Eat, Drink, & Be Married

Slide show of Paradise



That was the theme of the wedding, so the drink coozies said.  It was a three day weekend in South Padre Island, Tx.  Definitely wanted to be there longer.

NoDIY and I headed out Friday morning and our first stop was San Antonio airport.  KPY girl, one of my good friends & sorority sisters from Hasting College, was flying in from Minnesota.  So excited to see her since it has been way too long, 14 years to be exact.  I had to miss the "girls" trips when they had them because it was right after moving to Texas and didn't have a lot of vacation.  Well that and some of the girls that went annoyed the crap out of me and I didn't want to spend that many days in confined area with them. 

So the first order of business was lunch, it was after 1:30 pm and way late for me.  We found some random mom & pop Mexican restaurant that was cheap and really good food.  Then it was back on the road.  About 7 miles down the road, NoDIY asked if I bothered to look at a map.  Now he has been to the coast before, why would I do that?  Silly me, silly him.  Long story short, I think we ended up extending our trip about at least 60 miles, if not more.  When you are talking about a 5 hour drive when taking the right route, 60 miles is a big oopsie.

We finally got in South Padre Island around 7 pm and checked into the hotel.  Pixie (the bride and a college friend) was having people over to the house they rented after the reception.  So, KPY girl, NoDIY and I went to an all  you can eat seafood and prime rib buffet.  The food was really good and the entertainment was just as good!  Of course, the singer did point out that I had two different shoes on while I was in line for the buffet.  Then some how it was brought up that we were from Nebraska, so we were picked on for that too.  But it was all in good fun.  Afterwards, we headed to Pixie's where we met a bunch of other people.  From there, it was off to a bars for a pre-celebration.

Saturday was a relaxing day.  We all slept in and then headed out for a late breakfast.  After breakfast, we hit a few of the tourist shops to see if there was anything we just couldn't live without.  With shopping out of the way, the only thing left to do was the beach!  It was a beautiful day, well after we finished burning our feet in the sand getting to the water.  I know understand what the warning was about!!! 

At 430ish, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.  Let's just say there was about 5000 pounds of sand in our suits.  I can only imagine what the hotel staff goes through during Spring Break week!  I had never been to a beach wedding before and let's just say it was amazingly beautiful.  It was simple, the surf was crashing on the beach and well Pixie was just a beautiful bride!  The ceremony itself was short and we were done within 30 minutes.  Afterwards, it was off to the restaurant for the celebration! 

Sunday, well it was hangover, no sleep, drive day.  KPY girl had a 6 pm flight out of San Antonio.  NoDIY and I had to make a pit stop for his job and so it was 8:45 before I had picked up the dogs and could say I was home.  What a long weekend but so worth it!

Operation Bootsie

Yes, I know, I know.  Spare me the lectures, I realize it has been forever and a day since I last blogged.  Okay, well more like six months but life has been busy.  I can only promise to try and be better.

So, now that I have that out of the way, I think the first order of business for catch up would be Operation Bootsie.  Yes, I have name the boot.  In the picture below, she was so pretty, so new, so shiny.  Today, not so much.  Bootsie and I have been close friends for exactly 11 weeks and 5 days.  That is exactly 1,968 hours of my summer fun that have been lost to her. 

So, my introduction to Bootsie seemed harmless.  The story actually begins sometime in April.  I noticed that in the morning, it hurt to walk.  It felt like things in my heel were really tight and were going to split in two.  But, during the day, things didn't hurt and well, who are we kidding, I sure wasn't giving up soccer, softball two nights a week and my runs three times a week or walking the dogs.  So, I just lived with it.  Well then May came and so came a week of rain and then a week of vacation.  All of that translated to rest for the foot and no workouts.  You would think things would be better?  Not so much.  Things actually felt worse that day NoDIY and I were scrambling through the airport and I was in flip flops on our way back to Austin.  So, I opted for tennis shoes the next day when I went back to work and the pain was there all day.  Doctor's appointment here we come.

So, May 18th marked the beginning of my relationship with Bootsie.  The X-ray showed that I had a partial Achilles tendon tear at some point that resulted in a heal spur.  They also felt that I had a new partial  Achilles tendon tear that was rubbing on the spur.  So, conservative treatment was the route they went.  For the next five weeks I had the privilege of living life in Bootsie and just relaxing.

Well, after that wonder five weeks, there was no real change so Bootsie and I went into Phase II of conservative treatment.  That consisted of four more weeks of Bootsie, physical therapy twice a week, high doses of oral steroids, topical steroids and an insert heel lift in the boot. Let's just say that as long as no physical therapy treatment involved weight bearing activities, the heel was happy.  Insert I can ride a bike with no issue but if you asked me to stand and do stretches, things were pretty sore the next day.  Then there was the weekend when the Therapist suggested that I do heel lifts in chest high water in the pool.  3 sets of 10 seemed easy enough.  Thankfully the next day was a Sunday because my heel hurt so bad in the boot, let alone out of it, that I spent most of the day in the recliner.  Needless to say, things were not getting better.

So, back to the doctor I went.  It was a lovely 10 minute discussion how the next step was to schedule me to come back for an MRI.  And to think that only cost me $140 for the doctor to tell me that.  So, that was Monday and Wednesday I had the MRI.  On Friday, July 27 things officially became Operation Bootsie.

The good news is that there is no tear in the Achilles Tendon that would require repair and a long, long recovery.  That said, there is a slew of other problems.  I do have a heel spur that they will remove and they are confident that they can do it without having to cut the Achilles Tendon or severing it, all of which change recovery time.  I also have Achilles Bursitis which you can read more by clicking here.  Some how they can fix that when they are in there.  I also have, while small, Haglund's Deformity which they also will repair.  You can click here to learn more on that.  All of these work together to make my life miserable which in flats and when I am out of the boot. 

While I have enjoyed Bootsie, there is some end in sight for our relationship.  I have surgery scheduled on August 23rd.  If things go as they expect, I will go home that day in my walking boot and will have just 4 to 6 more weeks left in Bootsie.  The downside is that since it is my right foot, there will be no driving for me for at least two weeks.  Needless to say, I will have cabin fever and NoDIY might be done with me.  :)

And there you have it, Operation Bootsie.