Olympics - here I come!

First – my hip. Originally I was supposed to go to the physical therapist twice a week starting a few weeks after my surgery. I told her I wanted all the therapy to go fast because I had ‘busy times’ coming, plus I just didn’t want it to drag on. I don’t think she was too impressed. Anyway, that was on a Wednesday. She asked “Do you want to come back on Friday or wait until Monday?” I opted for Monday. She had me doing exercises twice a day. When I went back in the next Monday, she was so impressed with the fact that I actually DID my exercises, and I was progressing so well that she said I didn’t have to come back for 2 weeks! Woo-hoo!  I was doing the exercises that she had assigned me to do, plus adding about 30 minutes a day on my stationary bike. (I wanted to start doing the treadmill, but we had to get a new walking tread for it since the one on it was really frayed and starting to get holes. We ordered one, and then it took Randy about a week to put it on and finally get everything correct so that it wasn’t making a lot of noise.) 

Anyway, I also slowly started adding my regular stretch and strengthening exercises. When I went back two weeks later, she was again impressed and said she would send the results (they measured my range again) up to my doctor. I had an appointment with him that week and he said everything looked good enough that I wouldn’t need to see him again!! I am still going to do the exercises the physical therapist gave me for another month (my hip should be fully healed by then) and add time to the bike and treadmill. I don’t think I’ll be in the Olympics any time soon, but I am so excited to be almost healed. :)

8 months pregnant

Second - Part of the ‘busy times’ come this weekend. Randy is flying to Colorado and then driving a moving truck back here. My daughter Ingrid, who is 8+ months pregnant (with a daughter), will be coming to stay for awhile along with her 20 month old son. Her husband, Jeff, and their 2 dogs will follow in a few weeks. We will definitely have a full house! It will actually be fun to have a toddler and a newborn around, but I’m not as young as I used to be! I hope I can keep up.

Lastly – I have a CD out!

For Christmas I always try to do something extra for my kids, and this year I decided to make a CD. It has a bunch of songs that I sing lead on, and a few duets with Randy. They are all original songs that Randy wrote. Randy will put all the songs up on Root Note (which puts it on ITunes, Amazon, etc.) where they can be bought and downloaded one at a time, or I have the entire CD for sale. They will be $10 each, or $13 if I have to send it through the mail. Just email me (kmundy@digis.net)  – I am not doing this through paypal right now. Think – stocking stuffer! ; )

The ghosts of Halloweens past

In honor of Halloween this year, I have posted a few pictures of Randy and I from this holiday long ago. We used to enjoy dressing up and going to parties – and then life happened!

1982 – Raggedy Ann and Andy

1983 – Obi-wan-Kenobi and Princess Leia

 

1983 – I worked in the Primary and dressed up as a cowboy for a party we had

1985 – Lois Lane and Clark Kent (notice our 3 oldest kids around us!)

 

1988 – Papa Smurf and a mummy

1989 – Moses and a housewife

 

 For those of you that dress up, or those who just hand out the candy - have a great Halloween!

Update and Surgery

“I got the bill for my surgery. Now I know what those doctors were wearing masks for.” 

                                              ~James H. Boren

My last post was about Randy’s health. We found out that he is in the beginning stages of both kidney disease and diabetes, but they can both be reversed with diet. He has lost 20 pounds so far and walks on the treadmill 45-60 minutes 5 days a week. His neuropathy (where it feels like pins and needles are sticking in his feet) is still bothering him especially at night, so he built a footboard for our bed because he has found that if he has something to push against, he gets relief.  Then he can fall asleep. 

I finally got tired of the pain in my right hip. I can’t run, and walking hurts if I go very far. It even hurts to walk through a grocery store. So, after x-rays and an MRI, it was decided that I had a small bone growth on my femoral head (the ball part of the hip bone in the socket). The doctor said that it had probably been that way for 40 years, but I am just noticing it now because of my age. Not that I’m OLD – but I’m not a spring chicken anymore, either!  

My younger sister, Wendy, flew in from California on Friday evening and was here to make meals, get my mom her meals, drive my oldest sister to and from work, take that sister to the bank and store, and get me whatever I needed. Her help was invaluable and I will forever be indebted to her! 

Wendy

Becky

One other sister, Becky, was here for awhile on Saturday from Las Vegas and made several meals that she put in the freezer for us to use in the next week or so. I had also put up about a week and a half worth of meals so that I wouldn’t have to cook for awhile. 

