HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO MY MAMA! I wanted to make this post really meaningful but with one hand I am limited…so I guess short, sweet and simple is all I can do.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.

Birthday Girl!

And the wait continues…

Hey guys. So surgery is Monday at 10:30a.m. I am bummed that it isn’t going to be tomorrow but I am trying not to dwell on what can’t be helped. I did meet with the surgeon this morning and he explained in detail what would happen. The tendon has probably fallen to about mid-palm and so an incision will be made from the middle of my palm to the tip of the pinky. He will reconnect the nerves of the little finger and the tendon. He was quick to remind me that this is going to be a procedure that is going to test my patience. He told me that I will be in a full hand cast (finger tip to elbow) for 48 hours after surgery to ensure no movement of the wrist. (remember yesterday’s anatomy lesson) Then after those 48 hours my hand will be transferred to a splint that will still restrict all movement of the wrist/hand but will allow me to start occupational therapy. The doctor told me to expect to be in the cast for 8 weeks minimum and to expect to not have full use of my hand for 10-12 weeks. That is 3 months people! I might have just teared up while writing that part. The tendon is fragile and the possibility of re-tearing it is extremely high if I do any movements!!

So things to say, I may not be commenting much in blogs but I am still reading. But I am doing all of this with one hand so it is difficult. Please don;’t forget about me! 🙂

Here’s what I have learned so far:

• Peeling a banana with one hand is near impossible
• Keith is not the best hair stylist 🙂
• Insurance companies SUCK

Challenge: keep your non-dominant hand behind your back and try to prepare a meal or do any normal household activity. That will be me for the next 10-12 weeks. (2 1/2 – 3 months) Do it and report back.

I love you all and thanks for all the support, cards, emails, etc. Keith and I feel very blessed to have such strong prayers coming from so many people!

Let’s Get Medical

Thank you for all the words of encouragement yesterday. It meant the world to me. Truly. I want to explain what medically is going on. The reason my entire hand is in a cast is because I severed the flexor tendon AND the nerve in my pinky finger. But the muscle that controls the tendon (and movement) is in the wrist. Then the tendons extend from the wrists to the fingers. So in an effort to not do further damage AND to heal post surgery I can not move the wrist or my other4 fingers and engage that muscle. Pre-surgery it will cause the tendon to possibly continue falling further down my finger which will only increase the surgery incision. Post surgery it is important to continue to keep that wrist and fingers still because the newly repaired tendon will be tight and any wrist movement engages that muscle and increases the likelihood of retearing the tendon, which requires surgery again. Occupational therapy will strengthen the newly attached tendon and hopefully after 8-10 weeks the cast can come off.

So that is why I am losing use of my left hand. As for working out, the OT said 4 weeks MINIMUM off because this is major hand trauma that will be very swollen. Exercise and sweat will only increase the swelling. The hand also MUST be elevated at all times for at least those 4 weeks. Then she said, depending on my progress we “will see.” Hum. But I will be working out as soon as I am approved.

I have another doctor’s appointment today at 11:00am and AGAIN PLEASE PRAY THAT I CAN HAVE SURGERY ON FRIDAY INSTEAD OF MONDAY! The sooner the better!!

So let’s be real here. I am totally crushed. There, I am. I mean losing the use of my hand is tough. This entire post was written with one hand…see how much I love you guys. I kid. I kid. But really basic things we do everyday take 2 arms and I am definitely humbled. But stubborn and I have been driving Keith nuts by all the things I refuse to let him help me with. Also the not working out part is totally freaking me out. I will be 100% honest, I am terrified I am going balloon up and gain tons of weight. Now logically I know that is not true. I mean I eat really well and I know that is more than half the battle. But emotionally it is a different story. Emotionally I am scared. I guess it is just hard to accept that less than 3 months ago I was running 15 miles with ease and now I have a bum knee and no use of my left arm. I am just floored at how quickly things can change. It is truly humbling.

Thank you for letting me be honest and thank you for letting me express my fears and tell you my thoughts. I struggle with feeling selfish because I know so many people have it a lot worse than me. I know that. But sometimes I think everyone should be able to say, “THIS SUCKS.”

