Jaw Update

I didn't realize it had been so long since I blogged. I ended up going back to the oral surgeon today to have him check me out. I have caught myself clenching my jaws a lot lately. He said that my jaw is healing well but my muscles are very tight. I'll be fitted for a bite splint very soon and that should help with that. I hope it does and I hope it helps alleviate the ear pain.

On a good note - my hip is doing well. Just some minor soreness if I overdo it, which is way to easy to do this time of year.

Still hurts

My jaw/ears still hurt. I'm hoping/praying that it is still just soreness from the surgery. I don't know how long is typical for it to hurt or if there is such a thing as typical. I'm having a down day today and am tired of hurting. Most days aren't so bad emotionally but every once in a while...

Jaw Surgery

I have failed to update you on my TMJ situation. I saw the oral surgeon on Oct 16. He did not like the feel of either jaw. He ordered me an MRI of my jaw and then to come back. I had that done on Oct 23. I saw him immediately after the MRI. The cartilage in my left jaw was almost completely out of place and the cartilage in the right jaw wasn't nearly as bad but was slipping. So I had surgery on Wed, Oct 29 to fix that. It was an outpatient surgery and I came home that afternoon. I've been in a lot of pain and slept a lot since then. It's eased up a good bit today but is still pretty sore.

Another Update

I went back to the hip dr today for a re-check. The dr pretty much released me. He said I was doing good. There's still some healing going on but it looked good. He told me to make an appt for 2 months but if I didn't have any problems or concerns to cancel. The therapist also said I was doing good. I'm still lacking some external rotation and she gave me a couple of exercises to do to help that. But I already have back some of the movement that most people don't have back yet. She seemed real pleased.

HOWEVER...

My ear is hurting pretty bad again. Started last week. I went to the ENT and he verified what I suspected - it's the TMJ flaring up. It is stopped up causing a negative pressure reading which could be why it's hurting but he also said that my jaw is not moving good. I'm being referred to an oral surgeon to have the TMJ evaluated further.

I'm kinda tired of being a medical case.

No More Crutches

I ditched the crutches this weekend. I had gone down to one after coming back from the dr check-up in Nashville. Then Fri at physical therapy he told me to get rid of the other one. He said I really wasn't putting much weight on the crutch. I think I was more dependant on it later in the day. So I went to church yesterday without one and I survived the day. I can't really stand for a real long time or walk for a long time but that will come. I notice that I start to limp a little bit more as the day goes on too. Today I had to go to the grocery store for a few things. I was probably there about 20 mins. I was tired when I got done. Maybe just a little sore but not too bad.

Learning to Walk

I kinda feel like I'm learning to walk again. I've been using one crutch around the house for the past week and yesterday went out with just one. With that progress, I tried walking a few times here and there around the house some without any crutches. I didn't do much at a time. I could tell that my leg was shaky the first few times. I didn't feel like I was going to fall or it give out or anything - just shaky. It's gotten better as I've walked a few more times. I can't do a whole lot of walking at one time without it feeling sore. Progress is coming...

5 weeks and checkup

I went today for a check-up with the hip dr. It's basically been 5 weeks since surgery. Overall it was a good visit and I'm progressing fine. After seeing the dr for a very brief time, I had a session with their physical therapist. She added to what I'd been doing and taught me to "walk" with the crutches - working back into a normal full walk. She also taught me how to use one crutch and I can do that around the house but still use two when I'm out and going longer. I can start weaning off of them.

I was very, very frustrated with them. They had scheduled my PT at 10:00 and my dr appt at 10:45. I checked in at 9:40 and told the receptionist that and she said let me check with them. She said that they would go ahead and see me in the dr office first. I thought maybe since I was early he was just running ahead of time and would go ahead and see me. But NO. An hour later the dr finally comes in (right on time for my 10:45 appt) so when I finish with him 5-10 mins later I should be leaving but no, I still have to go into therapy. So about 11, I'm just starting therapy, only they are backed up too and it's probably more like 11:15. So we were running much later than I expected. I was very frustrated and I was also very hungry since I had eaten breakfast 2 hours earlier than normal. If I hadn't needed to be up there until 10:45 I wouldn't have had to get up quite as early or had to get the kids up early. DS4 went along and fortunately he is a really, really good sport. He did great sitting there for 2 hours.

I go back again in 6 weeks for another check. In the meantime I continue therapy for a few more weeks and gradually get back to a normal walk. Of course I still have to take it easy but it feels good to be on the road to recovery. Just think, my original surgery date was today. :)

3 weeks post surgery

I had not realized I hadn't posted in two weeks. I guess I was feeling good and forgot.

I really am feeling good. Most of the soreness is gone. I think the soreness that I have is from working unused muscles during therapy and exercises at home. Some of them are tough.

Mostly, it's a mental battle now. It's hard to feel good but to still be restricted in what you can do. (Especially when you've felt bad for so long.) It's hard to not be able to do simple things like carry a cup from one room to the other. It's amazing all the things that are so easy to take for granted. I'm tired of the crutches but I'm halfway there.

1 Week Post-Surgery

1 week later and I'm doing really good. There is little discomfort and I haven't had to take the pain pills. Not taking the pain pills makes me feel better since they make me soooo sleepy. I have not had the shooting pain in my leg at all. I wasn't sure if it was connected with the hip or my back. Hopefully it was my hip and the fact that it's been gone isn't just a fluke. I do have some minor discomfort in the hip joint where the repair work was done. I wouldn't really even call it pain though. Most of the time it feels more like there's a catch and I need to pop it. Which of course I can't and wouldn't dare try. Just trying to describe it. The stitches come out this afternoon.

I'm already tired of the crutches. They are a lot of work and tire me out. I get around ok on them I'm just tired of them. I can put some weight on my leg so I'm constantly thinking about how much weight I'm putting on it, is it too much? I also have to think more about where I'm going and make sure there's nothing in my way to maneuver around (like kids' toys) and such. I took walking for granted. I'm probably more tired of not being able to do everything myself than anything. I have to get one of the boys to carry everything for me. I can't even get a glass of something to drink without help. DS7 has been having to put my sock on that foot since I can't bend enough to do it. Then if nobody else is around, he has to tie my shoe. I would just wear flip-flops but my gait is so much better with tennis shoes not to mention the heel lifts that are in my shoe. I don't know what I'm going to do next week when school starts. I don't really want to get up early enough to be showered and completely ready when I take him to school but I may have to in order to have shoes and socks. I'm not sure DS4 would get my sock on and I know he can't tie it. (I generally just throw some clothes on to take DS7 to school and then shower and get ready after I get back. I'm just not a morning person.)

There's just not a whole lot I can do around the house right now and I'm getting bored. I'm very thankful for the friends that came and picked us up and took us to get something to eat for lunch the last few days. It was good to get out of the house. I do tend to get a little stir-crazy after too many days stuck at home and it's worse if I stuck at home out of necessity instead of choice. I think I'm ok to drive now but I want to be safe. So I'm trying to tough it out as long as I can. I even found some great friend to take me to my dr's appt this afternoon. I'm also thankful for the people that are volunteering to bring us food. That is so incredibly helpful. Otherwise it would end up being late when we got to eat since we'd have to wait for DH to get home from work before it even started getting fixed. I'd also have to be sending DH to the grocery store which would take away from the time the boys get to spend with him and give him less time to help out at home.

I'm trying to dwell on the fact that this is temporary and be thankful for that. I was chatting with a friend from college on Facebook who has permanent disabilities. It was a good reminder that I do have much to be thankful for that this (should) be temporary. (No, he didn't point that out, it was a realization that I came to myself. Didn't want you to think he was rude.) It will also be worth it in the long run.

Post-Surgery Update

I am doing really well. I'm hobbling along pretty well on the crutches. It helps that I can put some weight on my leg; it really helps the balance. Yesterday I was finally bored with just sitting around. I didn't take any of my pain meds yesterday and I was ok. It actually helped the way I felt because it made me so drowsy. I've been good about doing my exercises. I made my first outing yesterday. I had mom take us to the grocery store before she went home. It felt really good to get out. I didn't sleep as well last night but I'm don't know why. I woke up one time and my leg was turned out which is one of the ways it's not supposed to go. I sleep with a pillow on that side to prevent that but I guess I'd gotten positioned wrong and it happened. Not sure how long I was like that. But I'm a little stiff/sore (all over) from the night's sleep. Hopefully a warm shower will help that. Overall, I am doing really well. DS7 is really eager to help and be "grown up". I hope that continues.

