Christmas has come and gone.

This wonderful tree sat in the front room. I love sitting on that comfy couch staring at the tree, cuddling with Brett. The tree is still there. Brett is not. But it's still an awesome tree...

Side effects may include....

I'm not feelin so hot. It is 6am and the fact I have been tossing and turning all night could have something to do with it... Buuuut just to be safe (boredom) I looked up all the side effects of my medications and the side effects of my medications crossing. (Come on, I know you've done it!) Yes, I know this makes me sound like a pill popper and that I am heavily medicated. If either of those were to be true it would be the latter. My excuse is valid. Compartment syndrome. But funny you should ask, I haven't taken any of my pain medication in days because I have been able to control the pain. Sooooo I'm just crazy. Crazy in love. (Turned that one around fast, didn't I?)
Annnyyyway,
The results of all these medications crossing, not to mention some medications on their own, I should be hospitalized or worse...
Side effects include:

• the Peptobizmol regulars
• hallucinations
• irregular thinking
• serious rashes (Which can become life-threatening and permanently disfiguring and or disabling. Seriously)
• epilepsy
• abdominal pain
• back pain
• light sensitivity
• lymph node problems
• vertigo (This unfortunately explain soooo much)
• sinus infection
• tooth problems
• vision disorders (Which in some cases cannot be reversed)
• ear problems
• difficulty breathing
• swelling of hands... eeew
• Oh, wait not done with the swelling, legs, mouth, face, lips, eyes, throat or tongue
• abnormal thinking
• confusion
• decreased coordination
• fainting
• irregular heartbeat
• memory problems
• Deatttthhhh
  
• difficulty floating
• yelling at household objects (Which is rarely productive)
• And so much more...
  

Okay, so the last two I made up but why not throw those into the mix.
Fortunately, out of these 27 side effects I have listed, I have only experienced maybe two. Maybe. I do remember my vision being blurry and it was related to a medication. Lousy. I am happy to say I have never been hospitalized for any of them.
Lucky me

Chat

David

What happened to your leg!?

1:15amRachel

The hospitals wanted to do a case study on my leg because my it had grown in width instead of in length. They are replacing a few tendons with flexible metal chords and cutting out some bone and replacing it with a spring-like metallic plate. When everything fuses together I'll be semi robotic. They say I'll be able to jump like four feet high

1:16amDavid

Woah! And most girls just get a boob job

That's epic!

This is a conversation my friend David and I had over Facebook chat just minutes ago. I was laughing hysterically out loud by myself. I even did a little karate chop in the air. I do that when I am excited sometimes. I think this story is muuuucccchhh better than Saber tooth tigers. Don't you think??

I told David that it was a total lie and proceeded with the reeeeaaal story. Booorring...

I'm not even going to talk about the snow...

This is my brass knuckles mug. I don't think I'm gangsta or anything but I am proud of it. I am a sucker for ceramic things. I'm also a sucker for unique things. So you can see that I just couldn't resist. Best $4.59 I've ever spent. (What a steal!) The beaded gold tear drops hanging from the side are my new earrings that I love. I don't care if you don't like them. I do. Back off. I have been looking for a very very long time for earrings with these requirements:

• Must be cute, darling in fact
  
• Gold hoops (If I must I will settle for silver)
• Cute beading
• Something that can go with almost anything

I think I did a pretty good job. I wasn't going to spend another night looking at earrings online. These were what I had been looking for. It was a nice treat after a compartment pressure test. Wanna hear the story? I'll tell you...
*chimes...
I had a compartment pressure test on my right calf today. Definitely one of the most unpleasant things I've experienced.

Things that are unpleasant:
(According to me)
(In no specific order)

1. Compartment pressure test
2. Uncharged ipods and cellulars
3. People who disappear and reappear at inconvenient times
4. Grumpy secretaries
   
