Crabs

crab, n "Any of various predominantly marine crustaceans of the division Brachyura within the order Decapoda, characterized by a broad flattened cephalothorax covered by a hard carapace with a small abdomen concealed beneath it, short antennae, and five pairs of legs, of which the anterior pair are large and pincerlike."

Well, I have eaten crabs, ONCE. Not bad when cooked right and covered in butter. I have seen them, small ones on the beach...but NEVER in my dreams could I have thought that I would come to HATE them. (But I might still eat them, if cooked right and covered in butter)...

Here's my rundown...with a crab.

Last Tuesday, we thought it would be nice to go out to Sandbridge, our favorite beach. (Sandbridge made it into the news a few weeks ago because during the hurricane it was hit hard and they even think a tornado whipped through there at the same time.)

We've been going there all summer, and thought it would be a nice day, not a lot of crowds, to take David out to "our" beach. So, we packed up the truck and the kids and headed out.

It was a really nice day, the water is still pretty warm and the sand is hot. There was a lot of debris and shells everywhere, churned up from the hurricane, I assume. We were walking on the beach and playing in the sand. It was fun!

David and Jacob were wading in the water and pulling up some pretty big shells. Jacob picked up what he thought was a big shell and it was a live lobster! I guess I didn't really think about the danger of bare feet around all that marine life and broken shards of shell.

Well, I found out. I waded into the water to find some shells of my own and as soon as I walked in to the shallow water, I placed my feet down about 8 inches apart and got STABBED. One hole on the inside of my left foot and one hole on the inside of the right foot, near the heel. I had planted my left foot and jerked away from the pain with my right foot and started out of the water to check my feet.

I immediately thought I was cut from sharp shell pieces. I got to our "camp" and sat down with some clear water and cleaned off the cuts, which were bleeding, but not a whole lot. I put some antibac on them and sat for a while. My feet were throbbing, but not unbearable.

After a while, we decided to get some lunch and get home. I hobbled off the beach, putting the weight on the front of my right foot, because putting my heel down was pretty painful.

We got home and I got a shower, but still couldn't put pressure on the heel of my right foot. The left foot was sore, but not nearly as bad. I decided that I better be safe and get to the hospital. We're talking about marine life and sea water here, so I didn't want to mess with infection or something.

I got to the hospital and got checked in. When the doctor came to get my story and I told him it was from the ocean, he left the room and the nurse came in quickly after that and gave me a tetanus shot and put a liquid antibiotic into an IV in my arm. I guess we aren't supposed to mess with chances with infection from anything on the beach or in the ocean.

So, then I had an xray. The doc came back pretty quickly after that and said, "yep, clear as day, a big bright spot in your foot that shouldn't be there. You've got a foreign body in your foot" So, next step...call ORTHO to take a look.

I ended up in the room where they put casts on broken bones. They put my foot under a little machine and I saw a tear drop shaped white spot in my foot. No mistaking it.

So, next step...LIDOCAINE. UGH. It's bad enough at the dentist, but 3 shots later, and my husband's hand squeezed to death, and my foot was finally numb. They start to dig. About SEVENTY minutes later, the doc informs me that he can't get "IT" out and will have to move me to the next room with better lights and surgical equipment.

Next room...well, lidocaine wears off. UGH again, 4 more shots to numb. Those are SO painful in my opinion. And more digging,a bigger incision and more squeezing David's hand. My foot wouldn't stop bleeding of course and the doc couldn't get a hold on "IT", so bring in the retractor to open the skin wider and the fake tourniquet to stop blood from going to my foot as much.

AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER (we're talking almost 3 hours here), the doc finally said, "I got IT!" About 5 medical people swarmed whatever it was he pulled out and starting taking pictures of IT.

He finally got me stitched up, 6 stitches, and told me there may be nerve damage from cutting the skin and stretching it like that. Great.

I finally got to see the culprit...see that little sharp pointed tip of crab claw in that diagram at the top????




YEP...the tip of a crab claw was broken off the owner and lodged in the tissue of my foot. OUCH.

Now...claw out, serious antibiotics for two weeks, crutches and probably nerve damage (my heel is still numb).


So...to close this epistle to the crab...I HATE you little crab. I know you were just defending yourself, but really? And, much to the chagrin of my beach going friends, I hate the beach, I've never really loved it, just "doing it for the kids" type of thing, so, no more beach for me. I've been told to just invest in some beach type shoes. To me, that defeats the purpose of enjoying the sandy beach with your bare toes. So, I'd rather get some good BOOTS on and find a gorgeous mountain to climb.