Okay guys…please just hope for another good appointment today and for surgery tomorrow. From everything I have heard this is going to get worse before it gets better. After surgery it is upposed to be pretty painful! 😦 But at least it is on the road to recovery….I will be back with updates. Love you guys!

Not Good Guys!

Well I met with the hand surgeon this morning and it aint pretty kids. I have severed the nerve that runs to the outside of the pinky and the tendon that controls movement of the pinky. I am going in for surgery Friday morning (hopefully, the doctor is trying to reaarange his schedule…if not then Monday) and will be going under general anesthesia! (SUCK) I will be out for most of the day. I will be in a cast for 8-10 weeks and will need physical therapy to teach the tendon how to operate again because right now I have a paralyzed pinky and it does nothing. So this is going to be quite the ordeal. This was/is major hand trauma.

I was fitted with my splint/cast this afternoon and have had the hand set.

I wish I could say that I have managed to put a positive Kelly spin on this but right now I don’t have anything but really read swollen eyes from a lot of crying. I mean a lot. I am in pain, I am frustrated, I am scared and I didn’t realize I was going to be a one-handed Kelly for 8-10 WEEKS! One hand! I can’t shower by myself, put a bra on even. I feel completely handicapped. Shit I am. Hell, I am typing this blog post with one hand!!!

As for working out…who knows. Definitely not for the first 14 days because I will have to keep the arm completely elevated for 2 weeks. Nice!! Then who knows….the Occupational Therapist said doubtful for at least 4 weeks. Brilliant! Just brilliant. Then as soon as this entire ordeal is over than I am going to be scheduling knee appointments to figure out what needs to be done to fix my meniscus. GOOD LORD! ENOUGH! REALLY! ENOUGH!

I definitely have a long and uphill battle in front of me, no doubt. But I guess I am going to have to deal with it as it comes. I have no idea how long it will take the incision to heal but I am hoping not too long and I plan to kick PT’s ass and have a fully functional hand in no time. (there it is…that Kelly spunk…I knew it was somewhere) I am also going to learn to be one hell of a one-handed chef!

I have another appointment with the doctor tomorrow at 11:00am to go over final steps and pray like hell that I can get into surgey for Friday!

I also will not be attending the Healthy Living Summit. For all you who are going next weekend…have a ball!

One Hand? No Problem!

Happy Wednesday guys. I am about to head out for my morning doctor appointment with the hand surgeon. Wish me luck…details this afternoon!

But let’s hit on dinner last night. One hand…no problem! This might have taken me a lot longer to cook than normal but I managed. And managed quite well thank you very much! I may have dropped a few curse words along the way and I may have gotten a tad frustrated but in the end I made dinner with 8 fingers and without getting my left hand wet or dirty. Sounds easier than it is…trust me!

Anyway…we had boneless lean pork chops that needed to be used so I got busy. I also roasted some okra for a yummy side dish! Keith is not a huge okra fan but in light of my situation he is basically inclined to let me have whatever I want! haha!

ISLAND PORK CHOPS

(adapted from P90X recipes)

• 16 ounces boneless(extra lean) pork chops
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/8 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon Cholula

1. Preheat Oven to 425 degrees F
2. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with spice rub
3. Heat 1-2 teaspoons oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat and brown pork chops (about 4 minutes) turning once
4. Stir together brown sugar, garlic and Cholula and pat onto each chop. Place on a baking sheet and cook for another 10 minutes (depending on how thick your chops are)

Holy goodness...this was AMAZING!!! I already want it again! This was the best porkchop recipe I have found and I am not even a big pork chop lover! TRY THIS!

 Okay…Happy Wednesday everyone! Wish me luck at the doctor!

Foodie Questions: Do you like pork? What’s your favorite pork recipe?

BEST VIDEO EVER: this will give you chills!!! http://finishstrongmovie.com/ 

Let’s Get To It!

Hey guys…thank you all so much for all the warm wishes you left me this morning. I will say that this has been one hell of a summer. I feel like it just one thing after another after another. As soon as I start to pick myself up…BAM…I am thrown another curve ball. But I have the most amazing husband on the planet who reminds me that life is full of curveballs and how we deal with them is what shapes our future.