Surgery

Surgery is done and I am home recovering. As far as I know, everything went well. He said that he did not have to do as much as he thought he might have to. The cartilage had pulled away from the bone and there was a tear in it. He sutured up the tear and anchored the cartilage back to the bone. He even made a DVD of it to give us. I don't think it's the whole procedure though. Pretty fascinating how he can do all that with a little camera and a few small holes to put the instruments through.

After I was released, we checked into a hotel that was just a block from the surgery center. I was very, very groggy from the anesthesia last night and could hardly stay awake for more than 20-30 mins at a time. I didn't have much pain at all, but then I had also been given some pain meds. I slept ok last night. I woke every hourish but then I don't normally sleep that well away from home anyway. Plus I usually sleep on my left side and that's the side that I had surgery on so that may have had something to do with it.

We saw the dr again this morning and he told us a little more about what he did and asked how I was doing. The nurse took the dressing off my hip and put bandaids over the 5 stitched places. Not sure how many stitches are in each spot but not many. Then I went to visit with the physical therapist. That wasn't too, too bad but it wasn't all that fun either. She did help me with the crutches and made it a lot easier than the nurse at the hospital had. So that was good. She gave me exercises to do and instructions to for the next 6-8 weeks with a physical therapist here.

I will go back in a month and see how things are going. I'm a little unsure of exactly how long I'll be on crutches. The nurse at the hospital said 2 months but the dr said 6 weeks today. I'm sure he'll tell me more when I see him in a month.

I feel like I'm doing good. The pain is less than it was before surgery and actually the only pain that I do feel is at the incision spots and it's not that much.

Can you come tomorrow?

I got a call from the hip dr's office last Thur and we scheduled the surgery for Aug 25. That was the earliest that our schedules would work together. Then this morning a little after 11:00 I got a call from them. They had a cancellation for tomorrow and did I want it? Um, let me make a few phone calls. So I called DH to see if he could get off and I called my mom to see if she could come keep the boys. After I got that all settled that I was going to have surgery TOMORROW, I started freaking out just a bit. What do I need to have done before I'm incapacitated for a few weeks? Who all do I need to call/email? It was a crazy, crazy afternoon. I'm thrilled that I will have the surgery done so soon and that I should be able to drive again before school starts so the stress of worrying about how the boys were going to get to and from school is no longer a concern. I don't have to fret over the surgery for a month now.

It truly was an answer to prayer. We prayed that something would open up before school and it did. I know God always answers prayer; it's just always the way we want or as quickly as we want. I always try to pray that He will change my desires to match His but it's not always easy and I don't always comply.

Hip Appt

Today was my appt with the orthopedic in Nashville that specializes in hips. It was a long day but a good one. We left here at 7:15 and got home about 5:15.

We got there early since we had no traffic delays or other problems. I actually got to go back before my appt time. They did an xray and he evaluated my hip. We talked a bit. Pretty much we had come to the conclusion that he would do surgery (hip arthroscopy) but he wanted to do an MRI to see if it showed anything. It doesn't always but based on what the previous dr said and what he evaluated he said he would still recommend surgery.

My MRI was supposed to be check-in at 12:30 and it was 11:00 when we got done with the dr so we had some time to kill. The nurse told us we could go get some lunch or we could go over and see if they had had any cancellations and could get in early. (And there's a cafeteria over there.) The building is right across the street from the hospital so we didn't have to drive anywhere. We went over and she called back and said no, they were completely full so we went to the cafeteria to eat. It was good and there were lots of different kinds of things to choose from. We went back and finished registering. By then it was right about 12, I think. They call me back after only a few minutes and I barely sat down in the next waiting room when he called me for the MRI. Turns out that he had had two patients in a row back out because they were claustrophobic. So I got done before my appt was even supposed to be. (It was check-in at 12:30 for a 1:00 MRI). We got the films and went back over to the dr's office to WAIT! He had surgery all afternoon so we had to wait on him to get finished with one and come back over. It was 1:00 when we got there and it was 2:30ish when he finally came back.

He reviewed my films and came in and said that I did indeed have some damage to the cartilage in the hip joint. He showed me but I really couldn't make sense of the MRI. He said he can't tell from the MRI or xray what caused it but there's possible there's a bump on the bone or something like that. He won't really know until he got in there. If that's the case he will scrape the bone down and fix the cartilage. He said several times that he won't know how much he'll need to do until he's in there and can look. He will also have a CT scan done before the surgery as a guide for him. He said it was up to me when to do it. He didn't think it was an emergency and I could wait or I could go ahead. Of course I said go ahead. I told him I'm tired of the pain even if the injection has been helping. I also told him it's hard to keep telling my little boys that mommy can't do that and so forth.

After he left his nurse came in and we talked about when. She said there's a slight conflict because she doesn't really know his schedule for a few weeks. He is the team dr for the Tennessee Titans and their football camp starts on the 25th. He will have to be out there at some point each day of practice but they haven't given him that schedule yet. We could schedule something Aug 11 or after or wait and until he gets that schedule and see what he has available. I decided to wait and see what comes open. She hopes to have that by the end of the week but she doesn't have control over that. She sounded frustrated that she didn't have it yet. (Boy can I relate to that, lol)

I also have two options as far as follow-up. It is an out-patient surgery. Since we are relatively close, I can either come home right after and go back in a week for a follow-up and get the stitches out or I can spend the night after and go back to see him the next day, have the dr here remove my stitches, and then go back to see him in 6 weeks. I'm leaning toward the later option right now.

Recovery will just depend on how much they have to do. It could take up to 3 months to really start to see results. I will be on crutches. How long just depends. It will likely be 4-6 weeks. I will also have therapy. I'll learn more about that when I see him the day after surgery or the week after.

Of course there is no guarantee that the surgery will work but it should. He says about an 85% chance. I feel like he was being conservative on that which is fine. You have to leave room for the rare case and since I seem to be a rare case in everything that has me a little concerned but still excited about the possibilities.

I think that about covers it. I'm glad to finally have an answer to a pain that's been bugging me for almost 1 1/2 years.

Sleepy

I'm going through a phase again where it's hard to get to sleep. Once I get to sleep I want to sleep forever, it's just getting to sleep. Mostly pains here and there keeping me awake.

Right now my ear is hurting more than it was from the splint. I don't know if it's an adjustment to getting used to it or if it's not fitted right.

My leg and back are hurting more from scrapbook weekend. I've gotta learn to tear myself away from the people and scrapbooking to stretch out some.

Splint

I got the new mouth splint yesterday and wore it last night. It's different than the other one so it will take some getting used to all over again. Can't really tell anything yet. Just thought I'd let you know I got it.

Beautiful Brain

I'm sure I'll get some smart-alecky remarks on this one but the dr today said that I have a beautiful brain. I saw a neurologist today. There was some "white matter" on my MRI that the ENT felt warranted a further look. Turns out to be normal - everyone has some degree of white matter. He equated it to freckles. Everything was fine and my brain is beautiful. I really liked that dr. He spent a lot of time in the room talking to me, evaluating me, looking over the MRI. I felt like he really cared and wasn't trying to shuffle as many people through as possible. I honestly spent 45mins -1 hr with him. You just don't get that anymore. He explained a lot of what the MRI showed instead of just shuffling through the images quickly to see what was there. He even apologized that I had to come in.

Ear Update from follow-up appt

I went back the ear dr in Birmingham on Tues. The steroid he gave me to try and see if it would help didn't make any difference. After talking to him more at this appt he/we decided that it is probably a result of the TMJ. I am going to go back to the dentist and have a better splint made for my mouth to wear at night. That is really all I can do at this point. I'm also trying some Aleve to help with the pain since the Advil didn't do anything. He also gave me a prescription used to treat inner ear problems just in case that's what it is. I'll call him again in a month and let him know how it's going.

Appt made

I have an appt with the dr in Nashville now. It's mid-July. She told me that I should plan to spend half the day up there. They will probably send me for a specialized MRI. That's what she referred to it as anyway. I have not had an MRI of my hip which is why I need an appt before they can say if surgery is an option or not. In my opinion, from what she said it may be a good thing I have had one because this MRI-thing sounds like a better type of thing and so forth.

I have not been taking my pain pills for quite a while. I just preferred not to take them. I haven't needed them since the injection but I had not taken them for a while before that. This week I decided maybe I should take them. I've been hurting more and it's just been so busy that it's been hard to slow down and rest. It has helped. It has helped me be able to get to sleep which is the biggest benefit. I think the steroid I've been on for my ear has added to my restlessness making it more difficult to settle down at night to get to sleep. Between the pain and restlessness it was often 1:00 in the morning before I would get to sleep. While I'm not thrilled that I need the help of the pain pills, I am thankful that they are helping.

