Riding the Roller Coaster

Yesterday was a bit of a roller coaster of a day with a couple of moments where my stomach was in my throat because of big drops.

It started off when I lost a layer of my epidermis to a wax strip.  I had been on antibiotics about a week ago and my aesthetician and I had decided to wait until they were out of my system.  Just to be safe this go round she did a couple of test strips.  My skin wasn't ready.  I left a few epidermal cells there in the office and had to reschedule.

I ran some errands for my mom and found some great Mother's Day cards.  I was feeling pretty good about that.  Being so on top of things, because usually I'm out on Saturday fighting crowds to find a good card. I picked up a couple of portable dvd players on clearance. I had a nice relaxed lunch and conversation with my mom.  Something that doesn't happen enough.

Then I had to go and pick up our Durango from our mechanic.  We were getting the state inspection done and getting it all geared up and ready for our road trip to California in a couple of weeks.  $1450 later I was driving home.  Which will be well worth it to have a trip free of vehicular troubles.

I actually had something ready to fix for dinner and had it ready to go when Ty came home from work so we were able to sit down and eat before he had to leave again.  I got the three older kids off to their respective church youth activities and Jillian and I were chilling here at home.

Around 8:30 I hear McKenna being dropped off.  She came down the stairs with a strange look on her face waving her hands.  At first I thought she was excited and trying to tell me something...which she was.  Her hands waving, her eyes brimming with tears she told me that her foot had just gotten run over. She didn't tell the driver just how much it hurt her foot because she didn't want him to feel any worse than he already did.  We removed her shoe and sock to survey the damage.

It was just her toes that had gone under the tire and thankfully she could still bend them and they didn't seem to be swelling. I sat her down on the couch propped her foot up, gave her three ibuprofen and tried the best I could to get keep ice on her toes. Which is much harder than it sounds.  Ty wasn't home he was teaching yoga and I didn't want bother him so I Googled to see what I could find out.

Surprisingly here are quite a few pages out there about feet getting run over without damage. She wasn't screaming in pain and the elevation, ice and ibuprofen seemed to be helping so I decided to take the wait and see approach.  Jillian started to complain about hip pain but I don't know if she was actually hurting or if it was just because I was giving McKenna so much attention that she needed some for herself.  We put an ice pack on Jilli's hip as well.

George came home from hiking up to the G. We had a discussion about the merits of riding a bike with a helmet and the dangers of riding without, then he got in the shower and got ready for bed.  Ty came home and I filled him in on the situation and McKenna decided she wanted a blessing.  The phone rang and it was our friend who was driving the van that went over McKenna's toe.  He felt terrible and I talked to him for a minute trying to reassure him that her foot looked fine.

He wanted to talk to Ty.  George was coming down the stairs, I was at the bottom with the phone getting ready to hand it Ty when George get'st his excruciating look of pain on his face and his left knee goes out and he starts to cry.  I ask Aaron to come on over thinking, "It looks like we are in need of another blessing as well."

George makes it to the front room couch with Ty's help.  He can't straighten out his leg.  Ty rubs his knee saying that maybe it's a muscle cramp.  Then he notices that George's right foot has a massively infected ingrown toenail on the big toe.  While he is trying to take care of the infected big toe Aaron arrives.

Blessing are given to both George and McKenna, family prayer is said George's knee is getting wrapped, the other kids are getting into bed and McKenna informs me that Jillian is crying.  I go into her bedroom and she is complaining again about her hip.  And, again, I don't know if it's actually hurt or if she is just jealous of the attention that the other kids are getting.  I get her an ibuprofin tuck her in and Ty and I head off to go to bed.

Ty grabs a cough drop and proceeds to try and choke on it.  I tell him of my experience of losing epidermal cells that morning and we discuss what had just occurred.  We are both really concerned about George's knee because from his description of the pain and what happened he could very well have torn something.

The cost of this family trip (with the cost of getting the Durango fixed) is stretching our budget super thin. The week after we get back from California McKenna is scheduled to have surgery on her right ankle where she has a sonovial cyst. Which will pretty much take the budget to the limit.  Ty looks at me and says "If he has torn something and has to have surgery then we won't be able to go on the trip."

My heart drops.  I sink to my knees at the side of my bed so that I can have my nightly conversation with my Father in Heaven.  I speak to Him about our vacation.  Are things like this happening because we aren't supposed to go on the trip?  Or are problems being placed in our path because of the positive effect that this trip will have on our family?

I pray hard for both George and McKenna.  But especially for George and his knee.  I  can't even begin to think how devastating it would be for him if we had to cancel the trip because of him. On top of that he has a 50 mile hike with his scout troop planned for the last part of July.  If he has to have surgery then my guess is that it would be difficult to be ready for a 50 miler in that short of time.

I crawl into bed and scoot close to Ty.  I can tell he is worried.  Throughout the night I toss and turn and I wake.  And every time I wake I say a small  but fervent prayer that all the kids will be feeling well in the morning.  Morning arrives and as I lay in bed waiting for Ty to shower I again pray that the blessings that the kids were given last night have worked and that when we go to wake them for family prayers all will be well.

Usually I'm the one to go to the kids' rooms and call them for prayer.  This morning I chickened out.  I busied myself with making a smoothie for Tyran and left him to go and make the discovery of the health of our children.

George and McKenna were both much better.  McKenna's foot is still sore but she took some ibuprofen and will call from school if she needs more.  George's knee seems just fine.  Jillian didn't have any problems as she got up this morning and then as it came closer to the time for her to go to school she started to complain about her hip.  She wanted to use crutches....which to me says she is just looking for attention.  I gave her an ibuprofen and she started talking about a birthday party she has after school and I sent her off to school in a good mood.

Blessing do work.
Prayers are answered.
 I'm still on the roller coaster.
And the vacation to Cali is still on.