Cruise Photos

Just wanted to share with you some of our favorite photos from our cruise to the Bahamas and Key West. Hope you enjoy!

Our cruise ship...Enchantment of the Seas


Mike and Lisa at Atlantis in the Bahamas


The centrum area of our ship


Key West


Sunset from the ship

Remember to pause and smell the flowers

Over the last month, I've learned a valuable lesson. Never take for granted the little things in life...things like a good night's sleep, walking, good health, independence.

My pain started the evening of May 8th. I finished a Tae Bo aerobic workout (the DVD has since been destroyed) and about an hour later, felt the pain begin in my hip/butt. Over the course of the next two days the pain increased considerably and led me to see the my regular doctor on May 11th. Without any testing, she shrugged off my pain as a injured hip muscle (piriformis syndrome). She gave me a pain pill prescription and told me to stretch a lot. The next 10 days were slow going, but I started to improve and was progressively able to walk more, with less pain. So, we decided the Memorial Day weekend Royal Caribbean cruise/vacation was something I could handle - rest and relaxation - what could be better healing, right?

The first day of vacation was spent in Fort Lauderdale and we had a great time hanging out at the beach - very relaxing. The second day of vacation, we boarded the cruise ship and enjoyed touring all that it had to offer. I was starting to hurt again, but we took lots of breaks to sit down and let me rest. The first full day of the cruise was a stop in Nassau, Bahamas. We had planned on a beach day excursion at the Atlantis Hotel. It was a fun day, but much more walking that we had anticipated. By the time we returned to the cruise ship, I was in trouble. We made it to the Captain's Dinner and show that night, but by the next morning, I was shaking in pain. I spent the next two days of the cruise completely bedridden, aside from 4 trips to the medical facility for anti-flammatory injections (6 total). It was a bit unsettling when the only available medical personnel was a 60 year-old Polish doctor dressed in a Captain's suit (not sure if he was steering the ship in his free time or what?) Fortunately, getting home was an interesting, yet surprisingly pleasant, experience. I had a wheelchair ride off the ship, which budged us through long lines and sped us through customs. After a short taxi ride to the airport, American Airlines was able to put us on a stand-by flight that ultimately got us back to Omaha five hours earlier than scheduled. They had wheelchairs available to get me through security and the second I stepped off the plane for the layover in Dallas and again when we arrived in Omaha. Just when I thought we were on the home stretch, I attempted to get into the Acadia in the Omaha airport parking garage and felt a burning sensation run down my leg, deep into my foot, much like I would imagine it might feel like if I had just been struck by lighting. Since then, not only have I had pain in my butt (literally), but it runs all the way down my leg into my foot.

Immediately the next morning, we took a trip to Urgent Care and they gave me two more shots to help with the pain (8 is the new total, if anyone is counting with me). They recommended an immediate MRI, which I had done that same day. The results reflected two bulging discs in my low back (L4 and L5). Next step was to consult with a neurosurgeon who felt that we could avoid surgery by treating me with steroids in an effort to decrease the inflammation. I had an injection of steroid into my arm and then took a regimen of oral steroids the first weekend in June. A week later, with little improvement, we tried another round of the oral steroid. Still no improvement. Yesterday, I went to the neurosurgeon again and he was concerned to see that my reflexes and strength in the left leg had actually gotten worse, instead of better. He recommended an epidural steroid injection to get some novicane and cortisone directly into the area where the nerves are inflammed. I hate needles, but was willing to do anything to make this wall of pain subside. The procedure really wasn't too bad. My wonderful husband agreed to come in the room with me (he had to put on the lovely radiation vest due to the x-ray equipment used to help guide the needle). I didn't feel immediate relief as I had hoped, but am able to report that the hip/butt pain is definitely better today. The foot is another story, but we've got to start with progress somewhere. If anyone was curious of the pricetag of an epidural steroid injection, it is a mere $1,200 - not your everyday shot!