So, this girl is picking herself up by her bootstraps and making a game plan. I have an 8:45 am appointment tomorrow morning with the hand surgeon so I will have a lot more details tomorrow. And until then I am just going to chill and enjoy some time off from exercise. Let me body enjoy it too. I can’t sweat because they don’t want the injury to get wet so maybe I will do some light walking and just enjoy life! Then I fully plan on aquajogging and doing other cardio (post-surgery) and I will pick back up with P90X as soon as I can. I also know I can do some lower body weights and abs. So there is still plenty for me to do. But I am NOT going to do anything until after I have met with the surgeon and let him tell me what to do. There is no point in doing something temporarily stupid that will have results prolonging any recovery.

So yesterday many of you wanted to know what the “Kelly” eating plan is. Well let me share! (it will make me feel useful! haha) Basically I said that I was following a cross between the P90X plan and Jackie Warner’s plan. Here is the deal per day:

• 1-2 carbs (usually for me that is oatmeal in the morning and sometimes brown rice in the evening or a piece of gluten-free toast with lunch. Sometimes it is only oatmeal in the morning. AND this is important any refined carb has to have less than 5 grams of sugar…anything with 5g of sugar or less will not spike your blood sugar and insulin levels)  
• 1-2 fruits (usually just 1 fruit for me…I am not a HUGE fruit person so usually one piece a day works just fine but if I do eat it twice one serving is usually in a smoothie form)
• unlimited veggies (I eat a lot of vegetables…probably 5-6 servings a day…but I never heard of anyone being unhealthy from too many vegetables!)
• 4-5 protein (I try to eat a protein with every meal and most snacks)
• 1-2 Fats (usually in the form of nuts, nut butters, flaxseed, seeds, olive oil, etc.)

I know Dairy is missing from this list…but my stomach doesn’t handle dairy well at all. So I usually only eat it a few times a week at most. When I do it is NEVER milk but usually greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

Here is a typical day of eating in the life of Kelly:

• Breakfast: Egg white omelet (stuffed with vegetables), 1 cup oatmeal (sweetened with truvia and cinnamon and sometimes some unsweetened cocoa powder and sometime sprinkled with seeds or nuts)
• Snack: Green Monster (as of late) or maybe a handful of almonds
• Lunch: Big salad (usually mixed greens, bell pepper, tomato, cucumber) and topped with a protein (chicken, tuna, tempeh) and a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
• Snack: An apple with PB or almond butter or vegetable sticks with hummus
• Dinner: A protein (usually chicken or fish) and vegetables (any and all kinds) and sometimes a starch like brown rice, quinoa, etc.

I make sure to ALWAYS eats every 2 to 3 hours. Most of my meals are around 400 calories and my snacks are about 100-200 calories. This seems to work REALLY well for me. I am typically not a late night snacker because I go to bed about 2 hours after I eat dinner.

Does this help you?

Do you like seeing what a typical food day is like for me?

When It Rains…

Well guys…I am just not going to be little miss positive today, okay? Why? Well yesterday afternoon I was cooking and decided that I didn’t really need my pinky finger. Yes…big ole butcher knife…down on the pinky. Blood everywhere, me screaming (literally) and my sweet honey rushing me to the emergency room as I hyperventilated and concentrated on not fainting.. 2 hours later…after a tetnis shot and some stitches I was informed that I have severed the tendon from my first joint to the tip of the finger rendering the top of my finger completely useless. Literally I have no control over it and it just flops over. I had an x-ray to look at the bone because I cut myself all the way to the bone. Nice, huh? But thankfully the bone looks fine…just the pesky tendon. I have an appointment with a hand surgeon on Wednesday morning and the he said most likely I will be having surgery on either Thursday or Friday of this week. And apparently it is full on under the knife with anesthesia surgery. Fun!

Who really needs a pinky?

Poor hand!

So as I mentioned yesterday, I HATE to be aimless when it comes to working out so I started the awesome 90 day P90X challenge. Well I guess I lasted one freaking day because that aint gonna happen now. No weights, no pull ups, no push-ups…nada. Oh and did I mention no running because of the damn knee…so yeah…not happy…not in a good place. I am definitely a Mrs. Grumpy Pants today! Keith says it just a setback, an obstacle, and I will be able to do my P90X challenge, just not right now. Sigh. Someone tell me joke…cheer me up…please…I beg!