teammate looked at me and asked if I was okay, I told her no that I had done something to my ankle. The game was stopped I hobbled over to the side lines where Darran was and as soon as I got to the sidelines I looked at Darran and said, "I think I have just blown my Achilles". He looked at me in disbelief. I sat down and was checking out both ankles. My left ankle and Achilles tendon were hard and tight just like normal. But where my right Achilles should have been felt like jello...not good. We stayed and watched the rest of the game while I iced my leg and our team won 27-25.

Well that was a week ago, and to make a long story short, I will spare you the details of how we finally got to where we are now. After seeing 3 doctors, a radiologist and a sports physio I have indeed blown my Achilles and will be going in for surgery on Sunday (Saturday for you Americans) to have it repaired. I haven't met my surgeon yet, will meet him Sunday and find out all that I am in store for. But from what I have heard, I will be in plaster (a cast) for 6-8 weeks and on crutches and then it will be another 6-8 weeks after that for recovery and 3-6 months of rehab. Again don't know for sure exactly how they do things over here in Australia, but that is what I have heard. It couldn't come at a better time either! (haha) Darran is in the middle of filming his TV series, and the Playscapes orders have taken off, so much is going on and I feel frustrated to be stuck with a bum leg. Every other part of me works except my leg and it drives me nuts to have to get around on crutches and have other people take care of little things for me. Darran has been great!! The poor guy didn't know what he was getting himself into when he married me! :) We've been on one constant adventure, and it isn't going to stop anytime soon, especially with this new development. And my in-laws wow!!! They are fantastic! They have been great taking care of me and helping out while Darran has been in New South Wales filming jet boat races for another TV series. I am being well taken care of and know that everything will be just fine! If I don't post something for the next couple of weeks, you now know why... I'm out of action. But if I can't post something then I will try to get Darran to post an update on what's going on. For now, I need to go and put my foot back up, it's starting to throb! Toodles for now.

This picture was taken last weekend while I was at Pam and Russ's house. I was being a very good patient and hope that I will continue to be after the surgery! :) Do you like the little blanket that I have on my lap...I am learning to crochet and this is a blanket that I just finished for a friends new little girl, who would have thought? :)