Waiting Game

I got a call from the hip dr in Nashville today. They got my records. They were missing a report on some xrays but they are calling to get that from the dr. Then they will call me back to schedule an appt. They do not have enough information to go ahead and say that I'm a good candidate for surgery. So as soon as they can get that, they will call back. Right now appts are scheduling in July. She told me it was worth the wait. She was real nice and helpful. Not what I've been running across with other staff with drs offices. That was refreshing.

The ENT here called this morning to tell me that had set up an appt with a neurologist. He had told me he wanted to do that back when I saw him 2 weeks ago but I'd kinda forgotten. There wasn't really anything wrong, he just wanted to have something verified that was out of his range of expertise. I don't even remember what it was but I wasn't concerned when he explained it.

So I continue to wait...

Updates, updates, updates

It's been a while, huh? Not sure what happened last week or if I just didn't have anything else to write. This week, well it's been rough. So even though I've had lots to say, I haven't felt like it or had time. Guess this is more of a ranting entry than a true updating entry...

Sunday and Monday were very hectic days with activities. Sun - church, make-up baseball game, choir meeting, church. Monday morning I hung out at a friend's house which was probably the only thing that kept my sanity. But Mon afternoon - pick up DS7 from school, stop at the house for 5 secs at most, got to Target to get gift card for birthday party, got to birthday party, go to "other" Hobby Lobby to look for frames needed for gifts, go through drive through for supper to throw at kids, go home for 10 mins at most to change for baseball and collect need things for that, and rush to baseball. The game goes long, long so then it's rush home to get the boys in bed. Tues was awful for me pain wise. Generally my hip is doing well from the injection but when I have to be really busy like that it takes a toll. Two days in a row really took a toll. I'm not fully recovered from that yet.

I called the ear dr to see what they said. Seems like I have to be more proactive to get any results... Anyway, they called back and said the MRI was fine and we are going to try a 15 day round of tapering steroids. I picked that up on Tues. Well - long story - but I picked up on Tues and Wed. The nurse messed up the Rx and only sent in a 9 day round so I had to make several phone calls to get that straightened out and done right so I didn't have to pay another copay for their screw-up. I've taken it for 3 days now but nothing really different except that I'm restless at night (could be some from the hip pain but also some a side effect of the steroid) and then of course that makes me really tired in the day.

I called the hip dr today to see if they had gotten all the records they needed to start my chart in the review process only to find out that they have gotten nothing. I last saw my dr here on April 30. I don't understand why they haven't sent anything so again, seems like I have to be more proactive to get any results. I called my dr here and played phone tag. They told me they had been waiting for some copies of things and that everything has now been sent. I wonder how long they've been waiting to be sent. I guess I'm going to have to call everyday until I know they've gotten the records.

I should not have to be dealing with all the extra stuff. I should not have to call and remind them to send them. Or call a dr to find out my results. Really makes you feel like you don't matter. Of course those things aren't the actual dr, those are his office staff failing to do their job properly. So frustrating.

Tube Removal Update

I had a 2 week re-check from having the tube taken out. My ear is healing fine. There is just a tiny, tiny pinpoint size hole left which shouldn't take much longer to heal. The extra "sounds" that I was hearing are gone. So in my opinion having the tube removed was a success since that was the main reason I wanted it out. The ear pain is still the same though.

More Adventure

Adventure seems to be associated with my appts these days. I do sincerely hope this trend ends now!

The MRI for my ear was scheduled for this morning at the hospital. I made arrangements to drop DS4 off at church with our preschool minister (who is also a very dear friend) since it's very close. (Literally - less than 5 mins away) It seemed like the perfect solution to that. I get to the hospital and go to check-in and wait about 10 mins and then get called up to the desk only to find out that my appt isn't there, it's at their imaging center about 20-30 mins from there. Nobody told me that when they called to tell me about the appt. I was furious that nobody told me and furious that I had now driven into town for no reason. That imaging center is 10 mins or less from my house. So I called my friend and she was good with DS4 so off I go to my appt, now late. They called and told them I was coming. I get there and have to wait quite a while since I was late and the next appt was already there. They did hers first. Meanwhile, the threat of severe weather is moving in. They finally call me for my MRI an hour after the scheduled appt time. When I come out about 30 mins later I catch the tv screen in the waiting area just enough to see that schools are letting out early so that they don't have to be responsible for the kids and deal with getting out at the time that the worst of the storms was predicted to move through. Trouble was that I didn't have enough time to get back into town to get DS4 and get back to get DS7 from school. Obviously, neither my friend or DH could get ahold of me during the MRI so I was quickly on the phone with both as soon as I left. DH was just about to leave work to get DS7 from school since it's at least a 30 min drive for him. I decided to stop at the school and check him out early since I would have to go right by it anyway and then go into town to get DS4. I got everyone home but didn't get any of the errands done that I was planning to do while I was out. Who wants to take 2 kids out in the rain. The worse of the storms moved in but we were spared anything major. After all that adventure of the day, I was completely worn out!!!

Of course I don't know anything from the MRI yet. They will mail a CD of the images to the dr and they will contact me. Just wanted to share my adventure.

Ear Appt Update

Well, it was an adventure just getting to B'ham today. I got close to one of the Cullman exits (exit 308) and came to a standstill. I called dad about getting over to Hwy 31 and he wasn't sure that I would be able to find it at that exit, apparently it's either not marked or not marked well. He said just wait it out. A couple of minutes later I realized they were directing traffic at the top of the exit and that traffic was coming up the on ramp to the interstate (the wrong way). I knew this was a bad sign so I called Daddy back about going back north and getting to 31 from exit 310. He said that would work and told me where I needed to go. I did that and was able to bypass the wreck. Where he had me come over (the Cullman/Good Hope exit) got me just past it. I'm so glad. I'd have been a basketcase sitting in the van with antsy boys for very long. And that route didn't put me too far behind timewise so that was good. I had built in an extra hour travel time just in case. So we were able to go in somewhere to eat lunch instead of just running through the drive thru and the boys were able to play for a few mins. Thankfully getting home was a breeze. We did end up staying at my parents house for a little bit and having an early supper before we drove home.

So my appt... I don't really know anything. I do know that it's not an inner ear problem. He ran an electrical stimulation test and ruled that out. We talked for awhile and I felt like he really wants to figure this out. It is going to be a process of ruling things out but at least he's not just guessing. He is ordering an MRI of my ear but I will be able to do that here and he will order them to send a CD of the images to him so that he can look at it himself instead of just relying on the person reading it. I feel good about this guy. And it seems like he will do what he can so that I don't have to drive down there too much.

Hip Follow-up

The follow-up appt on my hip went well this morning. He thinks there is a labral tear which is a tear in the cartilage of the hip joint. He is sending me to a dr in Nashville for a hip arthroscopy. He said they don't do a whole lot of those here so he prefers to send his patients to this dr. It sound like it will be June before that happens, possibly before I even hear from them. They will send my records and x-rays to them, he will review them, and get back to me. It is an outpatient surgery where they will go in and look and hopefully repair the tear if possible. (You've probably heard of this for knees.)

Even though I know this is not the end of all my pain, it sure feels good to be on the road to taking care of some of it. And to be honest - the worst of it.

The injection is still successful. I am hurting tonight but he twisted and torqued my hip and I also had a chiropractic adjustment today so I'm not surprised. As I told a friend today - I can almost say I feel good. If it wasn't for the ear pain, I would say that I feel good and I don't think I've said that in over a year. It's a good feeling. I'm having an especially busy phase right now and am weary of hurting and weary of all that needs to be done but I'm trying to keep the proper focus and remember the progress that has been made.

Tube Removal

I had the tube removed from my ear this morning. Everything went fine. It had already started working it's way out. Something about taking the tube out is worse than putting it in so they have to put you to sleep to do it. The procedure itself is only a few mins. But all went fine. I can't tell if my ear is hurting from it or not since it's almost always hurting. I have to keep it dry for 2 weeks and I can't blow my nose for at least a week. There is some kind of patch over the hole while it heals. I guess it just dissolves eventually.

Next Mon, I go to Birmingham for the ear specialist.

But I think I finally figured out why my ear is hurting all the time. It's because DS4 talks ALL THE TIME. It's non-stop unless we are out in public around people he doesn't know. He'll talk to me constantly in the store, in the car, at home, etc... It was a revelation last night. Of course no dr would believe me because he completely clams up and acts shy in a dr office. There have only been a couple of nurses that we've run across that can get him to talk to them. Wonder what the prescription to fix that would be...

