Crutchin is a Habit!!!!!

Yesterday marked one week since my surgery! I am starting to get used to the crutches, which is good because the first few days, my hands were incredibly sore! The weather has been great here, sunny and still no snow! Definitely the mildest winter that I have had between living in Alaska and Boston for the past 21 years of my life! I have been going to Physical Therapy to help keep my quadricep strong. Today I went and bought a dictionary to help Spanish people learn English. I figure that I need to be productive since I have a LOT of free time now days. Thought it might be interesting to get a dictionary to learn it "backwards." I was talking to my physical therapist about the different between South American-Spanish and Spain-Spanish as well as the difference between North American-English and Old English like from England. She is from Argentina and was explaining how is it easier for her to understand North American-English than Old English, yet for Spainards, it is way easier for them to understand Old English. I have heard from my teammates many times that I am hard to understand, but that might just be because I talk too fast :) There are certain letters like the G, J, and Z, that are pronounced differently in South America. I, too, think that it is easier to understand South American Spanish or Mexican-Spanish. My team won our game this past Sunday 69-57 in Aviles. The picture above is during a timeout at this game. It was one of our closer games so it was a big win for us. We are now 12-0 and have one more team to play in the first round of games, which means we are almost halfway through the season! Crazy how time is flying here! Hope all is well with everyone who sees this!!!!

A few pictures!

Before getting into my nice blue dressing for surgery!

Yes, the nurses really asked me to put "Si and No" on my legs just to make sure they did not operate on the wrong one!

Tina and I hanging out before the surgery!

Having some fun with my pretty blue dress :)

Surgery!

I recently got home from my first surgery experience ever! I had to go in on early Wednesday morning for pre-operation testing and then received the surgery Wednesday afternoon which took only about 45 minutes. I was numbed from the hips down, so that was interesting! I was pretty awake for the whole thing too. I thought that the anesthesia hadn't kicked in yet when they started moving around my leg, which I couldn't see because there was a sheet covering it. I told the doctor, um I still have some sensation....and he proceeded to tell me that they were already inside of me going to work! Three of my teammates came to see me before and after the surgery which was really nice of them. I had to stay the night there one night so that the nurses could look after me and all that good stuff :) Turns out that my posterior/external meniscus was torn, so that was removed. It also turned out that my cartilage is still injured so he had to do a mini version of micro-fracture surgery. That involved drilling small holes into the bone, causing it to bleed which is supposed to encourage cartilage growth. As I am writing this, the man who performed the surgery just called me, to make sure I was okay and to see if I had any questions, so that was nice! I have also got a few calls from my little girls team's parents. I won't be able to coach them for a while in practice, although I am going to coach them in the this coming game on Saturday. I will be out longer than I expected, as I cannot even walk or put any pressure on my right leg for 3-4 weeks. I hope the time flies! I do have purple crutches though :) My team won our last game against Salamanca, the second ranked team in out league. Now we play the 3rd ranked team in our league on Sunday in Aviles. I am excited and hope that we win! Weather has been pretty nice here, sunny, but a little on the chilly side. No snow yet though! My roommate from college, Meredith, will be here on February 19th, and then my sister and 3 of her friends on the 22nd of February. I am pretty excited! The picture is of me and my team Lara after coming back from the hospital! Thanks for the sweater mom! :)

Back in Oviedo

After a few long days of traveling I am finally back "home." Just getting back into the routine of practice, coaching my kids team and practice. As a matter of fact, I just got done with coaching the kids and one of them informed me that we were on You Tube. The first guy, who we call Ferdi, is one of the organizers for the Oviedo Club Baloncesto organization. He is talking about the different teams and levels under this Club, and about different coaches. Here is the link:

I had a great time in Mexico with my family and I am missing the warm weather! Although I really cannot complain because it is in the 50's here with no snow! We play the Salamanca, the 2nd place team, on Saturday. They are 8-1. So far we are undefeated at 10-0. I doubt I will be playing because I am waiting to hear about when my arthroscopic surgery will be to repair my meniscus. Definitely has been a frustrating process, but I am learning a lot from it...I finally found a coffee shop today that makes different types of coffees other than cafe con leche! They have lattes, mochas, and things with chocolate:) I will be going there often now! On January 2nd the passed a new law for all of Spain where you cannot smoke indoors. It has been very odd going into restaurants and bars when there is no smoke! I went to a bar the other night that I go to often and I talked to the owner about the change. He says it keeps the place a lot cleaner, but that business has dropped tremendously. I am looking forward to next month because I will have 4 of my girlfriends visiting me including my sister! I am off to dinner, but I am going to get back into updating this for whoever reads it!