And more Ryder Cup

Andy did a little grocery shopping this morning then headed to Medinh where he spent the rest of the day watching the Ryder Cup. He said it was the most exciting golf he's ever seen and that it was so much fun. Meanwhile, I was sitting home, watching bad TV and doing painful thumb-bending exercises every hour.

Ryder Cup

Andy's newst golf towel:

Andy spent all day at Medinah Country Club eatching the Ryder Cup today. He went into work about 8 p.m. last night. I think he was home to sleep a few hours, then he was gone to Medinah before I woke up. He did bring all of us some souvenirs, including more than a few for himself.

He was so worn out, he fell asleep while our dinner was cooking.

A splint

I saw the hand specialist again this morning. He removed the bandage and pulled out the stitches. You can see how tight the wrapping was. It didn't look pretty:

He put a new wrapping on it, looser, thank goodness and told me to go to a physical therapist to have a spint made that will allow me to exercise the thumb. I left the doctor's office looking like this:

We called a physical therapist when we got home and they were able to give me a 1 p.m. appointment. The therapist made me a splint which allows me to better move my fingers. She super-glued a hook onto my thumbnail which is used to attach a rubberband to the splint. I'm supposed to put the rubberband on my hand to keep my thumb down and try to straighten my thumb 20 times each hour during the day. I'm not supposed to bend my thumb toward my hand - that's the rubberband's job. I'll have this on for two weeks when I go back to the hand surgeon. Here's the splint:

My helper

B got his homework done earlier than usual today so he decided to surprise me and vacuum the floor!

Conference Tournament

E got to skip school today to play varsity in the Conference Tournament in Woodridge. The bus left the school at 6:30 a.m. She got back to school around 3:30 p.m. and a teammate brought her home since I haven't been driving. She got the lowest varsity score on her team, but did girls from other schools she was playing with so she was pretty happy with the score. She moves onto the regional tournament next week and gets to miss another day of school. The varsity team placed third in the tournament and one of the OPRF players medaled.

L's self-portrait

That's not practice

Today was a match for all the senoirs on the golf team. E thought she'd be practicing with the JV team, but when she got to the bus she was told they were headed instead to Brown Cow for ice cream. E got a chocolate chip cookie dough shake. The girls are all wearing "They put the par in party" shirts they got to recognize the team's senior players.

Game Night

We went to church last night for a family game night. We had pizza and soda and everyone brought some of their favorite games to play. E startedout the night by bringing a card game to the table where I was sitting. I couldn't play since I can't hold cards in my hand so I sat by B and we worked on a 500-piece puzzle. I knew it was time to go home when all three of my kids were riding around on trikes and equipment that the nursery school uses.

Um, my 15-year-old who is itching to get her driver's permit was tooling the church basement as the leader of a tricycle train? Sure was. And I have the photo to prove it!

A winner and a volunteer

A went to Medinah Country Club for his first day of volunteering in the Ryder Cup merchandise tent. I had to laugh when he came down the stairs, all dressed up in his official uniform. He's taking the week off from work to volunteer and watch the tournament, but I doubt he'll be able to stay out of the office for an entire week!

E was at school today by 6 a.m. to leave for the Huskie Invitational at Indian Boundary Golf Course. She scored a 101 (50 on the front nine, 51 on the back). She's played a few strokes better on the front before, but was happy overall. OPRF won the meet among five teams.

Hair wrap removal

E decided tonight that it was time to remove the hair wrap she got at Disney World. She had a hard time getting it unraveled so I finally convinced her to cut it out of her hair.

This morning, my friend, N, decided to pick me up, get me away from these cats (who have a great time lounging on me) and meet up with another friend, L, for coffee. Before coffee, we met L at the Economy Shop where my volunteering is on hold until my hand recovers. We weren't supposed to be going through the rooms shopping, but N found herself a nice fall coat for $1 so she wrote out an IOU. I didn't see anything that caught my eye.

