Matt's Surgery

Matt's hip has been bothering him for quite a while.  His regular doctor couldn't figure out was wrong, so he went to an orthopedic doctor.  The orthopedic doctor said that Matt had a bump on his bone in the hip socket, so it was hurting because it was rubbing against the bone.  His labrum was also damaged from the bump rubbing.  They aren't really sure what causes this to happen, but it seems to be more common among athletes.  They tried cortisone shots which helped for a while, but then the pain kept coming back.  The doctor decided that the best thing to do was surgery to repair the labrum, if it wasn't damaged too badly, and grind down the bump on the bone.  Matt had an MRI, but the doctor said that an MRI isn't very accurate on the hip area and the only real way to know how much damage there was is to do surgery. 

Here is Matt waiting to be taken back for the surgery.  His procedure was scheduled for 7am, so we had to be there at 5:30 am.  He wasn't really nervous about it, but I was!  I wish that I could be more laid back like he is!  The surgery took about 2 hours and 45 minutes.  The doctor had originally said that it would be 2 hours, so I was a little concerned that it was taking so long.  When the doctor came out he told me that he was able to repair the labrum and grind down the bone as planned, but there was also some damage to the cartilage on the bone that he hadn't been expected.  There is a layer of cartilage between the bones, so that the bones don't rub together.  The cartilage in Matt's joint was badly damaged, and they had to remove it.  Then the doctor made holes on the bone so that it would bleed and form a clot.  He said that hopefully the clot will form into more cartilage.  The problem is that there is no guarantee, and it can take up to a year for the new cartilage to be formed.  Originally we thought that Matt would be able to put 50% of his weight on his leg today, but due to the problem with the cartilage he is not allowed to put any weight on his right leg for six weeks.  It is really important because if he does put weight on that leg it can damage the clot, and the cartilage won't form.  If new cartilage doesn't form then the bones will rub together and cause pain, so we are really hoping that new cartilage will grow!

Here is Matt in the recovery room.  He was really sleepy from the anesthesia, and he didn't want to wake up.  Luckily he wasn't in too much pain, since the anesthesiologist did a block on the hip area to numb it for about 12 hours.  We were finally able to go home after a couple of hours.  When we got home Matt had to use his crutches to get into the house.  He was still a little groggy from all of the drugs and a little bit out of it.  He was trying to get over the threshold into the house, and he fell.  It was so beyond awful that I can't even explain it.  I was standing in front of him trying to help him into the house, and he fell backwards so there was nothing that I could do.  I seriously think that I am going to have nightmares about it tonight.  He landed on the right leg which was the side that the surgery was done on, and he got this big scrape on his leg.  Matt said that it didn't hurt because he had that block in his leg, but I was freaking out.  I called the doctor, and he wanted Matt to come into the office and have an x ray to make sure that everything was okay.  Matt's mom had come over to stay with Matt while I went to get his prescriptions, so luckily she was there to help.  We had to get him back into the car, and go to the doctor's office.  Luckily they had a wheelchair because at this point I was totally freaking out that he was going to fall again.   They took the x rays, and we managed to get him back home without any more mishaps.

Poor Matt was still so tired and had hardly gotten any rest.  He was so glad to get back home and finally be able to sleep.  The doctor called a little bit later, and said that everything looked fine on the x ray.  Thank goodness for that!  I am still worried about the blood clot situation, but I guess that we will just have to wait and see what happens.  It doesn't do any good to worry right?  Maybe if I keep telling myself that I will actually believe it.  Matt is resting in bed now, and the block is wearing off.  Hopefully he won't be in too much pain.  Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.  We really appreciate it, and please pray that he forms new cartilage.

Sarah, Steve, & Max

We were excited that Sarah, Steve, and Max got to come and visit.  They stayed at my parents house, but we got to see them pretty much every day that they were here.

 We went to the zoo.  Matt was out of town for work, so he was glad that he didn't have to be tortured again.  Caden liked driving the tractor, but he could hardly reach the steering wheel.



Driving again with Max. 

Caden and Grandma 

Grandma walking with the boys. 

We also did a little shopping at Costco.  It's fun to have to boys in the cart.   

We celebrated Sarah's 31st birthday.  Happy Birthday! 

We made a fire and roasted marshmallows. 

Sarah and Steve wanted to go camping, but they didn't make it.  I guess that this was the next best thing. Except Steve wasn't there because he went to the ASU baseball game.

Spring Is Here!

I am loving the weather these days!  It has been so nice to be outside, and I'm so glad that all of my flowers are growing so good.  It makes me happy to come home and see all of my pretty flowers.

Here is my flowerbed leading up to the front door.  JJ helped me plant some sunflowers in here, and pretty soon they are going to be over 6 ft. tall. 

Here is my ficus tree by the front door. 

Here are my pots on my back patio. 