In a nutshell, I have not been able to walk since May 23rd. I haven't seen the kitchen since then either. I can't do anything for myself. I can't sleep. I can't shower (thank goodness for baths). I'm not hungry. I haven't worn my contacts or make-up for over 2 weeks. I haven't slept in my own bed for 3 weeks. I have cried nearly every day for the past 2 weeks. I haven't been outside the house for 2 weeks aside from 5 doctor appointments. If it wasn't for the walker (borrowed from family), I wouldn't be able to get anywhere. The walker at least enables me to go from the couch to the bathroom and back to the couch. I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on anyone.

The bright spots...
My husband has accompanied me to every doctor's appointment and has rearranged lots of meetings to make sure I am getting the treatment that I need. He comes home every noon to make me lunch and helps me up and down the stairs with my clunky walker. He gets up in the middle of the night when I can't sleep and helps to re-adjust pillows to try to make it stop hurting.
My parents came this past weekend and cleaned bathrooms, scrubbed and vacuumed floors, dusted, did a ton of laundry, brought us some delicious meals and gave Mike a 2-day break from having to wait on me.
Mike's mom is coming to help me tomorrow while Mike is in Kansas City and she will be coming again on Saturday when he is in Omaha.
Marica/Casey, Ann and Cindy have been great about calling to check in on me - sure means a lot.

Thank goodness we have great family and friends to lean on! It's truly kept the sanity in check at this house! Keep the prayers coming. I want to be able to walk by next week - even if it's just to the mailbox and back.

I'll post some cruise pictures tomorrow. Mike captured some great shots!

Company, Easter and Sinus Infection...

I have no excuse for my lack of blogging, aside from dealing with the most awful sinus infection, which has drained every ounce of my energy the past 10 days. Prior to this sinus infection, I have NEVER had one. I hope to NEVER have one again. A throbbing, never-ending headache. Pressure that makes you feel as though your head is going to explode. A trip to the doctor on Thursday provided a prescription for Augmentin and a steriod nasal spray. The doctor also recommended I buy a Neti Pot Sinus Wash. The process of administering this wash was similar to accidentally snorting something up your nose when you laugh. And that "something" is disgusting saltwater. For all the gagging I did, it is likely that I spit up whatever was creating the blockage (gross, I know). Hard to say which medication is making me feel better, but the good news is that I've been headache free for about 24 hours now.

The first weekend in April we had great fun with my parents and Grandma Sally here to visit. The snow and extreme winds did not hold us back from having fun. Dad and Mike took in a Nebraska baseball game and witnessed a bench-clearing brawl. We enjoyed an entire afternoon of shopping. Dad had the biggest purchase of the group as he picked out a new suit. After a nice visit with Mike's parents, we cut into a delicious belated birthday cake (compliments of my Mom). To round out the weekend, we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant (Fireworks).

Our Easter celebration kicked off with a great Easter egg hunt with Evan. He loves to be outside and thought the Easter eggs filled with crackers were pretty neat. We almost ran into a problem when only 23 of the 24 eggs had been found. Even the adults in the group were stumped by Marcia's sneaky efforts in hiding the last one! After taking in the fresh air outside, we headed to Famous Dave's for a tasty Easter meal together.


Wishing you all a great week!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Thanks to everyone for all of the birthday well wishes today! By far, my birthday is one of my favorite days of the year. With everyone's busy schedules, it means a lot to receive emails, cards and calls from those who are remembering me on March 23...I just love it!

As usual, the weather on my birthday was very unpredictable. The wind blew so hard today that it took off the grill cover and "shifted" the patio furniture. High five to me on the decision not to put the garbage out (decided it could wait another week). We likely would have had to search for the empty container in the next county. First real thunderstorm of the season and due to a tornado spotted north of Lincoln, the sirens were sounded at 4:30pm this afternoon. Hopefully this isn't a sign of a rough spring of storms to come...

I failed to post pictures after my quick trip to Minnesota last month. It was an interesting travel schedule as I dodged snowstorms in both Minnesota AND Nebraska. The weekend with my family was great!!! Ann's girls are growing so fast. I really enjoyed playing and reading books with them. Everyone was fighting colds and infections, though, so I even got to accompany Ann and Hadley to urgent care...one diagnosed with a sinus infection and the other with ear infection. Thank goodness everyone is feeling better now.