Sweet surprise

My longtime BFF Darla and her hubby sent me this beautiful flower arrangement today. What a sweet surprise! The most disappointing thing about hurting my hand was missing the scrapbooking weekend we had been planning, I think, since July. Hopefully we can reschedule soon! I did a little scrapbooking in early August, but had my bags packed ready to tackle more. Here's the opening page of my latest family scrapbook:

Another injury

B wanted to stay home from school today - his nose is stuffed up and his stomach hurt, but he finished his homework, got dressed and went.

When the school called this afternoon, I figured it was going to be B saying he didn't feel well. It was the nurse calling, but B wasn't sick. He jammed his left index finger in gym class on a basketball. The nurse taped it up so he won't move it and told us to keep an eye on it. Should be better in a few days. I think he hust wanted to show a little sympathy for his mom that I'm not the only injured person in the house. At least it's not preventing him from playing his computer games - that would be tragic.

I guess that works

I can't put E's hair up into a ponytail with my injured hand so she's found a way to do it herself. It looks ridiculous, but it works. She had to wear it up today for a chemistry lab and a golf meet this afternoon. She didn't play varsity in the last meet, but she's back on varsity tonight, playing at the Oak Park Country Club. Notice how the kitten is sitting there (by the dirty socks) ready to pounce at her hair wrap. She yelled at B at least twice to get the cats away from her.

Package

I've been so out of it lately, thanks to the vicodin, that I was surprised to receive a package of souvenirs from mom and Cindy on their recent tour of the East Coast. Andy got some candy (L was hoping that it was fidge and I'm pretty sure if it was, she would have half of it eaten by the time he got home from work). The rest of all got T-shirts. L got a red stuufed lobster, E got a pen from New York City, B got a ship and I got a recipe booklet. I'm kind of surprised all of that stuff fit into that pretty small box.

Swollen

The fingers on my left hand look like sausages. They're so swollen. They feel like they could burst. They're wrapped in such an awkward position. Yesterday was a horrible day for pain. It can only get better from here. We've requested a refill of the vicodin but the pharmacy doesn't expect the doctor to respond until tomorrow. Today E is my hero - she washed my hair!

Souvenir?

I was getting dressed this morning and found two of these sticky things stuck to my side. They were used during the surgery for monitoring me. I remember the lady sticking them on me - they were cold! I had to be in the largest OR because the doctor wanted the microscope available to him. The room is usually used for brain and back surgeries and hadn't been used that day so everything was cold. They had to lay extra blankets on me ... then I drifted off into la-la land.

Surgery

Andy took me to Ressurection Hospital this morning for my 12:30 p.m. surgery. The nurses told me I was "hearty stock," had a nice smile (thanks for the braces!) and good blood. The gown they made me wear hooked up to a heater that blew heat onto my legs. They had me write my initials on my arm so they cut into the right one. Andy and I were joking last night whether we should mark the arm that needs to be operated on. Weird what you remember. The anestegiologist told me to breathe deeply, it's only oxygen to start. I think I took four breaths and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery feeling like someone had put a hole through my hand.

Back in my room, the nurse took out my IV (waxing my arm in the process) and gave me water, apple juice, saltines and graham crackers. I hadn't had anything to eat since 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and those graham crackers were delicious. I'm instructed to take vicodin every four hours and rest, keeping my arm elevated and iced. Oh yeah, and don't do anything around the house.

Surgery scheduled

Andy took me to see the hand specialist today. He took off my bandage from Friday and asked me to make a fist. That didn't work too well. Then he poked me all over my left hand, asking if I felt one point or two or couldn't tell. I did pretty well on that except for the inside of my thumb. The doctor said that shows that nerves have been cut. And since I can't move my thumb much, he's pretty certain the tendon is almost cut through. He scheduled ou-patient surgery for Thursday at a Chicago hospital. I'll be in a cast of some sort for three weeks, probably followed by some physical therapy. Ugh.

E had a golf meet yesterday, but it was against a Chicago high school and since their teachers are on strike, they wouldn't be showing up to play. That gave E's coach the opportunity to take along a few more players and use the tee times all for his team. They stopped for dinner at McDonald's on the way home.

