It seems impossible to me that we are already have way through January 2024. 2023 definitely might not have gone as planned but we rolled with it all and made progress beyond what we might have expected to get accomplished.
Early in the year, I started dealing with some killer hand/wrist pain. I knew it wasn’t carpal tunnel but I did know I likely had to immobilize my hand. Sure enough, I had a diagnosis of De Quervain tenosynovitis. I spent a majority of the year stuck in some form of brace, taping, etc. I had an extended time in occupational therapy but finally had to cave and get referred to an orthopedic surgeon that discovered a cyst as well keeping my hand angry. After the appointment and a cortisone injection, I found myself wishing I had asked for the orthopedic referral sooner as I finally had some relief!
While I won’t claim that I’m 100% and still have some issues, I’ve been able to do alot more than I was able to before. I’ve been able to focus more on trying to get back to blogging this year and trying to focus on the bigger picture and getting back on track with the goals I set and couldn’t fulfill.
I was not the only family member fighting through a complicated medical issue as Aubrey spent the majority of her year in a medical boot, trying new insoles, physical therapy, etc. until she finally was sent to an orthopedic after many appointments and jumping hoops. It was a welcomed shock for her first appointment to result in surgery being scheduled and completed finally in December. As Aubrey has always been my klutz, she has had several sprains that apparently stopped a spot in her foot to not fuse together properly, creating essentially an extra bone in her foot/ankle. A few weeks before Christmas, she had surgery to remove an accessory navicular bone. Her surgery went extremely fast but we’ve been a bit slower than we wanted on recovery. Nonetheless, she has been doing more amazing than she gives herself credit for as she has started her first physical therapy post-surgery and is excited to get back to a “norm” this year. Seeing your child in pain can very much be agony when you are trying everything you can.
In 2023, we lost two of our fur babies but in true animal rescue fashion, it didn’t take long for the children to convince me to adopt new babies to keep loving animals in anyway we can. Whiskey was our crazy old man, a cat that my children never knew life without. He was our third gear purrer and we miss his crazy antics. Remy was our crazy hound dog that stunned us all with how quickly things changed and we had to help her to the Rainbow Bridge as well. The heartache is still there for all of us and missing the antics we grew so used to.
While 2024 has already been crazy busy, we’re excited to get back in the swing of things, more blogging, more creating, more memories!
