X-rays tell the story

So much for a friendly neighborhood flag football game a couple of weeks ago. So much for Eric and me getting in "football" shape (running routes, changing our workouts, etc.) and throwing around the football for the few weeks prior to the flag football game. The day of the game, tossing around the football for some warm-ups, I caught the ball right on my fingertips. I remember saying to Eric, "Hey, I think I just jammed my finger. It looks really weird." I wasn't in any pain so I taped it up and played the game. The game was really fun and our "side" of the neighborhood won.

Little did I know then what I know now. The next day I went to our on-site health clinic to get it checked out. Again - no pain, it was a little swollen and there was a little bruising but I could still move it with no pain. They took x-rays and it appeared that there was a fracture. So I was to splint it and come back in 2 weeks to determine whether or not I would need to go to the bone & joint specialist (what?!!). (You have to understand - I've never had any broken bones...)

Well, a week passed and the swelling and bruising had gone away but my finger still looked a little funny. It just wasn't straightening like I thought it should be. So, I went back to the clinic to see if I should be splinting it differently so that it would be straight. Then, they suggested that I go ahead and make an appointment with the bone & joint specialist (yikes!) to get it checked out further.

So today, I went to the specialist - thinking very optimistically but also knowing that my finger still just didn't look right. I knew that something was going to have to be done. To the doctor, it was clear that my little bones were no longer aligned (which is causing the droopy finger) and to top it off, my extensor tendon (my dad would be proud of me for using medical terminology) that runs on the top of your finger, had torn a little bit of bone where it connected. After re-splinting my finger to straighten it even more and another set of x-rays with the splint, it was very clear now that splinting will not do the trick. (Oh man!)

So now...surgery with 2 pins to realign my bones and reattach the tendon and bone. Ugh! I don't know what's worse - the surgery or the recovery! Six weeks of wearing the splint 24x7 and then another 4 weeks to wean off of the splint. If my finger droops at any time, it's back to Start...4 weeks of the splint. Wow! Oh yeah - and during that time, limited physical activity...(we'll see how long that lasts. I'll get creative with some sort of exercise.) Wish me luck! Definitely more to come on this story.

**Eric's edit - humble Andrea forgets to mention that even with her broken finger, she snagged an interception for a touchdown late in the game, to seal the win. The Tigers could use her in the defensive backfield I think. They need some help.

Chicken Adobo - 2 yummy ways to cook it...

One of our favorite meals to cook is Chicken Adobo - one of the national dishes of the Philippines. The girls love it and it's frequently requested by Molly during our weekly meal planning (always a good sign for an almost 6 year old). This week we found a new - and I have to say very easy - way to cook this recipe.

The typical way to prepare chicken adobo is simple: a whole cut up chicken, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup vinegar, a lot of garlic (like 1 whole head, cloves crushed and coarsely chopped), freshly ground pepper to taste, 1-2 bay leaves. We usually double the soy sauce and vinegar so that we have extra sauce to put on our rice. And we like to add good sized button mushrooms for mushroom adobo. Then it's basically cook until done. The smells in the house for that short period of time - usually around 20-25 minutes - are just amazing.

However, this time around we cooked half of the chicken adobo using a slow cooker! Wow - that was also really good too. We just let it cook on low for a few hours and wa-laa...chicken adobo. The meat was really tender and practically falling off. Good stuff!

If you happen to try out this recipe, let us know how yours turned out in the Comments section.