She came with this paper her coach had given her. It shows she's ranked fifth on the team and has a handicap of 15.81. That means, on a nine-hole course, she averages 15.8 strokes over making par. Coach said she's really been improving this year, about 10 strokes above where she was last year. She also learned that one of the seniors got offered a full-ride scholarship to a college in Illinois about fivr hours away from Chicago. E doesn't know which school, but I'm guessing McKendree. Maybe E can visit her when we're at the farm.

Silly kittens

August must know that summer is almost over. He keeps climbing into our pool/beach bag. Is that supposed to be a hint?

And then we have Muffles who I found sleeping today among L's stuffed animals. Guess he likes the company.

Fellowship Hour

Our church's hospitality group is going through a leadership transition and to help out with that, each council member signed up to host a Fellowship Hour. My day was today though Andy ended up doing all the workbecause of my hand. I was pretty pleased with myself that I took a shower and got dressed (bra even!) by myself. Anyway, for Fellowship Hour I bought a couple of pounds of grapes, strawberries, a pineaaple, two boxes of crackers and two pounds of cheese slices, a veggie tray with baby carrots, grape tomatoes and broccoli with ranch dip and a bag of Chip-Ahoy cookies. And most of it was gone before half the church got to the basement! L got into an argument with one little (did I say out-of-control?) boy who opened the cookies before church and ate six! His sister tried to convince me it wasn't his fault that he ate six cookies. Really? I said it was his fault that he was in the kitchen when he shouldn't have been and was opening and taking things that didn't belong to him. I had a talk with his mother. Here's an idea - watch your kid and know where he is instead of letting him run around the building like a madman! At least my turn at Fellowship Hour is over!

Get well wishes

I checked my email today and received this message from L:

She creates these messages and is able to email them from my iPod. I'm not sure what app she's using, but she has fun using it.

My boys

Andy and B worked together to make homemade chicken nuggets for lunch. Earlier today L and neighborhood friend, B, made me breakfsat - half a bagel, a microwaved breakfast sandwich, strawberries and a large (plastic!) glass of orange juice. The girls even took the clothes out of the dryer and folded them. Darla decided we should cancel the scrapbooking crop we had planned for next weekend. We had been planning this for months! I'm so disappointed. I've been taking lots of Advil today. My hand feels like it's asleep. Andy did doughnuts this morning with our neighbor whom he learned is an ER doc at Rush. He said the injury sounds like an easy fix and not to worry about it. Let's hope so.

On a brighter note, E scored 36 in her golf meet last night, playing varsity, and came home happy. She was a little shocked when she called to say the meet was over and L said, "Mom's in the hospital." I wasn't actually in the hospital, but E (and the whole golf team) got the story from Allison. They sent along wishes for a speedy recovery. Aww!

7 stitches

Today started out really well. I got grocery shopping done. I put away the folded laundry and had a load of clothes in the dryer. I got a $10 Sears gift card in the mail for complaining online about a Kmart incident and I got to the high school to give E her golf cart before the team bus left for the meet.

But then it all came crashing down when B got home from school and asked for some Kool-Aid. I held a glass against the ice maker and simultaneously opened the fridge to grab the Kool-Aid pitcher. A water bottle fell toward me and I went to grab it (because if it broke I'd be cleaning up a pool from my kitchen floor). I guess I pushed against the glass I was holding and crash. Somehow I got most all of the broken glass and my bloody hand over the kitchen sink.

Once I ran some water over it I knew it was deep. I called for B to get me a clean towel and for L to call Andy. Blood was spurting out (later told I severed a vein). Andy left work right away but because Friday rush hour sucks more than other days, didn't get home for a half-hour. We went an immediate care center and they were able to see me right away. Well, right after seeing my insurance card and having Andy sign a stack of papers. They cleaned it up and gave me 7 stitches after talking to a hand surgeon who will see me on Tuesday. The doctor said a tendon might be cut, but she wasn't comfortable working on that. I wasn't able to move the top tip of my thumb. Now it's wrapped up so tight I couldn't move it if it were working.

The good (?) news is that the nurses said I'm "on vacation" and shouldn't do anything - at least until Tuesday. E was at a golf meet when everything happened. Allison stopped by after work to sit with L and B, who feels particularly bad because I was pouring the drink for him. We ended up ordering pizza for dinner.

