I had my followup visit this afternoon with the orthopedic surgeon for my broken wrist (the bone was the scaphoid for those of you medical folks, which I guess doesn't always heal right because the blood flows "backwards" to the bone which causes poor blood flow to it, something that is needed to help bones heal). We were informed when I first went in and got it casted that they wanted me to come back in 4 weeks to get it x-rayed again to see how it was healing, and there would be one of two results:
1. The wrist was healing well and I would get another cast for another 4 weeks before it was completely healed (they told me this was the more likely result due to the fact the fracture was not displaced and I was still relatively young, but....)
2. The wrist was not healing right and I would need surgery on it, followed by 10 weeks in a cast and then some physical therapy to finish it off.
Needless to say, with Colleen due in about 5 1/2 weeks, we were praying hard for option 1. So they cut the cast off (with in essence a mini circular saw with no guard! I'm sure it's a standard procedure, but it was a little unnerving, since all that stood between my flesh and the cast was a thin layer of cotton), then I got another x-ray, and then we waited for the doctor to return with the results. We weren't waiting on pins and needles or anything, as it was going to heal one way or the other, so we weren't treating it as some sort of life altering diagnosis, but it still would be an inconvience (and an extra burden for Colleen) to have a one handed husband for several weeks after the baby arrived.
So when the doctor came in and proclaimed that everything was looking good, Colleen and I turned to each other and let out a "yes!" in unison. I think the doctor thought we were saying "yes" because we thought I wouldn't need to go back in a cast (we were obviously saying "yes" because we knew that meant I wouldn't need surgery), so he responded by saying "well, unfortunately you're still going to have be in a cast for another 3 weeks," to which we again responded, "yes, three weeks!" (as we had been told it would be another 4 weeks). I know it's only 1 week, but with as close as we were cutting it for baby #3, we would take all the time we could get. So anyway, he felt it was healing well enough that I should just need another 3 weeks instead of 4.
So I'm outfitted with another cast, blue this time (courtesy of a request from Katelyn, after I nixed her initial pink request), and come May 14, hopefully I will get this cast off for good. There will be some exercises I need to do to limber the muscles back up obviously, as when I tried to move it today with the cast off, the muscles were quite stiff, tight, and sore, not to mention my arm was noticeably smaller than before. I guess it doesn't take long for inactivity in muscles to show its effects.
So anyway, I am eagerly awaiting the full use of my right hand again. It will only be 8+ weeks total, which in reality is really more of a minor inconvenience than anything compared to much more long term health issues some people have to deal with, but it will be nice to be healthy again, as much for Colleen's sake as mine.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Spring is coming...
We had a beautiful Saturday to enjoy here, another sign that spring is coming (technically it is here already, but it hasn't felt much like it recently).
In fact, last week as I was putting Katelyn to bed, she commented that, "Spring sure is taking a long time to get here, daddy. I want to play outside more. Can't you make it get here any faster, cause I don't want to wait anymore?" Unfortunately, that's one thing as a father that I simply can't help her out with. I told her she was going to need to talk to God about that one.
So today she got her wish as we enjoyed the afternoon at a Geneva track meet at Robert Morris College. Sunny skies and temps near 60. Not too warm, but not too cold either. Just right for sitting in the stands, though it was a touch windy.
Titus impressed quite a number of people as towards the end of the meet when half of the track was not being used, he went out on the track and played, getting down in his runner's stance and shouting, "mar, mar, mar" (his version of mark, set, go), either saying it himself or yelling at one of us to signal him to start. And off he would shoot down the track as fast as his little legs would carry him until he decided he had gone far enough, at which point, he would turn around, get down in his stance, and start the process over again coming back. I think he would have played that game for hours if we had let him. He definitely gets his running from his mother, as his father sure didn't pass along those genes. I guess it was an early audition for all those coaches sitting in the stands. Hey, you've got to start them young.
Where he gets the energy, I do not know....
In fact, last week as I was putting Katelyn to bed, she commented that, "Spring sure is taking a long time to get here, daddy. I want to play outside more. Can't you make it get here any faster, cause I don't want to wait anymore?" Unfortunately, that's one thing as a father that I simply can't help her out with. I told her she was going to need to talk to God about that one.
So today she got her wish as we enjoyed the afternoon at a Geneva track meet at Robert Morris College. Sunny skies and temps near 60. Not too warm, but not too cold either. Just right for sitting in the stands, though it was a touch windy.
Titus impressed quite a number of people as towards the end of the meet when half of the track was not being used, he went out on the track and played, getting down in his runner's stance and shouting, "mar, mar, mar" (his version of mark, set, go), either saying it himself or yelling at one of us to signal him to start. And off he would shoot down the track as fast as his little legs would carry him until he decided he had gone far enough, at which point, he would turn around, get down in his stance, and start the process over again coming back. I think he would have played that game for hours if we had let him. He definitely gets his running from his mother, as his father sure didn't pass along those genes. I guess it was an early audition for all those coaches sitting in the stands. Hey, you've got to start them young.
Where he gets the energy, I do not know....