PT

For the last 12 years, David has been on a regular routine of physical exercise. In the Navy, they call it PT. He has to pass a PT test every 6 months. Scores from this test go on his record. In 12 years, he's never failed a PT test. (We've known guys that have failed 3 PT tests in a row and have been "kicked out" of the Navy) When he was on the ship, he and his friend Billy had a great routine of exercise. I'll have to say that David looks GOOD. And let's face it we're not spring chickens. No, we're not OLD yet, but David is 37 and looks fantastic. Me, not so much, but I'm still going to use the "I've had 3 kids" card for a while.

I have been working on exercising better. I got some awesome running shoes for my birthday...gift to myself...and I love walking/jogging/running in them. I've been doing that for about 2 months...off and on.

The biggest challenge we face is getting the kids to exercise. This is one of the biggest challenges of homeschooling. I just don't love to get all three kids out there exercising and when it's 9000 degrees and 100% humidity in Virginia, NO ONE wants to exercise outside.

So, last Christmas, we got a Wii. We use it a lot. We have really enjoyed the family time with the games and the exercise. (Although my Wii character hides her face and slouches her big fat butt every time I do a weigh in...WHATEVER!)

However, this summer has been a big challenge! Not only was it so hot, but David was gone, and he is usually the source of motivation for us. And, part of our coping with a lonely house in the evening while he was gone...going out to eat. I admit, this is all my fault, but we used our outings at night to avoid the crying and heartbreaking sobbing of going to bed without Daddy.

Anyway, I am sorry for our lack of exercise. Jacob has been getting a gut, and he's only 11. So, when David got home, he started putting together a routine of kids exercises and we decided to do a homeschool PT program. Unfortunately, he's going to have to do it with them for now, I had a little accident with my foot and am off of it for awhile. (See Post "Crabs")

Today was our first day of PT. I took the dog out and took pictures while the kids and David did a little PT, or as the kids would call it if they were in school P.E.

I think this will be fun, and I hope the kids get a better lesson in exercise from me from now on.




Even Pepper got some exercise.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

We've been playing and singing the Primary song, "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be..." We finally got him home and could sing it to him. Five months seemed like a long time when we first started this deployment. When I thought about the time, I kept thinking it was just shy of half a year. Yuck. Too long. Even though it's been a long time, and looking back we've had a lot of months worth of experiences this summer, it's over now and it's gone by fast.

The kids can't stop climbing on David and I can't stop staring at him. After months of me being the adult in the house, it's a transition to have a tall dark man in my house. But, tall dark and handsome is what keeps me staring I think. (wink...)

David is so happy to be off the ship. The name of the ship is the USNS Comfort. They started calling it the Un-comfort. Last night when he got into bed, he had to do a little happy dance because he had so much space. I didn't sleep good because cover hog was snatching MY covers. Oh well, transition is good. And I can't believe how much I missed this man.

Here are some pictures of our reunion.


As soon as the ship gets to a certain point near the pier, the tugboats get a hold of the sides and guide the ship in. This process takes FOREVER. About an hour later, the ship is pier side.


After the ship stops, there are about eight million things that have to be done before anyone steps off the brow (that's the little walkway that they walk off the ship on.) Here is a picture of the sailors getting the ropes and tying the ship up to the pier side. After the ship is secured, the captain (skipper) usually gets off the ship and talks to the media. And since the ship was in foreign ports, a customs inspector has to go on the ship and do an inspection. During all this, we sat in the truck and waited. The kids played games and I just waited and watched. We finally went over to the pier and the kids held up their signs, one for daddy and one for Billy, David's good friend, who's family is out of town right now.
The ship pulled in at noon. After everything is done, and the brow finally opens and the sailors start coming out, it's almost 2:00. There is a lottery on ship and the winner gets to be the first one off to have the first KISS. After that guy comes out, that's when the watch begins. Everyone comes out in numbered waves. So, David was in wave #9 out of 40.

We were in the band families group. Everyone waiting for wave #9. At almost 2:45 pm, I finally heard someone say, "there's a bass!" Someone saw one of the guys carrying his bass guitar and we knew it was wave #9. It's hard to tell which man is ours because they all look the same in their uniforms. But we finally spotted him, with a big smile on his face and we finally got our hands on him.


We finally got home around 4:30pm. The house smelled divine with a roast in the crock pot and we had a fun evening catching up and having homemade cookies (which are gone by the way, TWO days later.) On Saturday David gave us all some travel goodies, a leftover MRE (the band had to eat them sometimes because they would get back from their gigs and the kitchen would be closed) blankets from Ecuador, ceramic bird whistles from Nicaragua, shirts from Guatemala, and dark chocolate from Guatemala.



After a busy weekend, we attended church together as a family, and I haven't stopped smiling. I am so grateful for his safe return. What a ride, for all of us. Our blessings have been increased and we're so grateful to be together.