Hip Still Good & Ear

My hip/groin is still good. It did hurt some Fri night after I ran a few errands and was trying to do them quickly. But it didn't linger. I'm interested in hearing what the dr says Wed when I go back. I'm having a problem with my heel lift though. It's basically sliding apart. It seems to have 3 layers to it and the top one is sliding. That does not make me happy after I had to pay for that thing! We'll be talking about that on Wed as well.

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I am having the tube taken out of my ear in the morning. Hopefully that goes well. I have no idea what to expect procedure-wise. I'm not really nervous about it, just want it out so hopefully some of the sounds will go away.

Hip Injection/Ear Stuff

I had my hip injection this morning. Right now, I'm hopeful that this is going to help which does help us get to an answer. The injection site is very sore but that is the only "pain" I'm feeling. Hopefully as that soreness wears off the normal pain will still be gone. The soreness is normal and they also said that your hip joint is not used to having fluid around it (which would be the medicine they injected) so that may cause some slight discomfort as well.

I was not put to sleep for this like I was for the back injections. I actually could have driven myself but they said I needed someone. I like that I wasn't put to sleep and therefore was not groggy although I was nervous about it. The gave me a shot to numb the hip and of course I felt that but it wasn't too bad. I didn't feel the other shot so the numbing one worked. It didn't take very long at all. And I didn't have to wait all that long. The dr (radiologist) that I thought was going to do it didn't but I don't suppose it really mattered. It was still a qualified radiologist. The one that was supposed to do it got called to something else just a few mins before.

DH went to work after we had lunch. I don't really have any reason that he needed to be here and he has lots to do at work.

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The ENT called while I was gone. They have referred me to a dr in B'ham and that appt is Mon, May 5. I was going to put off the removal so that we could go ahead and get me in with the ear guy and I just kinda wanted to see what he said before I had it removed. They said they still had me on the books for the tube removal on Mon so I guess I'm going ahead with that. Not real sure what I think about that right now. I want it out but what if the ear guy says something about having it. I just don't know...

Discouraged - Ear

I called today to cancel the ear surgery to have the tube removed and to check on them referring me to the ear dr. They called me back and she said they had just scheduled someone else with him and it was July before they could get in. She said she would talk to the Dr tomorrow and see what he wants to do. It may be that they refer me to someone in Birmingham. Sounds like there is only one ear specialist in H'ville or at least very few. There are more in B'ham. We'll see what he says tomorrow. If it's going to be that long I will probably just go to a different ENT and see if he has any different opinions.

Scheduled

I have my hip injection for Wed morning.

I have also decided to wait on having the ear tube removed. I want/need to get to the ear specialist and find out why my ear hurts so often and so forth. If I have the surgery now I will have to wait longer to go see him. Since it isn't something that I have to have done I will just postpone that.

Hip Evaluation

Today I had my appt with the hip dr. Even though it took forever (waiting) I feel like it was a good appointment and that he cares about finding the source of the pain and not just treating the symptoms.

The took several x-rays and from looking at them and looking at me my hips are uneven. I knew this. One leg is longer than the other which shifted my hips some which caused my scoliosis. He gave (or rather I purchased) a bigger heel lift to put in my shoe. He said that I needed greater support to help prevent further damage. Since I'm not growing anymore, I can't fix that but we can keep it from getting worse.

He feels like there is a good chance that the groin pain and the leg pain is coming from my hip. He thinks I may have torn something in there, somehow. How? Who knows!!!! But that is not something he can see on an x-ray. He is sending me for an injection in my hip. If that injection provides any relief at all, even just a few hours, then he says he will know that it is in my hip otherwise it's not. I'm trying to get that scheduled. I don't know where we go from there in either situation.


So that's the jist of what I know at this point. It isn't much but it's something.

Postponed

I had to call and cancel my ear surgery to have the tube removed. Fri afternoon I started sneezing a lot. I guess the pollen got to me. I don't usually struggle with allergies but I think I'm starting too. By Sat I was blowing my nose a lot and decided it would be best to postpone it. I can't blow my nose for 2 weeks after the surgery while it heals so being a little sick didn't sound like a good plan. I'll call tomorrow to reschedule.

Chair

Someone asked me last night if I had found a chair that would work for baseball. I think I have. I tried a different chair that we already had and it seems to be a whole lot better. I've used it for two games now. It doesn't store in the van the best but that's ok. It fits on my cart fine so transporting it is not an issue. It is firm so it supports my back - that's what matters!!!

Ear Surgery/Back Update

My ear surgery (to have the tube taken out) is scheduled for Monday morning. Not much more to tell about that. Still waiting for them to call about an appt for the ear dr.

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My chiropractor is sending me to a (different) orthopedist to have my hip evaluated. Basically taking a path to rule out other causes of pain. This one is a hip guy. He may also send me to a different back guy. We'll see... I have an appt next Wed.

Ear Update & Pain

Today I went back to the ENT. He doesn't know what else to do. He's going to take the tube out of my ear because it's driving me crazy. I'll have to go to the OR for that. He said the pain is bad for taking the tube out even though it wasn't for putting it in. Of course it won't take long to do but full recovery (ear wise) from that is 6-8 weeks. I should be able to do whatever the next day but I have to keep it dry for 2 days and I can't blow my nose for 2 weeks (for fear of blowing the packing stuff out). Not sure when that will be yet. They'll call me.

After that he's going to send me to an ear dr, someone who only sees ears. As he said, he went to school 5 years to be an ENT and an ear dr goes 2 more just to do ears.

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I'm hurting again today. Not nearly as bad as last week but worse than "normal". I've decided that baseball is bad for my health. I'm going to have to try a different chair and see if that helps. Otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do about my son's games.

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I've also decided to not continue taking the new medicine. I just don't think the side effects are worth the minimal results. I can take a higher dosage but I think that will just increase the side effects. Not sure where to proceed with the pain issues. Now that our insurance has changed I'm going to switch primary care doctors and see if I can get a fresh opinion and what not.

Better Day

I felt I should report in that I had a much better day today. Maybe slightly better than "normal". I was able to go and run several errands. It didn't wear me out quite as bad as usual. Maybe the chiropractor is helping more than I realize. I haven't been noticing the relief from adjustments like I used to. I went yesterday afternoon so maybe that played a part in helping me feel better today. I also slept great last night. That always helps. I still hurt some but I consider that part of normal. But it was a good day...

Rough day

Today was not a good day pain wise. Numerous pain locations were screaming at me. I don't know what triggered it. Usually I can pinpoint why it's an especially bad day but not this time. I could not get comfortable last night to go to sleep and did not sleep well and woke up in a lot of pain. It got better through the day and I change my chiropractor appt to this afternoon and I think that helped some too. I'm trying to focus on the fact that I had several relatively good weeks and not focus on (what I hope is) one bad day.

After talking to a friend with chronic fatigue issues it could have been the cold weather last night. DS6 had a baseball practice game and it was chilly. The wind was what made it bad. She told me that cold weather can aggravate conditions like that and after she said that I remembered reading it. But it could have an a few other things as well.

Pain Update

I haven't posted since I finished catching up on the past (almost) year. There's not really anything significant to report.

I think the new medicine is helping. It is not significant but I have not had the shooting pain in my leg for several weeks. I did have a little bit early this evening but that was the first in several weeks. I think they will suggest that I increase the dosage but I need to talk to them. I think I am having some minor swelling in my feet and hands as they just feel tight.

It seems the pain just moves around and nags in a different location every few days. The last few days I seem to have a "catch" in my hip or something. Not sure how to explain it. It is painful to have to bend over to pick something up. The spot near my shoulder blade has let up the last few days but was back again today. It's really hard to figure out how to treat something if the focus of pain varies so much.

Overall, I've had a couple of good weeks. I feel like I'm continuing to deal with the pain better and cope better. I do the things that I have to do (errands, DS6 to and from school, church, etc.) but I don't do much extra that involves any physical exertion. I have to spread errands out over several days instead of tackling them all in one day. Going to the grocery store or a major Target trip is very tiring physically because of the amount of walking. I don't do a lot of housework because of my back. I wish I could more because I do feel guilty at times that DH has to do it after working all day.

My ear has been hurting again this week. It hasn't really felt any different but it hasn't been hurting. I'm not supposed to go back until Apr 2 but I may call this week. I'm bummed that it has started hurting again.

March 2008

Almost done with the updating...

My ear continued popping. The first three days of the month it popped a lot. Still nothing in the way it felt overall. It has popped occasionally since then but nothing major and still no change.

As far as my back goes, I've had somewhat of a set-back and I've had to "recover" from it. The consignment sale was this month. The shopping night really did me in. It took me a couple of days to feel better. It just takes a long time to look through the stuff and then make sure they will fit and they aren't stained and so forth. It would not have been so taxing on me if it didn't take so long. Then the day after I worked my shift (to get to shop early) I was pretty worn out again. Also, probably just from the amount of time. I am doing better. I have my usual pain but it seems to be tolerable most days.

