This week's
challenge: If I came to visit you next week, how would I know which doorbell to ring? Do you have a formal entrance? Should I come to the front door? Or do you prefer your guests to come around back? (Would you be surprised if I came in through the garage?!?)
To reach me, first you'd have to go over the river,
then through the woods...
to New Mexico.
Then you'd drive down this beautiful street -
Just kidding!
That's Shad's dream street in his hometown of El Segundo California.
This is what our street looks like.
Shad stood on our roof to take this shot on a beautiful night.
Albuquerque isn't the prettiest place (those woods and river were in northern New Mexico, hours from my house), but we do have beautiful sunsets sometimes.
Drive up to the tenth house on the left and you're at our place.
Oh wait, that's Disneyland ... easy mistake to make!
Here's our real house!
If you happen to come to my place on one of the 2 days a year it actually snows here, you will be greeted by a little birdhouse to the right of my doorstep.
When you arrive, please knock.
Don't ring the doorbell - my husband works swing shift and the doorbell might wake him up.
You'll know you're at the right house when instead of being attacked by a ferocious guard dog, you are jumped up on and loved by Miss Felicia herself.
Once you've reached my house you can come in and I'll tell you the long story of how I discovered I have an extra vertebra.
Since some of you might not be able to come over for quite some time still, I'll share my extra vertebra story right here and now!
Once upon a time there was a young lady of 22. She had been married for 14 months. One evening she was sitting on the floor surrounded by her handsome knight, another knight and his lady fair, when she realized that it was time to do her duty. She arose to travel to the great Marriott Center in the Kingdom of BYU, but all of a sudden she felt a sharp pain in her back...
All right, enough of that. I had been sitting on the floor of our apartment, with my legs stretched out straight in front of me. I stood up to get ready to go to work as an usher at the Marriott Center. All of a sudden my back hurt. I had had some minor back difficulties in the past and I figured this was just another episode. Off I went to work, but the pain increased. I could hardly sleep that night.
I don't remember how long it took for me to go see a doctor (my memory of this whole experience is rather foggy due to insane amounts of legalized narcotics), but I finally went. They took x-rays, discovering that I have an extra vertebra at the base of my spine. They told me that I was young and would heal quickly. Most people with back problems feel better after 6 to 8 weeks (a phrase I hate hearing!)
After many frustrating weeks of incredible pain and having to walk with crutches (you try walking normally when you're back is out) I was sent to an orthopedist. He ordered an MRI and through that we discovered that I had ruptured two discs in my back and that I have degenerative disc disease. Remember, I was 22 - in fact I had just turned 22 less than a week before I hurt my back - and the doctor said to me, "If I didn't know that you're 22 and that this is your MRI, I would have thought this was the MRI of a 70-year old woman."
Both of the ruptured discs were bulging onto nerves, hence the unbelievable pain. Your discs are like jelly doughnuts. Imagine one getting smooshed and the jelly squirting out and you've got a herniated, or ruptured, disc. One of the discs was bulging so badly that it had pinched the nerve controlling my left leg, which became atrophied from my having to use crutches to walk.
After two months of waiting, I had surgery to clean out the herniated discs.
I have had all sorts of problems since that surgery, but have been doing really well for the past 6 years (knock on wood!). My extra vertebra doesn't really cause any problems, it's my discs that are the troublemakers!
So there you have it - more than you ever wanted to know about Windy's back!
