Life Update | Jefferson, Oregon
Heeyyy!
So, life has been crazy lately, am I right?
I thought maybe after last year things would slow down a bit. Nope. At least not for my family, so here’s a update on what’s been going on in my life:
*Disclaimer- all these photos are taken with my phone, don’t judge, lol
WE BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE!
Yup, our family of 7 finally moved on to bigger & better things!
We neeeeeded a change. I want to say we outgrew our last house about 6 years ago, when our little Lainey baby was born, but we made it work until it was the right time for us to get out of there. Plus, we needed some new scenery. I was born & raised in Salem, so moving out of the city was a huge change for me, but we needed it. Jefferson is not terribly far from Salem, but it is far enough away that we it feels like we are kind of out in the country & don’t hear the noise of the city. It’s actually crazy how quiet it is out here, other than the occasional train passing through. The commute is not terrible either! We are still in Salem all the time though, for various things & because we have to buy so much food for all these freaking kids!
The view from my backyard. Isn’t it amazing?! Pictures don’t even do it justice.
The view from my bed-
Yeah, that’s what I get to look at every morning when I drink coffee in bed.
Our property backs up to a huge hay field & I couldn’t be happier!
I didn’t realize before how confining our backyard felt at our last house, but this - this is freeing. I feel like I can breathe. Yes, there are houses & barns off in the distance, but we don’t have backyard neighbors!
Yo, our new house is green & I’m not even mad about it.
We have a tree that the kids can climb in right in the front yard, & swings, hammocks, & a hanging chair surrounding a firepit out back!
Fret not my friends! Even though I moved out of Salem, Oregon, I will still be doing sessions there!
Not for a little until at least September though, because life decided to tell me to slow the F down & knocked me right on my tuchus.
Let me explain-
At some point, somehow, I tore the labrum in my hip & it was not getting any better no matter what I did. Over the past 8 months I had an X-ray, an MRI, an ultrasound, & many physical therapy appointments to figure out & try to fix this thing. The thing is with labrum tears-they don’t heal on their own. A lot of people can go through life with a tear & have no symptoms, but I’m one of the lucky few that constantly felt this deep, achey, annoying pain where my leg meets my body. I was constantly trying different things to make it go away to no avail. The next step was surgery.
So, on July 27th, my husband drove his tired, anxious, hungry wife to Hillsboro. He waited with me until they told him to go, kissed me goodbye, then took me back to do their thing.
Pics 1 & 2: There I am, looking all schnazzy in my hospital gown & glasses. I also had to take out all my piercings which was super fun! (definitely not fun. The two in my nose hate it when I mess with them. They tend to get really cranky at me). Also, the IV in my hand cause they can never seem to get it in my arm.
Pic 3: That’s the tear, kind of hard to see, but there it is. They stitched it together, then moved on to Pic 4.
Pic 4: On top of a tear, I have (or had) a thing called Snapping Hip Syndrome (google it, it’s fun). Usually when you cut a tendon you go to the Dr. & get it fixed right? That’s what I thought too. In this case, to help with that issue, she cut my psoas tendon.. Whaaat?! I told you, things are still crazy.
They did this all through two little incisions in my leg, but I won’t gross you out with the pic of my stitches. It’s kinda yucky.
I don’t come out of anesthesia very well.
As soon as I woke up, I felt alllll the pain from what they did & I whimpered. Yup. I sat there, coming out of the fog of being put to sleep, couldn’t talk, couldn’t open my eyes, & I whimpered until the nurse asked me if it was from my throat or my leg. All I could do was point to my leg & he quickly gave me meds through the IV.
But wait, there’s more!
One dose wasn’t enough. Apparently, it runs in my family that we need high doses of pain meds to feel any relief. I don’t know what it was that they gave me but whatever it was, it made the pain stop & I relaxed. But as soon as the PT tried to get me up to try crutches, I got super nauseous & proceeded to throw up, then again any time someone asked me to move around. lol. Things just keep coming!
-It just keeps getting better-
These people were so great. They were all very nice & patient & I don’t think I could’ve asked for better people to do all of this for me. My nurse gave me a handful of anti-nausea meds to take because I was throwing up every 10 minutes it seemed like. I don’t know about anyone else, but holy cow, that medicine made me sooooo sleeeepy. The PT was trying to talk to me -to do his job- so that I could be discharged eventually, but I kept nodding off as he talking to me. Yeah, like in Boss Baby when he falls asleep in the middle of a meeting. That was me. I could not keep my eyes open for the life of me & all this poor guy was trying to do was explain crutches to me! lol. Good grief. He actually told me he would be back later when I was more awake hah!
Then I took a nap.
All the while, my poor husband was waiting to be able to see me & I couldn’t stay awake long enough to get through these discharge procedures. Honestly, I should’ve asked for a coffee or something to wake me up. Anywho, 2.5 hours later, I finally powered through & was able to leave! They wheeled me down to the car & I ended up falling asleep again on the way home, pissed at myself for not being able to freaking STAY AWAKE!
This is the absolute best part -after hip surgery, you can’t really walk- so guess what?!
I had a walker.
Hey there, My name is Jennifer, I’m 33, never broken a bone, I’m fit & healthy as multiple Drs & PTs have told me & here I am, gimping my way around with this sucker.
lol. serrrriously.
Good thing I only had to use that for a little over a week. I have switched to crutches & started my post-op PT exercises. I am getting stronger every day, but still not able to put more than 30 pounds of weight on my leg.
Oh, also, another super awesome thing-
I CAN’T DRIVE.
It’s my right hip, so they told me I can’t drive for 6 weeks. That puts me out to the middle of September.
Recovery for this is 3 months to get back to normal activities. Full recovery & healing at 12 months. Recovery for anything depends a lot on the person, so I’m hoping because I went into this with no issues, I will be able to heal quickly & get back to doing normal things soon.
It sucks so bad that I have to miss the busiest season (I had to turn down 3 weddings- that is devastating to me) because I literally can’t walk, but it needed to be done sooner rather than later, & I will be back at it in no time!
I am already scheduling photo sessions for the end of September, out here in Jefferson, because it’s freaking gorgeous! So, if you want to schedule a session with me let me know!
September will come quickly which means school photos, Christmas cards, & pretty fall colors! I have also had some time on my hands to acquire new items for photos (working on a sweet boho set up right now)!
I just want to thank each & every one of you for being amazing & sticking with me through all of this!
& my husband who has been working his butt off to provide us with everything that we have & for taking care of me -his broken mess of a wife- lol!
With all the love,