I don't really know if the medicine is helping or not. I've been taking it for 2 weeks now. I'm not having the shooting pain in my leg so maybe it is helping. I will call the pain clinic sometime after I've been on it 3 weeks and talk to them again about it.

I am having a spot of pain in my shoulder blade. It's really been bothering me for a while but it wasn't so bad until lately. My chiro has tried adjusting it but it's just excruciating when he does. When that lets up it feels good for a little bit. He wants to do an MRI of my middle back and see if there is something going on there. Not sure when that will be yet.

In general, I am able to function fine. I can do most of the things I want. Sometimes I do things I shouldn't but then that's probably true of all of us. I just really try to be careful to not do too much. Sometimes errands need to be spread out over several days instead of tackling it all in one. Getting out and spending time with friends or being at church or whatever is good therapy and often helps me forget my ailments.

So now I'm all caught up and will do occasional posts when I have something to report.

Feb 2008

So I started the month with having a tube put in my ear. The procedure wasn't bad. The didn't put me to sleep. In fact it was done in the office. He put a shot or something in my ear to numb it and then cut the hole and put the tube it. It didn't hurt but it felt weird and even more it sounded weird. I could "hear" everything amplified because it was right there in my ear. It did hurt some after the procedure and everything I heard seemed amplified. He said it could take a couple of weeks to really see a difference.

Several people at church asked how I was doing the following Sun. I don't know if any of them knew about the tube being put in so it was a general question. While I had to tell them that I was about the same I was able to tell them that I was coping better. That is a miracle in itself. Honestly, I have felt like I have a better handle on dealing with my ailments. I know it's because people are praying for me and specifically that has been my main prayer. Yes, I pray that I will be completely healed but I also pray that God will give me the perseverance through this time and I believe that He is answering that. It is encouraging to be able to say that I am seeing an answer to prayer. I believe that how you are able to handle and cope makes a big difference on how you feel. Like it's half the battle or something. I am very grateful to be able to say that I do feel that God is with me even if I'm still in the "pit". Knowing I am not alone is a wonderful thing.

I went back to the ENT on Feb 20 for a check after the tube. I wasn't able to tell any difference. It wasn't really hurting anymore but it still felt stopped up. In a nutshell, he said we wait some more. It was very frustrating. I go back in 6 weeks which ends up being Apr 2. At that point he may take the tube out and/or he may refer me to an ear specialist (someone who only deals with hears instead of someone like him who deals with ear, nose, and throat). Apparently the eustation tube can just take a while to get better.

Why does my body have to be so difficult to respond to treatment and get better???

On Wed night, Feb 27 my ear started popping. It popped once that night and again the next day. It started hurting a little right after but it eased up. It popped a whole lot Fri morning, probably 5-6 times within an hour or so. So far no permanent difference but I can't help but think this is a good thing... There is often an annoying sound in my ear and it drives me much.

Also on Wed, Feb 27 I went back to the pain clinic on Wed to talk about what's going on and to see where I could go from here. In a nutshell, they really suggested another injection but I just don't have a lot of hope in that right now. I may try it again but not right now. So we decided I would try the medicine route. There's a fairly new drug that they use for seizures and fibromyalgia. Basically it helps relax the nerves from what I understand. It should help the nerves not recognize pain and send pain signals. At least that was how I understand it from what she said. But I'm hopeful about the prospects. It can take a couple of weeks to see if it helps. I'm not a big fan of having to take something every day but if it works...

Jan 2008 Part 2

This is something I wrote on Jan 22. Bear with me, it's long but good.

I hate when I do a Bible Study and it starts to meddle. OK, really it's a good thing. We started a new study at church. It really started last week but this was the first week of "discussion" on it. You do 5 days worth of lessons and these happen to be very short. Then the next week you discuss it. The study is titled "Get a Life" by Vicki Courtney. It's about debunking myths about contentment. From the back of the book - "In John 10:10 Jesus said, 'I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.' (NKJV) In spite of his bold proclamation, many Christians have settled for 'just a life' rather than the abundant life Christ intended. Some wonder if it is even possible for abundant and life to appear in the same sentence. Was Jesus talking to someone else? ... Vicki asks participants, 'Are you experiencing an abundant life? Or have you settled for just a life? It's never too late. The life you've always wanted is within your reach. Don't settle for less. Jesus claimed it. He meant it. now, go and ... get a life!"

The first lesson was titled "Smooth Life, Cherry on Top, Hold the Pits". Myth - "If I follow Christ, my life will be trouble free." Honestly, I know that's a myth but it's easy to fall into the thinking that as a Christian I won't have as many trouble or they won't be as bad or whatever but again I know that's not true. I can name countless people that are Christians and have faced great trials. I really should have aware from the title that this lesson was going to hit home. Cause it's right where I am and honestly where I've been for the last 9 months. The lesson was about the story of Joseph. He experienced what we would say was more than his fair share of trials and still came out the winner. If you aren't familiar with the story, here it is in a nutshell (my digest interpretation). Joseph was the favored of 12 brothers and his brothers plotted to kill him. They ended up selling him as a slave but he found favor with his master and was put in charge of everything. Then he was wrongly accused and put in prison for a long, long time. During this time he remained strong and faithful that God was going to use him and he did. While in prison he found favor with the warden and was put in charge there. Eventually he was released and again found himself in charge of great things. No matter what Joseph knew that God was with him and God would prevail. He never gave up hope. Really there is a lot more to the story and that really is a nutshell.

This lesson really hit home with me. I joked with them this morning that I did not like this study because it was already meddling and it was just the first week of the study. But seriously it was good meddling and just what I needed. Day 3's lesson was the big one for me. Genesis 39:2 says "The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered." That's a good reminder that God is with us and with that we have the ability to push through our trials. As she stated in the lesson, "He simply rested in the fact that though his circumstances seemed out of control, his God was not. Many of us have a head knowledge of this truth, but it hasn't taken root in our hearts." That is so where I'm at right now. In my head I KNOW that God is still right here with me. I KNOW He hasn't left me. But I just don't "feel" it in my heart. The journey has been long and I'm worn out and I just don't "feel" the things I know in my head are true. I shared that with them this morning and I got some real encouragement that I needed. Several of the ladies said that they can see that I still have faith and that even if I don't "feel" it, I'm still living it because I continue to get out of bed each day. I continue to take care of my kids/family to the extent I can and maybe even more than I feel like I can. I continue to be involved in church and Bible Study. I continue to get out of the house and do things. That was very encouraging to me. Good things to hear. That has really boosted my emotional state today and helped me feel good overall, despite the pain.

WOW!!!

To finish the Jan updates...

I went back to the ENT on Wed, Jan 23 for a re-check. They repeated the pressure and hearing tests and both came back normal this time - very good in fact. That was nice to hear but discouraging because based on those results he doesn't know why my ears were still hurting and still felt stopped up. His best guess was that it's related to the TMJ. This time he pushed on my jaw and said that I have severe TMJ. Thanks to him my jaw started hurting. It wasn't hurting before he pushed on it. He's ordered a CT of my sinuses to see if anything is going on in there. I've never experienced sinus problems so I was going to be surprised if there was something wrong. I had the CT the next Wed, Jan 30. The scan was clear, no problems from there. He repeated the pressure test and once again I measured on the stopped up range. It was bad. I don't know how I went from the first pressure test on Jan 2 being bad to the next one being normal to this one being bad again when I haven't felt any different. He decided since it was stopped up that a tube would be a good thing. He couldn't guarantee it would fix the problem but there was a good shot. That got scheduled for Fri morning - Feb 1.

Jan 2008 Part 1

So I had to reschedule my injection so that I could go to the ENT and hopefully get the ear problem straightened out. Since I didn't know what they were going to do and what kind of medicine they might put me on I couldn't reschedule until after I went to the ENT.