Spring fever

The temp reached 76 degrees here yesterday! Although I never left the office all day, the number of people lining the sidewalks as I drove home from work clearly pointed out that I was missing out on the fun. People were out walking, running, biking and rollerblading (in shorts and t-shirts mind you). I counted 11 kids playing in the neighbor's driveway as I pulled into ours. Definitely spring fever in Lincoln!

Today was not quite as balmy, but 60 degrees nonetheless, so we thought pulling out the grill was a perfect idea for supper. Three t-shirts, a pair of sweatpants and shorts later (the laundry lady will be busy this weekend), Mike had perfected his feast of burgers and dogs. Really not sure what battle was fought out there, but apparently the grill took a beating over the winter months. The good news is that it still works.

Speaking of warmer weather, the new GMC Acadia experienced it's first car wash on Wednesday...followed by another car wash on Thursday. Mike just can't stand to see it dirty. It may be a long rest of the winter around here.

I heard an interesting statistic on the radio yesterday. Did you know that 85% of people talk about the weather at least once a day. I'm one of the 85%. Anyone from Minnesota is one of the 85%. Enjoy the weekend!

Introducing a New Member of the Family

Since I drug Lisa car shopping with me the past two Saturdays, she's asked me to write the blog about the newest member of our family. I feel obligated to oblige.

On Saturday, we became the proud new owners of a brand new 2009 GMC Acadia.

Our day started in Omaha when we made on offer on an all-wheel drive Acadia. It fell just beyond our price range so we moved on to Sid Dillon in Fremont, about 30 minutes away. There, we saw a larger number of vehicles on the lot and a few that were really close to what we were looking for.

After test driving a front-wheel drive with the heads-up display, we decided that it wasn't for us (plus it was a black vehicle with black interior...too much black for me).

We came back to the lot and found another FWD without the heads up display, but with titanium interior and a power liftgate. Perfect! So we negotiated a price and came up with what we feel was a good deal for us.

We began our ride home with just 25 miles on the vehicle, but after a 60 mile trek and errands around Lincoln, we're now around 125. It's really fun to drive and my favorite feature happens to be the Bluetooth capability so I can talk on the phone without holding it or wearing an earpiece.

So far, I've noticed that everyone drives entirly too close and I've come to the conclusion that walking all the way across a huge Wal-Mart parking lot is not too far as long as it means not getting door dinged.

We're very excited and look forward to many good times with our new family member.

- ML

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mike and I had a very nice day together. It started off with a trip to Omaha and Council Bluffs to look at vehicles. The Jeep is about to turn over 100,000 miles and as bad as the economy seems to be, we feel this might be an ideal time to strike a dynamite deal and inject our share of capital back into the market. After much deliberation (hours of research on the internet and crack...oops, I mean blackberry), Mike had determined the GMC Acadia was his vehicle of choice. We had an opportunity to test drive one today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to locate one that had all 4 of Mike's key requirements: (1) black exterior, (2) leather seats/heated, (3) all-wheel drive, (4) in the target price range. Finding our way back to Lincoln, we stopped in at a dreaded dealership (I will not name it, but am guessing those in Lincoln know the dealership I am referring to). The dealership is notorious for their pushy, overbearing sales staff. Our experience did not veer from what we feared and we found ourselves sitting across the table from a salesman who was one egg short of a dozen. He asked us several obnoxiously stupid questions, such as "If you were able to purchase a new Acadia with ALL of the bells & whistles...totally loaded with options, but for the price you are targeting, would you be motivated to purchase." How could one not respond with "Ummm, yeah, I guess." However, he was unfortunately, totally missing our message which cleared indicted we are only wanting "basic" options. He left us at his desk for more than ten minutes to which we determined he must have been in search of a key to grab a vehicle for a test drive (which we never requested), so we got up from our chairs, walked out a side door and got out of that lot as fast as we could. Not going back there anytime soon. After that unfortuate experience, it was time to start celebrating Valentine's Day in true form. We headed downtown to the only theatre in Lincoln showing the movie "New In Town". I particularly enjoyed the movie as the setting was in Minnesota (New Ulm). There were alot of "don't cha knows" in the dialogue! Mike got a kick out of it too! From there, we headed to Carlos O'Kelly's for a mexican feast. Our day of love is winding down with Mike at the helm in a game of Playstation. Hope you all had a great day too!