Year: 2016

RAK #5: Luis S. Vielma

Anna Blankenheim Death, Random Acts of Kindness, Tragedies , , , ,

This is the fifth of 49 random acts of kindness (RAKs) that I’m doing to honor the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. Hopefully each small act puts a little bit of happiness back out in the world!

This was another fun one. I asked the cashier to load some money on the Safeway gift card and then for her to give it to someone who looked like they were truly having a terrible day. She and the bag boy were super excited about their “mission”.

This RAK is in honor of Luis S. Vielma, was 22 years old and worked at Disney World, specifically at the Harry Potter ride. In fact, J.K. Rowling herself tweeted about his death. He was in college studying to be a physical therapy assistant and his friends and family described him as one of the kindest people they had ever met. Rest in peace, Luis.

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RAK #4: Juan Ramon Guerrero

Anna Blankenheim Death, Random Acts of Kindness, Tragedies , , , , ,

This is the fourth of 49 random acts of kindness (RAKs) that I’m doing to honor the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. Hopefully each small act puts a little bit of happiness back out in the world!

This was another fun one. If you don’t know, I’m a planner addict… in fact, right now I’m currently using TWO paper planners (stay tuned for an update on that)! I posted in one of the Facebook forums I belong to that for my 4th RAK I wanted to give away a planner system that didn’t work well for me. In order to enter, people had to comment with a random act of kindness they had performed. Kind of sneaky of me, right? I got lots of great ideas!

This RAK is in honor of Juan Ramon Guerrero, who was 22 years old and was a student at the University of Central Florida. He was at the club with his boyfriend Christopher Leinonen, who was also killed. They had planned to get married and instead, their families held a joint funeral. Rest in peace, Juan.

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RAK #3: Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo

Anna Blankenheim Death, Random Acts of Kindness, Tragedies , , , , ,

This is the third of 49 random acts of kindness (RAKs) that I’m doing to honor the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. Hopefully each small act puts a little bit of happiness back out in the world!

This was a fun one… your standard “pay for the person behind me” but with a twist. I went through the drive through at Starbucks and bought a gift card. When I got to the window, I handed the barista my note card. I then asked her to hang on to it until she came across someone having a tough day and to give it to them. This RAK was in honor of Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo (known as Omar) who was one of the youngest victims at 20 years old. He was a dancer and a barista, remembered as a ray of sunshine. Rest in peace, Omar.

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RAK #2: Stanley Almodovar III

Anna Blankenheim Death, Random Acts of Kindness, Tragedies , , , , ,

This is the second of 49 random acts of kindness (RAKs) that I’m doing to honor the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. Hopefully each small act puts a little bit of happiness back out in the world!

For this RAK, I’m sending some planning supplies anonymously to someone in one of my planning groups. Stanley Almodovar III died a true hero – shielding others from the gunfire. He was 23 at the time of his death and known for his spunk and his love for others. He was a pharmacy technician who was known to bring a smile to the faces of those around him. Rest in peace, Stanley.

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RAK #1: Edward Sotomayor, Jr.

Anna Blankenheim Death, Random Acts of Kindness, Tragedies , , , , ,

This is the first of 49 random acts of kindness (RAKs) that I’m doing to honor the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. Hopefully each small act puts a little bit of happiness back out in the world!

My first RAK was for Edward Sotomayor Jr. I paid for the lady behind me at the In-N-Out drive through. Eddie was 34 years old at the time of his death and was known to his friends as “Top Hat Eddie”, because he wore top hats when out at events. From all online accounts, he was super friendly, beloved among the LGBTQ community as a promoter and event organizer. He leaves behind a partner (who was at the club that night but stayed outside once the shooting started in part due to a text message from Eddie) and a large family. Rest in peace, Eddie.

Baby Goats!

Anna Blankenheim Critters , ,

Yesterday I headed over to my sister in law’s house to check out their baby goats. I have never really hung out with a goat before, so I didn’t know what to expect, but these little suckers were adorable! I did learn that you should not stroke their billy goat beards (they pee on them?!). This is me looking a little bit crazy… “LET ME LOVE YOU!”

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Skyler looks much cooler than me:

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The two small white ones are the babies (they’re already getting big!). They snuggled up next to Mama and then mean old Uncle Goat came to scare them away:

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The babies then decided they were hungry, and it was a much rougher process than I would have imagined. They reach up under there and whack Mama pretty hard on the teats (yes, I said teats) then both get down to business. It was a little bit scary!

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They are also raising turkeys… who are way more adorable and friendly than baby chickens!

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Don’t tell Mike,  but I think I need a goat.

Pulse

Anna Blankenheim Random Acts of Kindness, Tragedies , , ,

This past weekend an armed man walked into Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando Florida, and opened fire, reigning terror down on over 300 people, killing 49 people in three hours before being killed himself.

I’ve struggled with what I wanted to say about this horrible tragedy and how to say it. Then I realized that it doesn’t matter that I’m a straight white woman… what I have to say is so much more than sexual orientation, color, and gender.

I’m so sorry.

I’m sorry that being a member of the LGBTQ community made you a target. I’m sorry that being yourself made you a target. I’m sorry you couldn’t go out for a fun night of Latin dancing without being murdered or maimed. I’m sorry that we as a nation have not done more to protect you.