I went to the ENT on Jan 2. He said that my eustation tube looked fine but there was pressure in my ear. They did two ear things - a pressure test and a hearing test. There was a lot of pressure in my left ear and a little bit in my right ear but there is no fluid build-up or anything. My eardrum just wasn't moving good to allow the air to move through or whatever. I also had some hearing loss in my left ear right but none in my right. He stuck a camera thing into my nose (very strange feeling) and discovered that it's crooked (deviated septum? he didn't call it that but I'm thinking that's what it'd be?). The right side looked great but the left side had some mucus but nothing to be concerned about - no polyps or anything. So he gave me about 7 different things to take to see if we could clear it up. He told me to come back in three weeks to see how it was going. He didn't want to do anything procedure-wise for several months to see if it could be cleared up other ways. From what the referring dr had said I expected to go in and him to something to immediately fix the pressure so I was extremely bummed. I actually started to loose it and began crying. I was just tired of hurting whether it was my back, my leg, my ear, whatever. I had already mentioned my back to him and the fact that I was taking pain med regularly for that so he knew what I was dealing with. Through more talking he decided to also treat me for TMJ (which is part of the 7 different things I mentioned above). He seemed pretty sure that I was clenching my teeth from the stress whether I realized I was doing it or not. It was very overwhelming to have that on top of everything else. They told me to cut out crunchy, hard, tough, and chewy foods. I also had to stop playing my flute. (I'm hoping that is temporary but so far I haven't been back to orchestra.)

I had a couple of good weeks as far as my back goes. I think the fact that DH was home over Christmas and New Year's really helped a lot. I just didn't have to do as much. When school started back and I got back into the normal routine and tried to so returns/exchanges, I started hurting again. My ear wasn't getting any better either. BUT, I started doing better emotionally. I think I just got to a turning point and starting coping better.

HOWEVER! The coping well ended when I finally called to reschedule my injection. It's a long story but I'll try to give you a Reader's Digest version...

I finally called to see about scheduling something on Fri, Jan 11. I found out that there was an 8:30 opening on Mon morning that I could have. I just needed to find out if I could be off all the meds for a few days. So I called the ENT to see but they did not call me back until the end of the day on Fri and I immediately tried to call the pain clinic but the scheduling person was already gone.

So Mon morning I operated under the assumption that I would be able to call first thing Mon morning and still be able to get there are 8:30. I stopped all the meds for the weekend and made arrangements to have a driver and didn't eat that morning. I called Mon morning and she said sure, come on. After I got there and tried to check in they were reviewing my chart or something and I had to wait. I checked again about 20 mins later and she goes to track it down. She then comes back and says we have a slight problem. They needed a referral from my primary dr. We cannot figure out why they needed it when they had already had one before (although it seemed to be missing from my file). They called my dr to request it asap and I also called to see if they knew how long it would take and if it was worth it for me to stay or just go home. She told me to stay, she thought they could have it in a few mins. An hour passed and nothing so I called again and she said they had just been swamped. So I left and went home very discouraged and frustrated. The way it all transpired I think I would have had the same problem no matter when I went. They said they would get it to them by the end of the day.

Tues morning I ended up having to call back and forth to both places several times to find out where the referral was. I nearly got chewed out by my dr office for not having gotten the referral and blah, blah, blah. It wasn't even my fault since I didn't even know. It was a very frustrating few days to say the least. I had once again started out Tues morning like I was going to be able to go in and it worked out this time. They were able to get me in. I went back 1 1/2 hrs after my appt time and it was another half hour before I went to the procedure room. I did fine again but was a bit more sore. I iced it frequently for several days to help. That was Jan 15.

I forgot how long this would end up being so I'll make two posts out of it. The next post is good - God really starts talking to me or rather I really start listening...

Dec 2007

(last post for today... but we are almost up to date...)

The beginning of the month started out good. I was having another good week with my back. I did end up at the dr on the 5th with an ear infection. This was actually the 3rd one I had since Sept. I hadn't struggled with this before (at least not since I was a small child) so it was weird. I ended up back at the dr on the 12th because my ear was still hurting. The infection was gone but he said I had an eustation tube imbalance and gave me something for that.

I had a long journal entry about my frustrations at this point. I guess it had all just built up inside and I let it all out. Looking back I think this may have been a crucial first turning point though.

Here's what I wrote:

First, I'm going to try to be thankful/grateful for where I am at. Then I'm going to let it out...

I am thankful that I am able to get up everyday. I may not feel the best and I may hurt some but at least I CAN get up and function. I am able to take care of most of the things I need to for my family. It may not feel so good if I have to clean up something on the floor or sweep or whatever but I CAN do it. I can still drive, I can still do the things I want to do (most days), and I can function. Sometimes it just hurts more.

I'm also thankful for a wonderful husband who is extremely helpful around the house and always has been. He's a wonderful dad and husband.

All that said, I do need to vent just a little bit... Some days it is all I can do to make myself get out of bed to take care of the kids. If it wasn't for having them, I don't think I'd function at all. I think I would be in a permanent pity party (aka - depression). Some days I'm not far from it but they do keep me going. I hate being like this. I hate not feeling good and hurting. I hate that some days I can wake up and feel pretty good and then a few hours later I'm completely done in and I haven't even done much. I hate that I can't do as much as I used to. I hate that I have to say no to some things. I hate that I have to tell my kids that mommy doesn't feel good. I can't commit to stuff because I'm not really sure how I'm going to feel when the time comes. I hate that when I do feel good I feel the need to 'conquer the world' cause I might not feel good tomorrow. Of course I'm not because I just tried to conquer the world. I hate that I have to see the dr so much and drag DS3 around with me. (Thankfully, he is a great sport about it.)

As if the back trouble isn't enough, I had an ear infection a few weeks ago. It didn't seem to be any better so I went back to the dr. The infection is gone but there I have a eustation tube inbalance so he put me on something for that. I'm not totally sure that is better but we'll see.

I'm really glad that I had two good weeks from the last injection but I hate that that is all. I'm not nearly as bad as I was but I don't want to wait until that point to do anything about it. I JUST WANT TO FEEL LIKE MYSELF AGAIN!!!!

I had a visit with the pain dr this morning (Dec 17). I am going to have another injection like the last one I had. In hopes that it can feed off the other one somewhat and see if we can get even better results lasting longer than a few weeks. I have it scheduled for Jan 2. I could have tried to get something this week but I didn't think it would work out well schedule wise and I'm not that bad off to make it work. I did try to schedule something for the 26th or 27th but they were already full. I think having it after Christmas, when life naturally slows down, will also help me see if I've just been overdoing it or whatnot. He laid out possible things we could do and gave a couple of scenarios and all that. Figuring out how to treat pain is really a trial and error kind of thing to find out what works for me. I'm going to try this injection again and go from there. May even a few more. Sounded like it was something that I could likely do every few months or at least some people do that. That a few months of relief from that block (injection) is considered good. Of course, everyone would love it to be longer and it may turn out that way. If I get tired of doing this or feel it's not working good enough for me, then we will probably try a thing where they go in burn the nerve root. Apparently they can do that through the same type of needle used for the injection. One thing really good about this dr is that he has back issues and has injections as well so I feel like he sorta understands some and knows (to a degree) what it's like.

Keep praying for relief, for endurance to run this race, and wisdom on how to proceed.

Wow... It really was a breaking point.

On Dec 20th, I woke up in a lot of pain in my upper abdomen and I had not slept well all night. I ended up at the dr. He suspected I was passing another stone and told me to just strain and see if it passed. I never caught anything but the pain subsided in a few days so I don't know if he was right or not.

I survived Christmas. We only had our immediate family Christmas and then Christmas with my side of the family at this point. It wasn't too bad on me.

BUT... on Friday the 28th, my ear pain had gotten so bad that I was back at the dr. He said that I did not have an infection and referred me to an ENT. At first the soonest they were going to be able to get me in was Jan 7th but they called back and pleaded my case and got me an appt for Jan 2, which meant I had to postpone my injection.

More on that to come. This is as much as I'm going to update today/tonight and I doubt I'll be able to do any tomorrow...

Nov 2007

The epidural injection did not work as I'd hoped. I had some relief but it really was minimal. Mostly it helped the leg pain but did nothing for the back pain. I am grateful for the relief I had in my leg and for the fact that I had more energy than before. I think that's a (good) side effect of the steroid in the injection. But I was still disappointed to not have more relief.

I went back to see my "new" orthopedic dr on Nov 5. It had been two weeks since my injection. Since I had seen a little bit of improvement he recommended another injection. This time I was able to get something scheduled quicker and I went in Nov 16 for the second injection. They were running very behind and that about sent me over the edge that day. Mostly because I was very hungry and getting a bad headache. That combination makes me moody!!! The last time I had eaten was about 6:15 that morning and it was 4:00 when I was finally being prepped for the procedure. After talking to the dr, he decided to do something slightly different. Since the previous injection did help my leg/groin pain he felt like that was a success and wanted to focus more on what was probably causing the majority of my back pain and he felt that was from my scoliosis. Same general idea just different location of the injections.