So, last Friday morning the doctor went into my hip joint using a small camera through one incision (arthroscopy) and small tools through another incision, cleaned up torn labrum, took off a few bone spurs, and shaved off a small part of my bone. I never did have any swelling at the site of the two incisions, but just a little bruising the 5^th day after surgery. I only had to take pain pills for 3 days and ibuprofen for a day or so after that. I feel really lucky on both points. I got tired of using crutches after a few days, but the doctor had said that I would need to use them for 3 weeks. When I saw the doctor 6 days after surgery, everything looked great, but he still said that he wanted me to use crutches for a couple of more weeks. It’s an insurance-thing, I think. Yuk.

Anyway, Randy and I are on the mend and we are looking forward to being 100% again.

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died” ~ Erma Bombeck

Dodged a Bullet

Thanks to everyone that showed concern or wanted to help with Randy's physical health this past week. This is how our week has gone -

On Sunday he felt real nauseated and sick, so he couldn't even stay at church. On Monday he drove into work, but felt so bad that he came back home and I drove him to the doctor. The doctor did an examination, including an EKG. That showed that he had probably had a heart attack sometime in the past. So, he had blood tests done and saw a cardiologist on Thursday.

The cardiologist performed another examination, had more blood tests done, did another EKG, and had him do a stress test. Everything still looked like he may have had a heart attack, so he had him go in this morning for an angiogram.

He was at the hospital downtown before 6am and they did an angiogram where they go up through his artery and look inside his heart. Everything looked good so they didn't have to insert any stents! What a relief. They still have to find out what is going on. His kidneys have a high level of creatinine, so they want him to have ANOTHER blood test and an ultrasound of his kidneys next week. Hopefully they can get this figured out quickly. Thanks again for all your caring thoughts!

Odds & Ends

The last few days have been kind of busy around here. On Saturday afternoon, there was a baby shower for Laura Parry at my house. She is my niece (married to my sister’s son) and this will be her first child. My sister’s girls were in charge and did the food and decorating. They had a lot of children’s books placed around that they gave Laura when it was all over to start her book collection for her baby. The food matched several of the book titles and was real cute. I guess they got the idea off of Pinterest.

Laura, Audrey, Amelia, Rita, my mom

Audrey, my mom, Eliza

 Dylan has now been on his mission for one year now. It’s hard to believe. His letters are pretty amazing. In every new email from him, I can see the tremendous growth that he has experienced so far. I’ve heard that during the two years that a missionary is serving full-time he experiences 6-7 years of growth, as compared to someone that does not serve a mission for 2 years. I believe it. I handed out postcards in Las Vegas to some of my nephews and nieces, gave one to each of my brothers and sisters, gave one to my mom, gave one (or sent in an envelope in the mail) to each of my other kids and their spouses, and gave some to the young men/leaders in our ward. Hopefully he will receive 20-30 of these postcards this week. The other side says “Happy Hump Day.”

My youngest daughter, Ingrid, has 2 Visla’s (dogs). They had a litter of 7 puppies last year. They got a male and female so that they could breed them, but they don’t want to have litters too close together and they still have to have their hips checked before the puppies can be certified by the AKC. This time, when her female dog was in heat she went down to Topeka and took the male dog – to keep them apart. They accidently got together the night she got back however, and her female dog just had a litter of 6 puppies! They are really cute, but I hope they don’t drive her nuts for the next 2 months until she sells them, since she is expecting a baby of her own at the end of the year.

Saturday morning I went to watch my older daughter, Heidi, run in the dirt and mud. My niece, Eliza, and some woman police officers and their families also ran. The course was 5k and had various obstacles throughout it including climbing walls, tires, mud and bubbles. They were running to support the fight against woman’s breast cancer. This morning she sent me a text showing that she had a huge rash under her arm and down her side a bit. She doesn’t know where it came from. A couple weeks ago she had cellulitis in her leg – she thinks it may have been from a bite.

Tyler started back to school today – he has less than a year until he graduates and he is SO ready. He finished up his internship designing websites, and now has a job that pays for his tuition working for the school newspaper doing layout for the sports section. This will be more good experience to put on a resume – his degree is in graphic arts.

Tyler Photoshopped

 My oldest son, Jesse, was interviewed on a radio show this morning. He has a comedy show coming up in a few weeks and there has been a lot of controversy about a poster that they were using for it. He will be interviewed on television (the Ralph Hipp show) the night before his show. Then in a month he and his wife are moving to Texas.

Randy has not been feeling well off and on for several months. When we were in Colorado and on a walk up to where the kids were rappelling, he had to lie down because he felt so bad. Then when he was packing up after a music gig at the beginning of this month, he felt real bad again and had to sit or lay down. He couldn’t stay even for the first hour in church yesterday because he felt so nauseated, so he went home. He still felt bad this morning, so I drove him to the doctor. We were there for a long time, but finally after having an EKG, it was determined that he had probably had a heart attack recently. A HEART ATTACK!! So, he has to go in and have blood tests tomorrow morning and see a cardiologist on Thursday. 