Kitty catastrophe

I made an appointment this afternoon to take the kittens to a local vet to get their booster shot. Fortunately, the appointment was at 3:30 p.m. so L would be able to go with me. We put the kittens in the cardboard cat carrier when received when we adopted them. By time we reached the sidewalk that runs alongside our house, the bottom of the carrier flew open and the cats were on the parkway. August ran under my car which was parked on the street, and Muffles just sat there, scared stiff. L was able to put Muffles back in the box and reach under the car for August. Meanwhile, she was screaming the whole time. I'm not sure I would have been able to catch both of them without L. She's my hero. The vet said the cats would be a little "slow" for about a day after their shots. Above is Muffles just relaxing once we got him back home.

Not a happy golf day

There's E on the golf course, standing by her bag. She might be happy in the picture, but she came home crabby tonight from her varsity golf meet against Hinsdale South. She shot a 58 on a course in Woodridge that she and Andy played at over the weekend. She thought that was a terrible for nine holes (kind of is) and was all sad that the coach would move her back to JV for the next meet.

However, when he posted the pictures from the meet and updated the schedule, she managed to get listed as a varsity player Friday against Willowbrook. She must be doing better than she thinks she is. She's pretty hard on herself.

Pickles

One of E's projects over the weekend was to make her own refrigerated dill pickles. It was her first attempt and she claims they taste pretty good. Andy said only eat store-bought pickles (baby!) and I'm not a pickle-eater. Guess we have to take her word for it.

Video project

E had her friend, H, over today to work on their American history colonization project. They spent about six hours together (including going out for lunch) and came up with this video.

Pretty neat. Let's hope the teacher thinks so.

On an adventure

Andy, E and I did a little shopping this afternoon, leaving L home with B and his friend, IB. Their Ohio friend, L, left before we went shopping (his mom saying she'd prefer to sleep in her own bed, then have a day off before going back to work Tuesday). While we were out shopping, B called to see if they could leave the house. We said sure; take a key. We figured they would walk to a park or Walgreens - no big deal. We got home from shopping around 6 p.m. No L, no boys. I called B's phone, but it was on the back porch in his backpack. IB's mom called and we told her we had no idea where they were. We didn't start to panic until it was past dark outside and we had already eaten dinner. IB's mom called again. We called their friend IR's house - no answer. E texted her Ohio friend, M, to see if Ohio friend L knew where they might have gone. Andy went driving around looking for them. E took her phone and searched the schoolyard, Pete's restaurant and Walgreens. Finally, about 8:30 p.m. the three of them walked in the door.

"Where were you?" I screamed at them. Apparently, they got a crazy idea in their head to walk to Walmart, at least 2 miles away. They stopped in stores along the way and back to cool off in the air-conditioning. I had IB call his mom right away. "Does this mean we can't have a sleepover," he asked. Yup. No sleepover tonight.

Storming the palace

B's friend from Ohio, L, was back in town this weekend. Andy and I and the girls were out shopping (and they had a golf lesson) and we returned to a house full of boys - B, L and the usual IR and IB. When E got back from her golf lesson, she (unknown to me) texted L's brother, M, and before I knew it, three high school boys were standing on my front porch. I asked whether they were here to see L or E and they responded, "We're here to storm the palace." Um ... OK. I told them everyone was in the basement - a total of nine kids counting our youngest who can't stay away from L when he's in town - a large part of the reason she didn't know he was coming until he was sitting in our living room. About a half-hour later, they decided it was time to go get dinner. Here's a horribly blurry picture of the eight of them on their way to Culver's:

We didn't let L tag along with them even though they promised "we won't lose her." She was mad until the doorbell rang and three of her neighborhood friends came over to play. Fortunately they left by time the group of older kids returned. They played more video games while the oldest group was looking up vidoes on the computer. IR left first, the high school boys followed a bit later. B, L and IB were up till 11:30 p.m. They couldn't sleep over, though. L's mom made it clear she wanted him at the house where they were staying so he'd actually get some sleep. Good idea!