Snap! Crackle! Pop! Redux!

I've been going to the chiropractor for almost 4 weeks now (3 times a week).  Four weeks of getting deep tissue massages, physical therapy, electrical stimulation, and my favorite adjustments.  My lower back is actually starting to feel a little better. 

The massage therapist is determined to get rid of all the knots in my neck, shoulders, and glutes by torturing me with deep tissue massages.  She hasn't been able to make a dent in the knots yet, and let me tell you she's not giving up.  It's 15 minutes of pure torture, and I walk out of the room light headed and feeling like she took a bat to my back.

I definitely look like this after a massage and adjustment!

The physical therapy part isn't bad.  They have me doing several stretches and exercises to help my back.  I don't mind the adjustment on my back, but the neck freaks me out every time.  I keep expecting for my head to come flying right off my shoulders.  Every time they adjust my neck I swear I see stars! After a session, I'm pretty much finished for the rest of the night.  I come home and just collapse!

They did a scan of my feet, and now I'm getting orthotics because apparently when I walk I don't put any weight on my big toes.  I'm actually having to learn how to walk all over again.  Apparently this is also a cause of my balance issues.  I thought I was just super clumsy!  Thank goodness my insurance is covering this, because the orthotics are expensive.

After looking at my x-rays, the doctor was amazed that the only part of my body I don't complain about pain is the part that has arthritis (vertebrae T11 and T12).  I guess I'm just lucky that way!

Photo Courtesy of www.yogaback.com

So I will continue to go get tortured 3 times a week, and wait for that magical day when I don't walk out of there feeling like I was mugged.  They say it's going to happen! Fingers crossed!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Spondo What?

Photo courtesy of the Mayo Clinic

I finally got the x-ray results for my back, and the chiropractor tells me I have spondylosis.  I know I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a child, but had no clue what spondylosis was and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.  So the doctor shows me the x-ray and starts to explain what is happening with my back.

Needless to say I was a little freaked out by all his doctor talk, so I asked him to explain it to me in normal person talk.  He laughed at me and basically said my vertebrae are degenerating and I have bone spurs on the ends of them, my tail bone is at a funky angle, and my left hip is higher than my right hip.   I also have arthritis of the spine! Yay me!  So he wants to see me 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks to work on my back (more snap! crackle! and pop!).  He says they should be able to get me walking with minimal pain in no time.

I went to my rheumy yesterday and told him about the diagnoses, and he wants me to be careful with the chiropractor because he's afraid they're going to mess me up even more.  He then proceeded to give me 2 cortisone shots (one in each hip) to help with my myofascial pain.  My hubby was with me and I could see the look on his face.  I had seen the needle (about 5 inches in length) and asked hubby if the doctor had pushed the whole needle in my hip (the doctor gives a numbing shot first so I couldn't feel the big needle), and my hubby could only nod his head up and down.  The shots have actually helped with the tenderness in my legs.  Hopefully it lasts a while before wearing off.

So tomorrow I go back to the chiropractor and tell him about my rheumy's concerns. My rheumy also gave me a note for the chiropractor explaining what he would like accomplished during physical therapy.  He said to let him know if the chiropractor couldn't accommodate me and he would send me to a new physical therapist.

I just want the pain to go away!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

My Get Up and Go has Got Up and Went!

This is definitely me!

My body has been in flare up mode ever since the rainy week we had.  It's been almost 3 weeks and the pain seems to be getting worse not better.  I feel bad because I'm conserving what energy I have to make it to work everyday.  Anyone who teaches can tell you that it is not a sit around and relax kind of job.  I get home so exhausted and in so much pain that I just change into my jammies and climb into bed.

Luckily for me I have the best hubby in the world.  He knows I'm hurting and he takes care of me and the boys.  I know it hard for him sometimes having to be the one that takes care of everything, and I feel guilty that I have to rely on him so much. 

The problem is, that I don't have the energy to do anything with him or the boys on weekends.  My feet, back, shoulders, and head hurt so much that I just want to sleep my weekends away.  My parents don't understand what I'm feeling.  My mother is constantly at me to just get up and deal with the pain.  My dad thinks the solution is to just get on the treadmill and everything will be alright! I know my boys wish I could do more with them, but they know how much I hurt.