Monday, April 6, 2009
Diaper dealing
Some have asked how exactly I do my diaper deals at CVS (or any deal for that matter), so I thought I'd give a quick example, as this week was a great diaper stocking week.
CVS is running a deal this week where if you buy $25 worth of certain baby products (of which Huggies is a part of), you get $10 Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back. ECBs are basically a coupon good for virtually anything in the store. So in this instance, if I buy $25 worth of the selected product, I get a $10 coupon/store credit back. Huggies are also on sale for $10 a pack.
Three weeks back coupons.com had $5 off coupons on Huggies diapers (sizes N-2). You could print up to two off per computer, and since I have multiple computers I can print out from between home and work, I printed out about 10 of the coupons, which were good for 30 days ($5 off coupons are pretty unheard of, so I wanted to take full use of them). And obviously with a baby soon to arrive, we can stock up on these sizes.
To do the CVS deals, you need to have a membership card, which you register for that is free (similar to a grocery store card). As a member, you often get coupons that print out at the end of your receipts, and it varies, but I seem to get a lot of coupons where if you purchase $50 worth of products, you get $10 back (commonly called 10/50 coupons).
So cutting to the chase, what I did today was went and bought 5 packs of Huggies diapers. That added up to $50. I used the 10/50 coupon to get the total to $40. I then used 5 of the $5 coupons, one for each package purchased, to get the total down to $15. I then used $10 worth of ECBs from a previous transaction to get the total down to $5, which I paid. Then, since I purchased at least $25 worth of the baby products, I got $10 ECB (so in essence replacing the $10 in ECBs I spent in the transaction). So all told, I spent $5 and got 5 packs of Huggies premium diapers (so $1 a piece!).
But I'm not done yet! Huggies participates in a program called Caregiver's Marketplace, where if you send your receipts in, you will get a check mailed to you for $.75 for each pack of Huggies purchased. So that will actually knock down the price of each of the packs of diapers to 25 cents! And obviously with the price of diapers, this is a big money saver.
Now this is an unusually good deal because of the big coupons, but on average I probably spend $3 for each pack of diapers, and no more than $5 (it's weird, but I now think paying $5 for a pack of Huggies or Pampers, widely considered the premium brand of diapers, as a little high!), when not too long ago I was paying $7+ a pack for the generic brand diapers at Wal-Mart which leaked much more frequently.
So, that in a nutshell, is how I do it. I have to give credit to my sister who got me started on these savings. In this day in age and in this economy, every little bit of savings makes a difference (and diapers is definitely a big expenditure when you have small kids!).
CVS is running a deal this week where if you buy $25 worth of certain baby products (of which Huggies is a part of), you get $10 Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back. ECBs are basically a coupon good for virtually anything in the store. So in this instance, if I buy $25 worth of the selected product, I get a $10 coupon/store credit back. Huggies are also on sale for $10 a pack.
Three weeks back coupons.com had $5 off coupons on Huggies diapers (sizes N-2). You could print up to two off per computer, and since I have multiple computers I can print out from between home and work, I printed out about 10 of the coupons, which were good for 30 days ($5 off coupons are pretty unheard of, so I wanted to take full use of them). And obviously with a baby soon to arrive, we can stock up on these sizes.
To do the CVS deals, you need to have a membership card, which you register for that is free (similar to a grocery store card). As a member, you often get coupons that print out at the end of your receipts, and it varies, but I seem to get a lot of coupons where if you purchase $50 worth of products, you get $10 back (commonly called 10/50 coupons).
So cutting to the chase, what I did today was went and bought 5 packs of Huggies diapers. That added up to $50. I used the 10/50 coupon to get the total to $40. I then used 5 of the $5 coupons, one for each package purchased, to get the total down to $15. I then used $10 worth of ECBs from a previous transaction to get the total down to $5, which I paid. Then, since I purchased at least $25 worth of the baby products, I got $10 ECB (so in essence replacing the $10 in ECBs I spent in the transaction). So all told, I spent $5 and got 5 packs of Huggies premium diapers (so $1 a piece!).
But I'm not done yet! Huggies participates in a program called Caregiver's Marketplace, where if you send your receipts in, you will get a check mailed to you for $.75 for each pack of Huggies purchased. So that will actually knock down the price of each of the packs of diapers to 25 cents! And obviously with the price of diapers, this is a big money saver.
Now this is an unusually good deal because of the big coupons, but on average I probably spend $3 for each pack of diapers, and no more than $5 (it's weird, but I now think paying $5 for a pack of Huggies or Pampers, widely considered the premium brand of diapers, as a little high!), when not too long ago I was paying $7+ a pack for the generic brand diapers at Wal-Mart which leaked much more frequently.
So, that in a nutshell, is how I do it. I have to give credit to my sister who got me started on these savings. In this day in age and in this economy, every little bit of savings makes a difference (and diapers is definitely a big expenditure when you have small kids!).
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Diapers
Some of you know my CVS'ing, which I do weekly. One of the results of that is really cheap diapers, which I am piling up. Yesterday Colleen took inventory and counted 24 packs of diapers we have in storage, and I'm about to add 5 more next week. Then she took a picture of the loot.
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