He did two things. One was a facet block injection. Here's what I found online about that. "The facet joints are paired joints in the back that have opposing surfaces of cartilage (cushioning tissue between the bones) and a surrounding capsule. Twisting injuries can cause damage to one or both facet joints, and cartilage degeneration associated with aging may also cause pain. In a facet block procedure, a physician uses fluoroscopy (live x-ray) to guide the needle into the facet joint capsule to inject lidocaine (a numbing agent) and/or a steroid (an anti-inflammatory medication). If the patient’s pain goes away after the injection, it can be inferred that the pain generator is the specific facet joint capsule that has just been injected. If the facet block procedure is effective in alleviating the patient's low back pain, it is often considered reasonable for the procedure to be done up to three times per year. There are very few risks associated with this technique." The twisting injury in my case would be the scoliosis. He did three pairs on this injection. Then he did a caudal epidural injection. (At least I think that was the name of it.) Sounds like this is what I had before just in a different location. Caudal referring to tailbone as opposed to the one before being lumbar referring to low back.

I had very little pain right after the injection although the site of the tailbone injection was extremely sore for several days.

I did not do well overall the week following the injection but that could be due in part to how busy I was. DH finally took a 10 yr anniversary trip (anniversary was in Aug...). We went shopping in an outlet mall and also went to see the Rockettes. Between too much walking and sitting in a hard church-like pew for several hours, I was a little worse for wear. And then we got back and jumped right into Thanksgiving and "celebrating" three times. That wasn't smart planning...

However, the next week (the last week of Nov) proved to be a very good week. I really felt good for a change. I still had some pain but it was really minimal and very tolerable.

Oct 2007

Somehow, I got through the month and survived our trip to the beach over fall break. I know that I survived only through the grace of God. It was discouraging to be at the beach and not feel like playing with the boys like I wanted. One day I just decided to put it all aside and I got down in the sand and played with them. DS6 was shocked that I was playing with them. That really made reality set in on how much I had been telling the boys mommy didn't feel good and couldn't play with them. I did pay for being down in the sand but I do not regret it at all.

So the 22nd comes... My appt was not until 1:30 and I couldn't have anything to eat 8 hours before and nothing but clear liquids up until 4 hours before. That was a long day... I got up about 5:30 to have a "last" meal. That's really early for me, but I went back to bed and had a nap until time to take DS6 to school and then came back and took another nap.

Fortunately I did not have to wait long when I got there. After they took me back, the nurse and I talked about what was going on and so forth. Then she hooked up an IV and said the dr would be in in a few minutes. Then the dr came in and we chatted for a few mins and then they wheeled me off to the procedure room. I laid on a table face down with a pillow under my stomach. Then the dr came in and gave me something in my IV to put me to sleep. I vaguely remember him asking me something while he was putting the medicine in my IV and I vaguely remember answering him and then the next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room. I'm not sure how long all that was. I do know that they use a x-ray during the procedure to be sure they get the injection where they want it. That's pretty nifty. After I woke up, they gave me something to drink and I guzzled it. I was so thirsty. I was actually more thirsty all morning than I was hungry. When I was able to get up without being dizzy I was able to dress and go home. My only restrictions were that I could not drive that day and I couldn't take a shower until the next day.

When the dr and I were talking about my pain and all, he said that depending on how it goes, they will probably want me to come back in for a repeat in a month and possibly do one in my hip instead of my back. They did not set up an appt when I left but said they would call me. Mon evening and Tues I felt pretty good but my back was sore. I'm pretty sure it was soreness from the injection site because it was a soreness type pain and not the pain I'd had before. I had a few days where I was feeling some pain in my leg again. My back was hurting some last night but it was more of a stiffness than the pain I had before. I did put ice or a cold pack on it regularly the first 24 hours and some the rest of Tues and just a little bit Wed. That seemed to help so I will probably do that some more today. I was a bit discouraged but a friend told me that she remembered them saying it could take up to a week for it to reach it's maximum potential. That gave me a little bit of hope. I was not sure what we would do if I did get another injection and still didn't have significant results. It was very hard to cope with pain all the time. I was having some relief at that point, just not significant. One good thing was that I had a little more energy than I had before. I'm sure that was a side effect of the steroid. I was a little bit antsy and unless I was actually doing something while I was sitting around I wanted to get up and find something to do. It was very hard to not overdo it. Part of that mindset that I felt halfway decent so I needed to do something.

Sept 2007

Well, the therapy seemed to help and it continued into the beginning of Sept but ended about a week before my appt with the orthopedist. I was actually kinda glad so I could see just how it was doing. I went back to the orthopedist on Sept 5 and he told me to continue with the exercises and come back in 6 weeks to see how I was doing. Unfortunately, the pain returned and pretty quickly. I'd even been good about doing the stretches at home after therapy ended. On Thurs Sept 13, I called his office about the pain being back. He was out of the office so they conferred with another dr and he suggested trying a steroid pack and also made me an appt for the following Mon. On Mon, the 17th I went and he did another x-ray and didn't see anything abnormal so decided to order an MRI. Since it was football season, they are open on Sat morning for football injuries so I was able to schedule it for Sat morning. That worked out great since DH would be home to keep the boys.

I actually ended up having a very bad night that Fri night/Sat morning. The pain was really bad and woke me up a bunch. It was so bad that I ended up having DH take me after all because I was concerned about driving as tired as I was. That was my first experience with an MRI so I didn't know what to expect except that a friend had told my you had to lay really, really still and that it was loud. When the guy took me back, he gave me some ear plugs and told me to lay down and be real still. He said he'd be back in 25-30 mins. I think I did really well being still. I was so tired I just wanted to go to sleep. I probably could have if it hadn't been so loud. At times it sounded like a jack-hammer right by my head, other times it sounded more like a woodpecker, other times it sounded like someone hammering and a drum cadence at the same time. It really was loud!!!

I had a follow-up appt about the MRI the following Monday, which was Sept 24. The MRI showed a tear in the outer disc of L5. The orthopedist I'd been seeing came in and told me that and then said he was sending in the spine dr to talk to me and basically was turning me over to him. He said I was in luck because he was in the office at that time and I didn't have to come back to talk to him. (I've quickly learned from someone else that he is viewed by many at "THE" back/spine dr in our area so that made me feel good.)

So he came in and we talked about the tear and what could be done. Course of treatment would be an epidural injection and exercises at home and see him again in 6 weeks. He said we could also try a brace but he wanted to try the epidural first. He discussed surgery but really didn't want to suggest it for a number of reasons. Surgery would mean fusing and recovery would require 3 months in a brace. He said that is not conducive to raising kids. (I can agree with that.) He also said that surgery would only minimize the pain, taking it from severe to mild/moderate, and that I would always have some pain. It could also mean stress on the surrounding spine resulting in more fusing later. Basically, it sounded like that should be a last resort measure.

I was relieved to have an answer to why I was hurting but at the same time I'm discouraged to know there is really no fix to eliminate the pain. I guess I've always figured I was going to have back pain but hearing it is something a little different.

A few days later I called the pain clinic where my injection would be done since they had not called me yet. It was going to be a while before they could get me in. I got it scheduled for Oct 22. In the meantime, I had pain med to manage the pain. The did little to help other than take the edge off it.

Aug 2007

So on Aug 1 I went back to the orthopedic dr. He sent me back for 3 more weeks of physical therapy since it was helping a little bit. It really did help some. The pain was not entirely gone but it was significantly reduced. I had a week after finishing my therapy before going back to the dr. That re-check with the dr was in Sept...

July 2007

With the lack of symptoms for anything else, my dr decided to send me to see an orthopedic dr thinking it could be something with my back. The pain was still the same as it was when I first went in to the dr in April but it started shooting down my leg occasionally. At this point I was thinking that finding the kidney stone was just coincidence although it would have been found when that increased pain occurred.

On July 12, I went to see the orthopedic and he said that it very well could be my back. There are certain spot along the spine that trigger pain in various places and x-rays showed that the apex of my scoliosis was right at the spot to trigger pain where mine was. He put me on an anti-inflammatory and physical therapy for three weeks. My therapy consisted of some electrical stimulation therapy, ultrasound therapy, and some stretches to do at home every day. The therapy seemed to help a little bit but not a whole lot.

My 3 week appt back to the orthopedic was Aug 1...

June 2007

So Friday was June 1, and I reported to the hospital for them to look and see if there was another stone in there that wasn't showing up on the tests. Turns out there wasn't a stone in there but the tube was still swollen from the last stone and extraction and all that. The swelling could be the cause of the pain but my understanding is that we aren't sure. So the dr put in another stent to stay in about 1o days. If I was still hurting after that stent was taken out then we were going to have to move on to look at other causes.