I am sorry that our country has taken an event such as this and used it for political purposes. Regardless of your stance on gun control or your political party, I think it’s more important to remember that this is about HUMAN BEINGS. They ate breakfast that morning, just like you. They had hopes and dreams, just like you. They leave behind grieving mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and lovers.

This is not about religion and it’s not about guns. It’s about hatred toward another living being. And it has to stop.

Whenever something like this happens, I feel like I want to help. I know it’s insignificant, but I’m going to do what I did just after the Sandy Hook killings – one random act of kindness for each person who died. That’s 49 small acts that will hopefully inspire the recipients to pay it forward. I’ll share them along the way with a little bit about each victim. Here’s to putting some good back out in the world!

ACL Surgery: One Month Post Op

Anna Blankenheim Health , , , ,

May 22nd marked the one month point in my ACL reconstruction recovery.

Yesterday was a big day for me. I had my first day back in the office (I had been working from home for the last two weeks) which was amazing… it was so nice to see all my friends again and to be back out in society! As fun as staying home for a month sounds, it really does get old, especially when you have very limited mobility.

I also had my second physical therapy session. Not to brag, but I’ve been exceptionally good about doing my exercises and it shows. If I can make one recommendation to anyone facing this surgery, it’s do your exercises before, during, and after your procedure! I reached 110 degrees of bend yesterday and was actually allowed to get on the bike and turn the pedals over. Sounds like a small thing, but it’s HUGE. Finally feeling like I can move my body is amazing! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not riding the Tour yet, but I can move my legs for about 5 minutes a day at no resistance. Baby steps.

The last lagging “pain” I have is in two places: my hamstring and my incision. My hamstring is where they pulled the tendons from – it’s just a sort of sore, stretching feeling if I move to quickly. I was advised to chill on those exercises to let it continue to heal. The incision is the general byproduct of surgery – it’s numb right where the cut is, then the outer edges feel like they’re on fire if something (the bed sheets in the middle of the night, for example) brushes across them. Annoying, yes. Permanent, nope. Time heals all wounds.

I’m still not cleared to swim (something I’m really looking forward to) and I have another two weeks on crutches and with my brace. The graft is at it’s weakest right now, so I’m doing my best to remember to take it slow and not to stress it! I’m trying to be patient and keep my eye on the prize (getting back on my horse!) while pushing myself to continue to rebuild my missing muscle.

Here’s to continued healing!

The Dark Side of Surgery

Anna Blankenheim Health , , , , ,

I’m going to start this post off with a disclaimer… while I generally try to be light and happy about life, I also want to use this blog to be real. This is definitely not one of those bright and shiny posts… if you’re looking for cute horse pictures or funny jokes, go ahead and skip this one.

I did a lot of research before I had my ACL reconstruction surgery. I mean A LOT. I learned all about allograft vs. autograft (cadaver vs. my own), the different types of autograft (hamstring, Achilles, or patellar tendon), and recovery times (8 months to a year).

It never even crossed my mind to research post-operative pain management. I hobbled out of the surgery center with 100 Norcos in my pocket and a numb leg. Fast forward three weeks. My knee was feeling pretty good and the broken toe was tolerable. I was finally to the point that Advil just about took care of any residual pain, so I tapered off the Norco with 12 pills left, feeling pretty strong and proud of myself.

Then came the unexpected. I went to bed Tuesday night and couldn’t sleep. Not even a little bit. I didn’t just have restless leg syndrome, I had restless everything. My stomach was upset, I was clammy, hot, and I was starting to get a headache. It was terrible. I finally fell asleep just after midnight, thinking I was coming down with some sort of flu.

Wednesday, the symptoms all continued and intensified. Thursday was even worse. I felt super emotional and anxious. I emailed my doctor who confirmed what my husband and I had begun to suspect – somehow, while I was busy healing, my body had become addicted and I was having withdrawals. Now, I’m sure on the scale of withdrawals it was minor, but I honestly felt terrible until about Sunday morning. I was blown away that in just under three weeks my body had developed such a strong dependence on something that would make me feel so terrible.

I am so, so, so lucky in that several people close to me have experience with addiction and were able to help talk me through what I was feeling (you know who you are and you know how much I love you!). Sometimes it helps infinitely to have someone tell you that you’re not crazy and you’re not going to die.

Let me be clear. At no point did I abuse the medication I was given and at no point did I “crave” more (thank goodness!). I simply stopped taking the pills once my pain was manageable. And became acutely aware of how so many people each day can very easily get hooked on opiates… because just one more pill would make the yucky symptoms go away. It was completely eye opening and terrifying.

The question at the end of the day: knowing what I know now, would I do it the same way? I honestly don’t know. I’m a firm believer that we can and are doing wonderful things with modern medicine and that no one should have to deal with major or chronic pain. I do wonder if there was something less strong, something less major that could have helped me without the terrible withdrawal symptoms.

So there you have it. My candid, not so pretty story of withdrawal. It’s not meant to scare you, but to just let you know if you’re facing surgery that it’s a very real consequence of taking pain medication, even prescribed, and to help you be prepared.

If you or someone you know need help with prescription or other drugs, please visit http://www.na.org. Talk to your doctor, find a meeting, take action.