Wednesday, November 28, 2012

reception #2 & thanksgivin.

We had our 2nd and final wedding reception the weekend of Nov. 17, in Boise.
It wasn't the most convenient considering Nate's surgery and all...but it worked out just fine.
driving to Boise, Nate was definitely still loopy from the painkillers.

We went to Kip Moore, Justin Moore & Eric Church the night before in the Taco Bell Arena.
We really enjoyed Kip and Justin, but lost a lot of respect for Eric Church. In fact, we didn't even stay for our favorite song or his encore.
Kip Moore rocking a BSU jersey.

enjoying Nate's first country concert, on crutches...LOVE the guys face in the background! he was so funny...plugged his ears the whole time!

Our reception went well, it was a lot of fun and fun to see so many faces we hadn't seen in forever!
opening the giant boxes that had come in the mail!

I really enjoyed getting to spend time with my nephews who were in town from Florida!
taking Link birthday shopping!

I did not really enjoy Nate's pedophile mustache.
Actually, the first thing my mom said to him when she was him was "now that's creepy?"
creepin.

We went to the Boise temple dedication on Sunday which I really enjoyed.
After all the weekends festivities, my sister and her boys decided to come back to Utah with us for a few days. I had a crappy work schedule and didn't get to hang out with them a whole lot, but Nate did and he had a lot of fun practicing being a dad.
church history somethin or other.

cute boys.

celebrated link's 3rd birthday! all he wanted was "a chocolate cake!"
which he didn't even eat any of!

at the dinosaur park.

what a good stand in dad, he even carried the diaper bag!

We left to go back to Boise at 10:30pm Wednesday night. It was a long night of driving but the boys slept ALMOST the whole way. Porter did scream from Mountain Home to Boise at 2:00am.
Thanksgiving was good, got to eat a lot of food and hang out with family.
And now we are back into the swing of things in Utah.
Just trying to finish organizing our apartment! It's been a busy few months but its not over, we are really starting to look forward to our cruise we leave for in 10 days!!!!
us with all our new stuff...merry christmas to us!

finally! back to our own home!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Nate's Surgery.

Well, I guess it's about time I let everyone know the full story of Nate's foot surgery.
He had a bunion that had been bothering him for quite some time and this fire season only made it worse. It was starting to cause him a lot of pain. To the point that he would sleep with something in between his toes in order to straighten them out (all his toes pointed outward at a 20 degree angle). Being the old man that he is, he did't have any health insurance so it wasn't something he thought he'd be getting fixed anytime soon.

Thursday, November 8.
As I'm getting ready for work and Nate's playing on the computer he says to me "hey there's an ad for free bunion removal, should I apply?"
I thought it was a hoax but told him to go ahead anyway. He applied online and within 20 seconds of submitting his application a lady called to verify information and tell him some of the details.
Basically this research institute was doing a study of a new pain killing drug. But they would take care of all costs associated with the bunion removal surgery and pay him $500.
You better believe Nate was SOLD!

Friday, November 9.
Nate headed down to Salt Lake at 9am for a full physical exam and to see if he qualified as a candidate for the study. It was a lengthy process, they x-rayed him, tested his blood, tested his urine, and had him fill out loads of paperwork, he didn't get home till 1pm. But they said he qualified and scheduled surgery for Monday morning! He also got $50 just for going to that appointment.

Monday, November 12, 2012.
Monday morning we headed down to Salt Lake at 7:00am for Nate's surgery at 9:00am. They let me go back and watch as they got him all ready and I stayed until they wheeled him back into the OR. After the surgery they told me he would be transported by ambulance (Nate was most excited about the free ambulance ride. When he first learned about it he said "Lindsey, do you know how much that costs?!) to the research center where he would be observed for 12 hours. I wasn't allowed to come visit the research center so they told me he'd let me know when I could come and get him.
Ok, so the study was for a new pain killer that had already been approved via IV and epidural. This study was to see if it worked in a different formulation, being dissolved under the tongue. Each participant was given either the drug or a placebo for 12 hours while these researchers studied them. So they took Nate to the research center and hooked him up to a bunch of machines. They waited for the anesthesia to wear off and then every 20 minutes they came in a checked on him. They drew blood, checked his vitals, asked his pain level and did a couple other things that I don't know. He was given the "drug" every hour and a half.
He texted me throughout the day and up until about 6pm it sounded like he was doing ok. Even after that he sounded ok, he said he was in a lot of pain but really seemed upbeat. He said the worst part was that he couldn't get any sleep because every time he would try, his blood oxygen levels would fall too much and an alarm would start beeping and wouldn't shut off until he got his oxygen level back up. So it was a long day for him.
Finally, I got to go pick him up at 1am Tuesday morning. As soon as I got there Nate mouthed to me "please get me out of here" it broke my heart and I was trying to hard to hold back my tears because I could see how much pain he was truly in. He told me he was positive he had been given the placebo all day. He looked so miserable all I wanted to do was get him out of there! And then just to make things worse, the nurse that discharged him did a TERRIBLE job! He was not careful moving around Nate's foot at all, even when wheeling him in the wheelchair out to the car! He brought Nate a child's wheelchair (Nate's 6'5 230lbs.) and it didn't have any foot rests so he held his leg in the air the entire way out to the car. The guy was just really rough with him and it made me so mad (we're going to write a letter to the research center)! It was definitely just adding insult to injury. Oh, and they didn't write out a real prescription for pain killers until we were leaving at 2am...so that had to wait.
We finally got home and I had some expired hydrocodone and I made Nate take it just so he could sleep!

After that it was a rough couple days but he progressed really quickly. He has been a champ and only took pain killers for 5 days. He just got his stitches out today and the surgeon said it was looking good! 3 more weeks of wearing his boot and he will be as good as new!
Maybe the $500 was worth it afterall :)

And here's all the pictures to prove it.

this is what the dr called 'the mother of all bunions'

 happy before surgery!

the ambulance ride, his favorite part!

the foot...looking much better!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Another Nate-ism.

So I have to go to a laser conference today in Salt Lake from 8-5. That's a long day and Nate's pretty used to getting to hang out with me all day on Monday's.
He was still laying in bed as I'm getting ready to walk out the door and he says, "Can you take me with you? I can be your seeing eye-human."

Ha, what a funny boy.
I wish I could take him with me EVERYWHERE!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

2 weeks.

That is officially how long we've been married now.
Still feels like longer.
But, in celebration we did some awesome things this weekend!
#1 We did a session at the Salt Lake Temple. I must say I liked it the most. Being live, and moving from room to room kept me very aware and entertained. I even let out a laugh at one point...oops.

#2 We had dinner at Costa Vida, which just happens to be my most favorite ever.

#3 We celebrated our 1 year anniversary (of knowing each other) be reenacting our first date and going to Nightmare on 13th!

#4 We got dipped cones and milkshakes at Dairy Queen cause its tradition.

#5 We went to Cirque du Soleil in Salt Lake. It was interesting. I don't think I loved it as much as everyone says, but it was still really cool and I'm really glad we went.

#6 We went to a Chinese buffet which was delicious but messed Nate up BAD! He spent the rest of the night with the big D.

#7 We watched a terrible football game (Nat'es team lost so bad he won't even let me post their name) and finished our thank you cards.

It was a great weekend and now I start working Friday's and we start saving our money cause we're buying a new bed!

Eh?

2011



2012