5. Cold fingers and toes
6. Lifting heavy things
   
7. Sleeping alone
8. Crutches for an extended amount of time
9. Being ill
10. Being bit by a giraffe (I would imagine)

That's the scoop on The Unpleasant Things as seen by Rachel.
Back to the story of the hour. Okay, Okay, seriously.
They tested three of four compartments in my leg. The doctor drew three lines on my leg covering each compartment and soon to be injection site. He numbed each compartment with a shot. The prick didn't hurt as much as the numbing fluid which stung... really bad. However, the shot was a cake walk to what came next. The doctor measured the pressure in each compartment at a resting rate. I can interpret this like a tire pressure gage. They stuck a needle, a big needle, into each compartment and with air pressure they somehow read a gage... Okay, maybe I can't interpret it. I was laying down on the table with my legs dangling off the edge. I wasn't allowed to sit up so I couldn't see anything. They told me I'd feel a lot of pressure. The "pressure" was so bad I was clinging onto the sides of the table. My pressure was pretty normal... for an athlete. Now they needed to measure the compartment under lots of pressure. I ran off to the physical therapy wing. (I practiced how to mimic the pain I'd get in my legs at physical therapy) I hopped onto a stationary bike and did some calf lifts and in now time my leg was angrily burning and begging me to stop. I hobbled back to the room where two interns and the doctor me up with me again. I laid back down on the table and got poked with the big needle gage thing. The doctor read the gage and said, "Whoa!" One of the interns said, "Isn't that compartment level?" The doctor muttered "She feels it everyday... It is grossly abnormal."
Call me crazy but I was really happy to hear that it really is abnormal and I'm not crazy. It's nice to figure everything out.
My leg is really sore.
Jeri made brownies. I feel better.
Oh! I almost forgot! I got my two pairs of much needed jeans. Ahhh...

Boxing

In this picture the boxer who is facing us is my dad. I've edited this post at least a dozen times trying to figure out the right words to say. But I'm realizing I'm just not ready to talk about it. It's been four years since he past away. I try to write about him all the time but all I get are a few sentences on a tear stained page.
Maybe next year.

I want THIS. I've always wanted something like this since I was a little girl. Just the other night like most of the other nights I trying to drown out insomnia I with online window shopping and found it.
I'm adding this to my Christmas wish list.

Wait a minute here. I'm a bit sleepy. 4:21 AM

This is where my picture would go
but I'm not feelin it tonight...

I'm not a fan of what happened today. It was supposed to be all joyful and triumphant. It was (for lack of better words) lameo.

I was so worked up by the time I got home I was hysterical. But, Whitney Houston helped. I sang I will Always Love you. Yes, I did. I can't swim because of the leg/foot. A long swim to take out all this negative energy would have hit the spot. Whitney Houston came very close. Beyonce backed me up a bit there too. Before I knew it, I had sucked Jeri into listening to my manic release of singing heart felt songs.
Today my hair was crazy. The left side of my hair was lovely and obedient. The right side of my hair was unfortunately a jerk and I ended up saying: "Right side of my hair why can't you be more like the left side of my hair?" This upset the right side even more and she has been in time out ever since.
13 days until Brett comes home!
I got a periwinkle cardigan the other day. I'm a sucker for cardigans. It has a little ruffle in it and I like it a lot. So much in fact I got one in black too. Who would have thought periwinkle would compliment my skin tone. This girl is getting color in her closet! Speaking of closet, I cleaned mine. Brett has waaaay more clothes than I do. He's a babe so it doesn't matter :)

Saber tooth tigers and bang-o-rangs

Top picture: My leg. (Yes, I know it's a little hairy. Would you want you risk shaving over that?? Didn't think so.) My leg is noticeably smaller. I didn't think it was THAT noticeable until today at physical therapy when a very nosy lady next to me commented on it. Thanks lady. I don't think you can really tell in this picture but trust me, it's smaller. I'm trying to think of an awesome story to tell people when they see my scar. So far the "I had a surgery where they reconstructed the second metatarsal and lengthened a tendon in my calf but they put the bandage on too tight so I got this thing called a post compartment syndrome which means your fascia is under so much pressure that your muscle actually starts to die anyway it hurt real bad and I went to the hospital where they sliced me open to let the muscle claim itself and then after three days they only had to take out 20% of the muscle and that is why there is a huge scar on my leg" isn't giving the clear intense message that I want it to. Especially because no one knows what a fascia is and if you haven't had post compartment syndrome or been in the room with someone suffering from post compartment syndrome I think it comes off as a bad charlie horse. It's much much worse. Maybe I could say something like, "Saber. Tooth. Tiger." VERY intensely, without blinking.
On the bright side, things are going very well at physical therapy. I am moving better and getting strength back a little more everyday. Tendons are moving nicely and everything is repairing slowly but surely.
The next picture is yours truly. After a lovely warm shower, I gave myself some much needed bangs and layers. My hair soaked up the layers into perfect little ringlets. I forgot how my hair loves to curl when there is just the right layer set in.
I am very close to being done with all of the Christmas shopping. Now, what to get for the husband...??
I am glad to report that I got a lot done today. I paid some bills, organized more, cleaned more, talked with Dr. Beals who is being super awesome helping me figure out what's wrong with me, talked with people about my $50 rebate visa card (WOO) and talked with people who told me that there is a much bigger process to get a new phone. I feel like my head is slowing down now. I am relaxing more. I am unwinding more. This is the place my mind unwinds.

Do I like that enough to use to remedy the need for a new blog name?
The place my mind unwinds...
I'm going to try it out just for a bit...