I have an appointment to see my rheumatologist in 2 weeks, and I'm going to ask him to refer me to a local physical therapy place that deals with fibro.  They have aqua therapy, massage therapy, plus exercises and yoga.  I'm hoping that they will help with some of my pain issues.  It might also be time to adjust or change my medications.  I have hydrocodone for when the pain gets to the unbearable stage, but I try not to use it that often.  I have an addictive personality, and the last thing I need is to become addicted to pain killers.

So for now I will rest and recover and ignore my parents (I know they love me and mean well).  I will continue to lean on my best friend and hope that I don't end up pushing him to his breaking point.

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

He'll Be Dancing Soon Enough!

Brian had his left hip replaced last Tuesday morning and has been recovering quite quickly.  He stayed in the hospital 3 nights (I stayed with him on the most uncomfortable roll away bed ever made), and has been at the rehab facility since Friday (their pull out bed was a little more comfortable). 

I stayed with him until yesterday morning, then we decided it was time for me to come home.  I made sure that he could get in and out of bed by himself, take a shower and get dressed by himself, and walk to physical therapy without any support. 

I hated leaving him, but my boys were anxious to come home.  They love staying with my Parental Units, but they were missing the comforts of home.  Shaney especially missed his XBox. Plus I was really missing my boys.  They will going on vacation with the Units and my nieces for 2 weeks beginning July 8th (my birthday) to California and Las Vegas, so I needed to get my fix of them before they leave.

Anyway, Brian is doing so well at therapy they are letting him come home tomorrow.  They had him practice going up and down a set of stairs (don't know what we were thinking when we decided to buy a 2-story house with all the bedrooms upstairs), and he said it was a "piece of cake." 

So tomorrow Spencer and I are going shopping for a shower seat.  The facility is going to give him a walker (well they're going to charge the insurance for it anyway) and a raised toilet seat.  They have given him some other cool gadgets to help him get in and out of bed and put his socks and pants on without rotating his hip.  Apparently if he rotates his hip, it could dislocate and we would have to do this all over again!

Yikes!

I went to see my orthopedist on Monday for a follow up on my hip pain.  I have tried the cortisone shot, physical therapy, medication, and nothing seems to help.  He took another x-ray and still cannot find anything wrong with me.  So now I have to get an MRI next week to see if we can figure out what is causing all this pain.  As I was leaving the doctor's office, I noticed that my orders said "Needs Driver."  I have had MRIs before and have never been told I needed someone to go with me.  I asked the nurse why I needed a driver and she said it was because they were doing an arthogram first.

I have never heard of an arthogram, so I asked what that entailed.  Apparently they have to inject dye into my hip joint in order to take a look at everything on the inside.  Then they move me to the MRI and do that test.  All in all I'm looking at 2 hours of good times! Really looking forward to this! NOT!!!

And So The Torture Begins!

I started physical therapy last week, and I thought this isn't so bad.  A few stretches, some ultrasound treatment on my hips, and some electric stimulation on my back. Piece of cake! Well on day 3, they decided it was time to add some exercises! The first day wasn't too bad. Time on the treadmill and some weird bicycle thing for the arms.  Well everyday they add 2 or 3 new exercises which still haven't been too bad. They're taking it slow because of the fibromyalgia and want to get my body conditioned to do more. 

So where does the torture begin? At the end of all the exercises and ultrasound and electric stimulation, the therapist comes in to work out the muscles that run down the side of my leg from the hip to the knee.  This is the most painful part of my body right now.  Because of the fibro, my legs feel like someone has taken a baseball bat to them.  He uses the palm of his hand and starts at the hip and pushes all the way down to the knee.  He does this about 10 times, and each time he does it I want to slap the man silly.  As soon as he pushes down the first time, I get an instant headache from the pain.  He keeps telling me that it will get easier as time goes by, but I am starting to have my doubts. We have done this for 3 days now, and each day it feels like it is getting worse.  I have to go back today and I am totally not looking forward to it.  I just have to keep telling myself that things will get better soon, and that all this torture will eventually help with my fibro pain! Positive thoughts!