Matt decided that he wanted to plant a garden this year.  We decided to start out small and see how it goes.  We planted tomatoes, onions, yellow peppers, zucchini, cucumber, and green onions.  The seeds are just starting to come up, so we will see how it goes.  

Cars Cars Cars!

Caden loves all cars.  Anytime we go anywhere he sits in his carseat, points at the cars going by, and says "car, car, car" pretty much the whole time.  Whenever we are in a parking lot he has to point at all of the cars and say "car, car, car."  Not to mention his toy cars that he carries around all day.  He has to have one in each hand.  My brother loved cars when he was little, and my mom saved them all.  Caden loves to go over there and play with Mikey's cars.  It is so cute.   

This is Why I Love Coupons!

I went to Fry's today, and after sales and coupons I paid $20.87 for all of these groceries.  I saved $85.83 which is 80%.  I also received a  coupon for $2 off my next purchase and a coupon for $.75 off my next purchase for buying the cereal and the Dole fruit bowls.  These coupons can go towards anything I buy the next time that I shop at Fry's.  It's a lot of work to clip coupons and find deals, but, as you can see, it's totally worth it!    

Hiking!

We went hiking, at South Mountain, with our friends Janie and Mitch this morning.  It was a beautiful day outside!  We ended up hiking about 5.5 miles total.  Caden rode in the backpack, but he was pretty grouchy for the hike back.  Thank goodness for fruit snacks!

There was a really good view of the valley in all directions from the top.

Feeding the Ducks

We wemt to the park yesterday to feed the ducks.  Caden actually got the hang of it this time, and threw the food in the water instead of trying to eat it.  The problem was that the ducks must be too well fed because they weren't really interested.

This little guy was hungry though.

Roasting Marshmallows

I got a really good deal on a fire pit during the black Friday sales after Thanksgiving, and we finally used it for the first time last night.

Matt had a little bit of trouble getting the fire going, but eventually a little gasoline did the trick. 

Waiting for the fire to get going.  The kids were really excited. 

Finally roasting marshmallows, and we ate yummy smores too.

The Phoenix Zoo

We went to the Phoenix Zoo yesterday.  Caden loved being able to run all around.  There were so many things for him so see. and he had a fit if we tried to put him in the stroller.  He knows a lot of the animals because he loves looking at them in his books, so it was fun when he recognized them in real life.

Caden in the turtle shell. 

The Koala Bears were so cute.  They are only at the zoo for the month of March, so we were lucky to get to see them. 

Caden really liked the petting zoo.  He had to pet every single goat in there before we could leave. 

Driving the tractor. 

He was excited to see the huge turtle.  He was pointing and saying "turtle turtle." 

We got to see the cute little Spider Monkeys up close because you can walk through the exhibit.  

California!

We decided to take a trip to visit Grandpa Mendonca and Gloria and go to San Francisco over the weekend.  Matt grew up in the bay area, so he always likes to go back and visit, and I always love to go to California because they have so many outlet malls there!  We got to stay with Grandpa and Gloria, and it was really nice to hang out with them since we don't get to see them that often.  Gloria even made us yummy homemade waffles for breakfast.  

 

Here is Caden with Grandpa and Gloria.

 Caden pounding it with Grandpa.

 Grandpa has this really neat machine that does quilting.  They have a quilting company and people send them quilts from all over so that he can do the stitching.  It's all run by the computer and there are tons of different patterns.  This quilt that he was working on was being quilted with monkeys and bananas.  It was so cute.

We drove to San Francisco across the Bay Bridge.  That is the double decker bridge that collapsed during that huge earthquake in 1989.  Hopefully that fixed it really good! 

We drove down Lomabard St which is the crookedest street in the world.  This is a picture from the bottom.  The street is really cute with pavers and nice houses.  I think that it would be pretty crazy to live there with all of the traffic and the turns.  It would be really hard to get out of your driveway! 

 I don't think that you can really tell from this picture that well, but it is crazy how steep that the streets are.  It was scary to have to stop on such a huge incline.  It was hard to believe that the car could stay like that.  It was the first time that I've ever rolled backwards in an automatic.  It would be pretty crazy to drive a stickshift there!



We went to Fisherman's Wharf and pier 39 where we checked out the Sea Lions 

and rode on the carousel. 

We went to Ghiradelli Square where they sell yummy chocolate and sell desserts made from Ghiradelli chocolate.  We had a peanut butter hot fudge sundae.  Yum!  

This is in front of the San Francisco Bay at Ghiradelli Square.   

Here we were driving to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Here we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Go Away Cold!

Okay, I know that it isn't really that cold in Arizona, compared to other places, but I am so ready for it to be warm again.  Caden has been sick pretty much since November.  He has had bad colds, croup, 3 ear infections, and the flu.  The croup was really scary because it sounded like he couldn't breath, and we had to give lots of breathing treatments and steroids for that.  I am so ready to be done with the winter and with being sick.  Bring on the heat!