change of plans, part II

the hospital staff were really entertained by my goal--to play hockey. ha!

To be honest, I have no idea where to start. These past two weeks have really thrown me for a loop. As I mentioned in my pre-surgery post, I typed a long post detailing all the things that had been going on in my life-- Valentine's Day, an awesome Wild game, a cabin getaway, challenges at work-- and talked about all I had to get done in my last few days in the US. Flashback to 12 days ago, the Saturday before I was set to jet set. Here's what I wrote in regard to what had been going on in my life:

These past two weeks have been crazy and stressful and busy and exhausting. As a testament to how just how busy my life has been, I haven't even tried out my brand spankin' new running shoes, which is so unlike me. I've rewritten my to-do list upwards of 45 times and haphazardly started packing based upon what's without a doubt my most complicated packing list ever-- long skirts and short sleeve shirts for the Sahara in the same suitcase as raincoats and riding boots for Paris, plus clothes and textbooks and bike gear for Washington. 

I've survived 7 weeks of all that my clinical instructor has thrown at me at United to help prepare me for Africa. I've been forbidden from reviewing new patients' charts, forcing me to treat what I see-- after all, I don't expect they'll have many past medical history notes for us in Niger... I've been challenged to run treatment sessions without the use of an interpreter, making me pretty proficient in administering standardized testing via charades-- after all, many of the people I'll treat in Africa won't speak English, or even French... And I've been told that I'll be treating different PT's patients moments before they arrive, forcing me throw my treatment plans out the window--after all, I won't be able to plan anything in Africa, and I'll have to be comfortable with plans changing at the last minute. 

I've also managed to have some fun outside of the clinic, enjoying my last few weeks in Minnesota until June. Last Friday, we hit up Billy's on Grand with Kristy and Amy. Bruce, a sparkly white polar bear, was born last Saturday, when we built a bear at Build-A-Bear as part of my Valentine's Day present from Clay. (We kind of have a thing for Springsteen.) That night, Famous Dave's with Brad and Kim for some ribs and live music. Car troubles for Clay, hockey, and Grammy's on Sunday. Wednesday, I momentarily stole the attention from my newly engaged coworker when I had a gorgeous bouquet from Clay delivered to the PT gym, because who expects day-after-Valentine's-Day flowers?! #impressed. Thursday, we sat on the edges of our seats at the Xcel for the first time in years as we witnessed one of the most exciting Wild games in a long time-- though we were surrounded by crazy Canadiens, and lost to the Jets in a shootout, it was awesome to see a rivalry building firsthand. 

not bad for a cabin dinner!

For my last weekend, Clay and I managed to get away to his cabin for a bit of R&R before I tackle these next few days. The tantalizing smell of Clay's cajun breakfast (a direct ripoff of Moe's cajun breakfast at the Downtowner) dragged me out of bed this morning, and we've spent the day watching Californication, the Wild lose, and the Knights go into OT with the Oles in the final day of MIAC men's bball, patiently waiting for one of the four cars on Lake Ida fall through the ice. (I mean, what the heck. It's 34 degrees and sunny. Hennepin County banned all cars from their lakes weeks ago.) Tonight, Von Hanson's stuffed chicken breasts, garlic bread, caesar salad, and KFC cole slaw (guess who picked that one out) for dinner. Tomorrow, brunch and cards at Clay's grandparents', hockey at 12:30, and hardcore packing time. 

But boy, did everything change in an instant that Sunday. With three minutes to go, riding a 2-0 lead (I scored the second :), I collided with a girl at our blue line, and knew immediately that I had seriously messed up my right shoulder (I separated it almost 3 years ago to the day, and this feeling was similar, though worse). My teammates helped me peel off my helmet, jersey, shoulder pads, elbow pads and skates. They tried to fabricate a sling out of hockey socks for me, which helped a little during the cautious walk to the car. Thankfully I was with Clay, who drove me to United's (couldn't get enough of the place) ER, where my x-rays provided a handful of docs with their weekend entertainment-- they hadn't seen anything like it. They diagnosed me with a Grade IV AC (the shoulder joint) separation, and sent me home with a sling and instructions to ice, rest, and follow-up with an orthopedic doc who knew more about shoulders than they did. Tuesday was the earliest I could get in with the family favorite, Dr. Daly, who, after reviewing my x-rays and seeing how severe my pain was nearly 48 hours after the collision, decided to operate that night. 

I like to think I'm tough...but my pain meds sure don't reflect that.

 Surgery went well, though I stayed in the hospital until Thursday for help with pain control. A very special thanks to Clay, who has stayed with me every single night on the couch and on a very uncozy hospital cot from the day of the injury up until last night, getting up in the middle of the night to talk to the doctors and nurses, get me meds, and help me be comfortable. And of course, thanks to mom and dad, who rearranged their busy lives to take me to appointments, sit with me in the hospital, and help with the things I can't manage to do with one arm. Thanks also to those who visited (my grandparents, Mac, Ben, Alisa, and later Alina and Kristy at home), sent flowers and gifts, and called- I truly appreciate it. And last but not least, thanks to the Sawatzke fam for taking me in for days at a time :)


Since coming home, I've been trying to get back into normal life, and of course cope with the fact that Africa was absolutely out of the question as soon as we decided upon surgery (no one wants follow-up care in a third world country). It's been a slow process with a few setbacks, but I'm mostly weaned off of the pain meds and have been sitting (and typing!) with my arm out of the sling. Unfortunately, the sling stays on outside of the house until I head to Washington, but I'm hoping to be able to sleep in a bed, have enough energy to stay up past 10 pm, and drive soon! 

from Mac :)

Now, I'm faced with something I truly haven't had since before grad school--free time. I'm used to being busy, and I like being busy (but certainly not to the extent that I was in the weeks leading up to the trip that almost was). On my to-do list: 

-Read a (non-school related) book

-Plan the drive out to Washington with Clay in 3 weeks (complete with Spotify in the car, a stop in Coeur d'Alene, and sightseeing in Seattle)

-Study for my boards (because I'll have 4 weeks of internships to make up in the summer, and less time to study than planned)

-Clean my room (it's become a disaster, because it's so much easier to take something out of a drawer than put it away with one hand...)

-Be diligent with my own PT so I don't get a late start performing PT in Washington

-Catch up on sleep (oh wait, that's pretty much all I've done over the past 2 weeks)

-Relax. 'nuff said.

Well, this is far too long of a post for my liking, but I guess I had a lot to say. Too bad I won't be able to blog about my adventures through the Sahara-- that is the reason I started this blog, after all-- but this way, I get to relax, see my friends and fam, and get excited for all the adventures I'll have in Washington! 

P.S. If you're up for it after tackling this long post, I highly recommend reading this, too (it's very funny): Adventures with Clay: Goaltending for the Girls' Hockey Team.