So, that’s been my life for just the last several days!

What Happens in Vegas. . .

. . . gets reported in my blog.

This past weekend Randy and I drove down to Las Vegas, Nevada (Henderson, actually) and stayed at my sister Becky's house. Her son, Michael, had just gotten back from a mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) where he served for two years in Honduras. So, we went to see everyone and hear his talk in church. My two brothers along with their wives, and my younger sister along with one of her children were also able to be there. My oldest sister, Connie, stayed at home and looked after our mother.

Derek, Terry, Becky, Wendy, Karen

 On the way down I snapped a picture of the Virgin River as it meanders through the mountains between Utah, Arizona and Nevada. There was hardly any water in it at all, just a bit of mud. I remember a few years ago when it was bursting it's banks and caused major flooding in St. George, Utah. But, since the United States (especially the western states) is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades, the river is barely visible in some spots. Pretty sad.

As we arrived in Las Vegas, we were able to drive to the LDS temple there and attend a session. It is beautiful. I didn't care much for some of the terra-cotta colored walls inside, but most of it is wonderful. The Celestial Room is especially gorgeous. It's always nice to visit a different temple and feel the same spirit there.

Then we went to Becky's house and visited for a while before meeting up with my brothers and sisters at a restaurant for dinner. The food was good and the conversation was great. When we were finished we all drove back to Becky's house and ate cake - my youngest sister had a birthday on Sunday. Then my two brothers and my younger sister went back to their hotel. I guess they all got rooms at the same hotel, but it was kind of funny that they made their reservations at different times and ended up with their rooms all next to each other! Randy and I stayed at Becky's house.

Dave, Becky, Rita, Terry, Becky, Karen, Randy

Randy, Courtney, Wendy, Dave, Becky, Rita

The church meeting on Sunday wasn't until 1:00pm, so we got to visit a lot during the morning. Several of Dave & Becky's nieces and nephews were in town, as well as all of their children except one daughter and her family.

Becky, Terry, Wendy

Zach, Jeff (Audrey's father-in-law), Courtney, Jack, Caydence, Rita, Becky, Derek

Mystery man, Jack, Laura, Eliza, Addilyn, Michael, Randy

Eliza, Addilyn (Zach's daughter), Michael

 After we ate lunch we all went to church and Michael did a great job on his talk. Since we didn't get out of there until almost 2:30pm Nevada time (or 3:30 Utah time) and we had a 7 hour ride home we left quickly and headed back. The trip home was pretty uneventful except for a few showers that we drove through. Since the temperature gauge in our car had said 119 degrees most the time that we were in Nevada, the rain was pretty welcome.

The biggest downer for the weekend was to get home and find that someone had gotten into Randy's truck while we were gone - he found both doors unlocked and not closed tight. They had rifled through his glove box and taken his digital camera and a pair of binoculars that he had behind the driver's seat. He uses them both for work. I found that the Honda had also been opened on the passenger side door. Since both vehicles were locked when we left and nothing was broken I figure they must have had some kind of master key that opened any vehicles doors - scary.

Oh, and by the way...

Last weekend we went to a concert in the park. Our friends, Ralph and Sandy Edson joined us. Friday night they had Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits. We had seen his show a few years back, and loved it, but Saturday night they were having Felix Cavaliere and the Rascals. When we lived in Nashville and Randy had his own roofing business, Randy had put a roof on Felix's house, so he knew him as an aquaintance. We decided to go on Saturday.

First on the program were the stars of Beatlemania doing a few of their songs from the show. They were actually very good and played for over an hour. They even changed their outfits several times. I don't know how many of these groups are around, but these guys were very enjoyable. It was mildly entertaining to see members of the audience dance to the music.

Then Felix Cavaliere came out with his band. The band goes by the name of "The Rascals", but they were obviously not the original "Young Rascals" that he used to play with. Those guys would be about his same age, and the band with him that night had some very young players. Plus, Ralph said that he had looked them up on the internet and the "Young Rascals" were playing in England that night! The picture in the paper of Felix must have been about 30 years old, because Randy said he is probably around 70. They did put on a good show, and played his old tunes plus a lot of music that wasn't his, but was from that era.

The evening ended with a fireworks show. It had been a long time since I had been that close to fireworks (I usually watch them out my bedroom window anymore!), and it was fun.

Oh, and I didn't take any of these pictures - I hope they're not copyrighted!!!