Cold Hard Fracture

well, hello all the members of my elusive blog audience. how are you this fine afternoon? hopefully well. us wyrembelskis living in the greater walla walla area have had better days. we have been through quite the harrowing last couple weeks. 

It all started quite innocently. it was obvious linus was getting a cold so i took him in for a simple checkover at his doc's office. upon being called from the waiting room to take him back to the exam room, i quickly gathered linus and our belongings into my arms. that's when disaster struck!!! i started to trip and could feel the tumble...i reached out my arm in an attempt to grab at the doorway and catch myself to at least lighten the fall...but instead my arm was bent back as i continued falling until...SNAP! 

oh my goodness, the agony. linus was pulled quickly from my other arm. being taken from his mother in this manner, he began to hysterically scream and continuously reached for me. i was frozen and could do nothing except mutter words of comfort his way. my arm lay limp along my side. i could move my fingers and rest but every other attempt to move my arm caused no movement and excruciating pain. doctors, nurses, receptionists...all came to help and we eventually got my body into a wheelchair. the whole time linus wailed with fear of what was happening. poor guy must have been so confused. i couldn't even gather my thoughts as they asked for steve's number and told me they'd care for linus until he got there. 

with a whoosh they wheeled me through the cold drizzling rain into the other side of the clinic to urgent care. they sent me to xray. all the while the discussion over my head revolved around..."she must have dislocated her shoulder". they painfully x-rayed my shoulder and then i heard the x-ray tech say..."oh, yep, there it is"...in an oh-my-goodness tone. i finally found out i had broke my arm, but not really the full extent. we had to wait a week for an appointment with the orthopedic doctor.

in the meantime, linus had the flu for what seemed like endless days. i got an intestinal virus that attacked me for about 3 days. and steve had the flu. as well, steve's back finally gave out on him (it had been bothering him) the monday after my accident. i had to take over and with one arm, i cared for steve and linus together.

poor sicky linus

we found out at the ortho appointment i had really done a number. i had pretty much fractured my arm from  my shoulder and the ball of the ball-and-socket joint was fractured throughout. the shoulder had been obliterated. i was told to just sit and wait by a doctor who seemed uneasy about treating such a fracture. luckily, my friend urged me to look into a second opinion. with a little tenacity, we were able to get an appointment at harborview orthopedic trauma center. 

tomorrow steve and i will meet with a team of doctors at the trauma center, blue team. they will evaluate my injury and give me further insight on what can be done if anything. i'm nervous, scared, excited, sick to my stomach. i can't fully imagine the outcome right now. all i know is that i need better answers than just sit and wait. i need something more proactive. i need help and care. i want to hold my son again and hug my husband. and i need that to happen NOW!!!

Getting Back To Expressing My Inner Walla Walla

Well, here we are in the new year. I really can't believe how quickly we found ourselves rocking into 2011. Holy Moley, soon we will hit the 1 year anniversary of our move to the wild town of Walla Walla. It's truly amazing to me. And, yet, as I sit here thinking about things, I realize we have gone through a lot over the last year. Wow.

Of course, the holidays are just recently behind us and they were fun, crazy, and exhausting. Linus took pictures with Santa at the Inland Octopus toy store downtown. He wasn't too sure of the rosy-cheeked dude. Never smiled, never cried, just looked in a very analytical way at the big red elf. 

Since we traveled back east for the holiday, we had our own little Christmas in Walla Walla prior to getting in the car. Linus received a potty chair which he took to immediately. Alas, he also found it to be a perfect container for his Little People figures, so we're going to have to work on that. 

He also got a bunch of my old Fisher Price toys from years gone by. We found that my old Fisher Price house was from 1969!!! Craziness. We all three had fun enjoying the toys and some other new nifty gadgets. Oswald even joined the fun, sticking out his tongue at the new toys.

  

Back east we had a ton of fun visiting with family and friends. After 2.5 weeks on the road and traveling over 5000 miles, it was bittersweet to find ourselves back in Walla Walla. We were happy to be home, feeling every bit of ourselves drained and exhausted. But, of course, we were so sad to leave behind our familiar life back east.

2010 brought us a few scares as well. In November, an unidentifiable spot was found on Steve's pancreas. He underwent an ultrasound, CT scan, and a biopsy procedure (unfortunately, during this procedure they weren't able to collect...but he was still put under and scoped and imaged). At the end of the day they feel it is nothing to concerned about. He will undergo another CT scan in a few months to recheck the spot. Of course, the whole ordeal left us wrecked with worry, but we have moved forward and look forward to a healthier new year.

We have also grown more comfortable in our new home, Walla Walla. We are feeling, that even though I don't think we'll ever not think of Michigan as home, we are okay with living here in Walla Walla for now. We have made great new friends and find ourselves quite happy. To all our friends and family back east, We still love you!!!

I'll end this post with a picture I love of Steve and Linus. It was taken during the medical scare with Steve. It was taken at a moment that I feared so very much I might just be looking at a very sick husband. But, even in that fear, I saw a father who so very much loves his son and I felt my love for the both of them.