On Mon, Jun 11 I had the stent taken out. By Tues I was already starting to hurt again. They told me to give it a week to adjust to it having been there and being taken out. The rest of June was spent testing several things with everything coming back normal. They did an ultrasound to check my organs and put me on a medicine for spasms - just a trial and error kind of thing. I had another IVP which showed nothing again.

So the saga continues...

May 2007

I felt pretty good for a couple of weeks but then on Mon, May 14 I started hurting again. It didn't let up and I was still hurting on Tues so I called the urologist and got an appt for Wed morning. He said I was probably trying to pass one of the stones that was still in my kidney. He didn't do any tests or anything this time. He told me to strain my urine to "catch" it if I did pass it and to come back the next week if I didn't pass it.

I went back the following Mon with nothing different and he immediately sent me for another IVP. Tues they called me back and said there was not a stone blocking the tube. He suggested that I call my regular dr so I did and had an appt on Wed morning (May 23) to start over trying to figure out what was going on.

Some thoughts I had jotted down at this point in the journer were that I was really tired of hurting and not feeling good. I was also tired of telling the boys that mommy was hurting and couldn't play with them. I sorta chuckled when I read that because of how long it's now been going on. It was nothing at that point...

So Wed morning I went back to my regular dr and he felt like it probably was a stone that wasn't revealed in the test for whatever reason. He said sometimes they are hard to locate. So he scheduled me for another CT the next morning. and that I was to wait at the hospital for them to call him. I was really frustrated with the mix of diagnosis. That test showed there are stones in my kidney but they are not obstructing anything so there is nothing they can do. I just have to wait it out. Call them back in a week if nothing has changed...

So I went to the urologist Thurs morning, May 31 but he still didn't seem convinced that the pain was from another kidney stone. The CT report said there was one in my kidney and those do not cause pain. However, the stones can be small enough to miss on tests. The dr said the most definitive thing they could do was to put me to sleep and go in with a scope and take a look so that was scheduled for Fri morning.

(to be continued in the next post...)

April 2007

Right after Easter I started having a pain in my lower abdomen/groin area and had some blood in my urine. I ended up at the dr on Tues, Apr 10 and he confirmed that I had lots of blood in my urine and suspected a kidney stone. He sent me for a CT scan on Wed afternoon. Very easy thing and it took the exact amount of time they told me. I was amazed. They were very prompt and I didn't wait long. The dr office called me Thurs afternoon with the results. He said that the scan and everything looked fine. I went back to the dr office on Fri to do another urine test to see if anything had changed but it was still the same. There was actually a different dr filling in and he read the report and said there were two small stones in my kidney but they should not be causing any symptoms or pain. He referred me to a urologist and wrote me a Rx for some pain med. Turns out I really needed them by Sat. I had a bad attack of pain on Sat that put me in the bed for an hour or so. The timing of all this was really bad since then-DS6's birthday party was that Fri night as well. Somehow I made it through...

I made it through the next few days and reported to the urologist Wed morning, Apr 18. Let me just say that I felt out of place there. All of the people there were older than me and most were quite a bit older than me. On top of that almost everyone else was a man. I finally got in to see the dr and we chat about what is going on and he thinks it's kidney stones too. I mentioned my CT scan and he doesn't have that report (why didn't my dr send it to them with the referral???) so he had to go request it from the hospital so I had to wait even longer. In then-DS3's words "This taking forever". (Too bad writing it can't convey exactly how he said it.) The dr came back and agreed with the report that the ones they saw should not be causing symptoms but he said that he would be surprised if it wasn't kidney stones. Based on the ones they found he guessed there was one that had started moving through and it shouldn't be very big either. He sent me to have an IVP test done the next morning. In the meantime he told me to just drink lots and lots to help move it along and basically I'd just have to wait it out.

Thurs morning I went for the IVP. The test was easy on my part. They injected a dye and then took a series of moving x-rays. It was a long test because of having to wait a little while for the dye to go through some and then to take all the different x-rays. Then I had to wait a little while longer to make sure all the picture turned out. But once again it was all done in the time frame they said. I was there for 2 1/2 hrs. They told me that it would be 1-2 business days before the dr had the report.

I had not heard from the dr by Tues so I started calling the urologist. I finally got them to call me back and they reported that I had a stone or some other obstruction in the ureter (that's the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder) and they scheduled me for a "procedure" (in their words) for Wed morning to go in and see what it was and get it out. Let me back up just a second to say that on that Tues I was in a great deal of pain. It was incredibly bad. I can still remember how bad it was. Much worse than what I experienced a few Saturdays before. The pain med I had took a little of the edge off but not much. I figured out if I could get somewhat comfortable with a heating pad on my lower back and one on the front, I could tolerate it. I called DH to come home early from work. I managed to make it through getting then-DS6 from school and turned on a Diego DVD (a long one!) so that the boys could glue themselves to it and not argue so I didn't have to function. DH came home sometime during that DVD. At that point I was still waiting to hear back from the first call I had put in to the dr office that morning. When it was getting close to closing time I called again and was told the dr had not come into the office until 1:30 (must have been a hospital morning) and would review the report after clinic hours and get back to me either later this afternoon or in the morning. I then told her how much pain I had been in all day and she made note of it. I heard back from them not too much longer. That is when they told me about the obstruction and the procedure. The nurse said what the procedure was and what all they would do but of course I was hurting to much to remember by the time I got off the phone. I was a bit nervous but I didn't really care cause I just wanted to stop hurting.

I was still hurting the rest of the day/evening but thought I could tough it out until morning since the pain med did take the edge off it and it helped to be still. Of course I couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight so I assumed that meant the pain med too. (Turns out I could have had enough water to take the pain pill.) I woke up several times in severe pain. I woke DH up to reheat the heating pads and it helped the first time. The second time it didn't touch it and I had him take me to the ER. We got there about 5:00. (Keep in mind that I was to report to the hospital at 9:00 anyway.) They saw me pretty quickly in the ER even though it felt longer with the pain. The ER doc reviewed my case and the reports from the other tests, gave me a shot of Demoral (for pain) and Zofran (for nausea), waited a little while to make sure it was working and sent me home. We left there about 6:45 I think and got home a little after 7:00. I'm not totally sure why they didn't just keep me there but I'm sure there was some insurance reason. I slept for about an hour and got ready (which was very little) to go back up there. When I got back to outpatient and registered and all that I started getting more nervous because they were calling it surgery and I was going to be put to sleep and all that. They took me back for blood work and then sent me out to wait again. After a little while they called me back again to begin pre-op stuff which was really just asking me a bunch of questions, many of which they had already asked a couple of times, and to change into the lovely hospital gown and some lovely stockings (to help with circulation), and some nice socks to help keep my feet warm. Then some more waiting... The anesthesiologist came in to chat about his part of the process and said he'd give me something to take the edge off the pain too. Then some more nurses and another anesthesiologist came in asking the same questions (turns out they ask some of the questions to help make sure they have the right patient and we are all in agreement on what they are doing which really is a comforting thought). Someone came in and gave me some pain med and not too long after that I went to sleep and don't remember anything until I woke up in what was apparently the recovery room.

They told me that I had a very large stone. It was HUGE, HUGE, HUGE. I felt so much better. I'm sure some of it was still the meds at that point but my back wasn't hurting at all. After a little while there, they take me to the step 2 recovery and brough my family back. DH told me what the dr said and my dad said the stone was larger than any he'd had. They told me as soon as I could go to the bathroom and get dressed I could go home. I was ready to go home! They said I'd have some discomfort for a few days as I healed but that I was fine to do whatever as I felt like it. The dr put a stent in to help with the healing and I would go to him on Mon to have it taken out.

Did I mention that I got to bring the stone home? I measured it and it was about 7.5mm long and 4mm wide. Apparently that is a very large stone so I'm guess that tube isn't very big since it was stuck. Glad that's over and hopefully the other two they have seen in my kidneys from the first scan will pass easily since they say they are small (about 2mm).

I went to the dr Mon afternoon, Apr 30 to have the stent removed. I was so glad to have that thing out although I was a bit nervous about the process since I really didn't know how that would happen. The stent had a string connected to it that they had taped to my leg to make it (apparently) easy to get the stent out. The stent had been uncomfortable but not painful. It made it hard to sit unles I could recline. The tape on my leg bothered me the most. And oddly enough, the worse part of having the stent removed was having the tape pulled off. It was a little odd having the stent pulled out but it was not uncomfortable or painful. So it was gone and I felt almost normal. The dr said I'd be a little sore for a few more days and I could have a bout of pain from an internal spasm but that's normal. I was to go back in a month to see how I was doing and to talk about what to do about the 2 stones that were still in my kidney.

(to be continued in next post...)