Omaha Update - Leah and Rachel's Status - 2-28-08

I wanted to post a quick little update on Leah and Rachel's continuing recovery. Both of them are continuing to make great strides towards a complete recovery, and are in very good spirits. Their hard work and stubborn will to get back to normal is shown in the latest results!

At the end of January, Leah met with the orthopedic doc, and was told that she no longer requires formal physical therapy, as her shoulder has made almost a complete recovery. Her clavicle had formed bone and was meshing completely, which means that the clavicle should heal without requiring surgery. Leah has returned to work full time, and no longer has to go into physical therapy 2 times a week.

Rachel continues to improve, with her skin grafts looking very healthy, and continued gains in flexibility in her right ankle, right hand and right shoulder. She had surgery on her right shoulder in January to clean out scar tissue and resolve a "frozen" shoulder. Prior to the surgery she was unable to move the shoulder more then a few degrees, and no further gains were being made in physical therapy. After the successful surgery, Rachel started PT on the shoulder the very next day, and very quickly saw gains in her range of motion. Just last weekend she demonstrated her ability to now get her arm above her head by "wall walking" her arm up. Walk walking is where you face the wall, place your hand against the wall, and pull your arm up the wall by "walking" your fingers upwards, while taking steps forward towards the wall. This moves the arm upwards, and stretches out the joint, and also helps to develop arm strength. A good side effect of this is that it helps strengthen her fingers as well!

Rachel did have another delay in her recovery however, as she kept noticing that her knee was very sore. She was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in her right knee, which requires surgery to repair. She also continues to have issues with flexibility in her large finger joints (the ones closest to the palm) which prevents her from gaining much more dexterity in the fingers. After consultations with the orthopedics it was decided that it would be good to have a combined surgery, and repair the knee and clean out the scar tissue in the hand at the same time. Rachel will be going in for surgery on the afternoon of 2-29, and will begin PT very quickly after.

We would like to thank all the folks who continue to pray for us, and keep us in their thoughts. Your encouragement and prayers help all of us to continue to improve.

Silversmithing - Amethyst Pendant

Another little project that recently was completed. Sterling silver with Amethyst cab.


I will be posting an update on the Leah and Rachel sometime in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Inlayed Turquoise ear studs

Just a quick update of some silversmithing stuff... Recently I have been learning to cut rock, and how to do some basic inlay of rock into silver pieces. Grandma and Grandpa needed some actual production work for some of the places they sell jewelry, so I helped out to get them some stock.


These are 3mm silver ear studs with inlayed turquoise. Simple but very elegant!

International Space Station Flyover

Since there is so much interest in space flight and astronomy right now, I figure this might be a cool picture to put up as well. The other day the ISS and docked Space Shuttle Atlantis made a visible pass over Omaha, almost directly overhead. I have seen the ISS many times in the past, but rarely in a directly overhead pass with such clear weather. I broke out the camera, and braved the cold fingers and managed to catch the ISS /Atlantis passing overhead, right near the moon. This is a time delay exposure, around 8 or 9 seconds worth.

ISS - STS-122 Overhead Pass
Near Portal, NE 2.15.2008

Lunar Eclipse...

Lunar eclipse last night, and I took a quick shot. Hard to take good pictures when it is so very very cold out like it was here in Omaha last night, my fingers just didn't work real well...


Oh also a much longer lens would probably help... This was only shot with 55mm zoom, so obviously I can't get to awful close on the zoom...

Snow on the Trees...

Its been a long and cold winter here in Omaha this year, one where the snow has been blanketing the ground for a lot longer then it typically does around here. I took this shot the other day just outside of work after the snow had stopped falling.