A Long Day At Doctors

After all my traveling, I realized that my body was not being very cooperative. I have increased knee pain (in the new bad knee, as opposed to the old bad knee), I have new back pain higher up than previously (it came and went for a few years but is not more there than not), and my neck and right shoulder have been giving me lots of problems.

So after waiting around for a few weeks, it became time for all my appointments. I had three different medical appointments, in two different facilities 30 minutes apart, yesterday. I started at physical therapy about my neck and shoulder. After speaking to the therapist, he did some stretching on my neck and gave me a  whole bunch of exercises. I will go back and see him twice a week for the next six to eight weeks. And its not that convenient a location.

Next I saw the nurse practitioner of my pain management doctor. She talked to me and pressed all sorts of painful places on my body. She upped my medications and sent me for x-rays. I am supposed to go see her again in three week to see where we are and see if I need an MRI or other imaging. I haven't had a spine MRI since around January 2009 and the question will be if my insurance will pay for it, if I really need it. 

I am kind of fed up with this doctor. He has said to me that even though he has been treating me for nearly 7 years, he does not think there is a need for any new imaging. Any new pains are only caused by my existing conditions. If I don't get anywhere with this NP and doctor this one last time, I will probably find a new one. A friend of mine also saw him for  years and then went to a back surgeon who told her she should have had surgery a long time before. This does nothing to my comfort level with him..

Then I went to X-ray for five pictures of my knee, four pictures of my thoracic spine, and three pictures of my lumbar spine. That was lots of fun. I am not good with the contortions required for some x-rays.

Finally I saw my orthopedic surgeon. My knee was back to its throbbing at night that I had experienced last winter and spring before he injected my knee. I hoped for a new injection which is what I got. But it made my knee really sore and I hobbled out to my car. I went home and took a 2.5 hour nap. I think I was a little tired.

Overall it was a good day, just very long for me. I am not sure I am up for a long day like that again. 

This is just a bit of my life with millions of doctors. At least I didn't see any oncologists. That part makes me happy.

My Achy, Achy Back

My back has been very uncooperative recently. Actually its been a real pain, or in a lot of pain. I went to my pain management doctor a while back and he said that my back has been so bad because I haven't had any interventional treatments (a/k/a needles in my back) in a while and its time for another one. That is due for this Thursday.

But in the meantime, my back is giving me lots of grief (to put it nicely). Yesterday and Friday I was walking around hunched over in pain most of the time. My husband even cooked dinner because I was in so much pain.

Last night, I got in bed before 8 PM and took a breakthrough pain pill, an arthritis Tylenol, and a sleeping pill. I didn't wake up until 8 AM and my back feels better.... but not that great. I expect it to act up later today but I am happy with a few mostly pain free hours for now.

I do not expect a massive decrease in pain after Thursday's medical misadventure, but I do expect some improvement. And future needles in my back to help with this.

How Much Pain?

Yesterday I found a stupid list of a series of doctor office signs. Of course I had to read it because the first one caught my eye, and share it on Facebook (because I have nothing better to do).

Last night we went out to dinner. For some reason the kitchen was backed up and we were sitting in uncomfortable chairs for 45 long minutes between when our appetizer and salads were finished and our entrees arrived. During that time, my back started hurting to the extent that I could barely walk.

Basically it felt like I had stepped on a Lego.... That was stabbing me in the back. The next time you step on a Lego, pretend that is going into your back and you will begin to get the idea of how bad my back is. If you have never stepped on a Lego, go buy some and walk on it barefoot to get a comparison. (Are there people out there who have never stepped on a Lego?)

Personally I believe this is a much better scale than the basic 1-10. Who can define what is a ten pain? That little frowny face doesn't quite do it for me. Nor do some of the others I have seen. I know I have blogged about this pain scale thing before but I am too lazy to find them (because my back hurt so I didn't sleep that well). (I have rights too!)

I have a goal today. I will take my nieces and nephews to the beach so I can float around so my back will hurt less. And I will take my good drugs.... with a Tylenol Arthritis (an amazing OTC) to help get it back in line.

Sooner or later, I will be able to pry the piece of Lego out of my back.

In The Grand Scheme Of Things

Yesterday I was disappointed about my weight. Today I am in so much pain, I really do not care how much I weigh. I want the pain to go away. It will take some time.

I had too much fun being a normal person yesterday. I went shopping - consignment store, yarn store, fish market, and grocery store. Then I came home and lay down for an hour and then I made dinner which meant I stood for another hour. After dinner, my brother had to help me upstairs because I was in so much pain. Now after almost 12 hours in bed, my back is better but not much. I will spend a lot of time lying down today. DAMN! I think I would feel better if I could get to the beach....

In the grand scheme of things, being fat is not an overwhelming problem in my life. I was just reading on FB that a friend is now celebrating two years of being cancer free because she had a recurrence. That is more of a problem than being fat. If you think about it: would you rather be fat and healthish or skinny and have cancer? Not a hard decision.

Losing weight would help me be healthier in some ways. Less body weight equals lower blood pressure, healthier organs, yada, yada, yada. But I can't get up and move more to do that. I will try to be healthier. But I have to stop being in pain first.

And before you ask, I have been taking my pain meds - a combination of prescription and OTC and I am on a weekly pain patch. This is not an unusual occurrence in my life so I have what I need to help stop the pain. If I went to my doctor they would tell me I was doing all I can.

But I Can't Sleep

I'm exhausted. We went away for the weekend and I needed more sleep. I always need more sleep. The only time I get enough sleep is when I can take a sleeping pill and it actually decides to work.

But I haven't been able to sleep. My back is killing me. This has been two nights now. Crankiness may be showing up soon.

My husband informed me this morning I need to stop going to bed so early so I don't wake up so early. I go to bed early because I am exhausted. Then my back hurts and I wake up. Even if I take my pain pills. This is very aggravating.

I'll have to wait for my next pain management doctor appointment to talk about this. But I'm might need to make that appointment sooner instead of later.

Wednesdays Are Killing Me! (Or Having Shrinking Activity Limits...)

Yesterday I had big ambitions. I did go to the gym and the grocery store for both our house and my parents. When I go grocery shopping, I shop for both houses and then deliver my parent's groceries to them and bring them to their kitchen where they put them away. (Some how their tangerines ended up at our house this week - I will return them tomorrow.)

Then I came home took a shower and took advantage of the nice weather to lounge around on the deck while I had lunch. I later attacked the brambles but it was a short battle as my back started to hurt so I switched to knitting in front of the TV.

When my husband came home he said he was going for a walk so I went with him for part of it - 10 minutes-ish. I started cooking dinner which evidently was a mistake because at that point my back hurt so much I was having problems standing. I gave up after dinner and went to bed.

Last Wednesday I had similar problems. I went to my therapist, the gym, the grocery store for both houses, my therapist and came home exhausted. I think that's all I did. I don't remember.

The only similarity with the two days are the grocery and the gym on the same day.

The problem is since we moved I now live 20+ minutes away from the gym which is a mile or so away and my parents live on the way back home from there so I combine the trips. Logical? Yes. Within my abilities? I assumed so but I may be wrong.

Next week I will change my Wednesday. I will only go to the gym and the grocery store. I will not do anything else except reading, knitting, watching TV or any other lazy activity. The only other item on my calendar is the cleaning lady is coming. I will make a point to plan of no other exertion for the day.

Yes this is my life these days. My health is impacting my abilities to do things. I really wanted to go walk on the beach this weekend - this means walking along the shoreline a bit. Sitting down to enjoy the view. I used to go and walk for a good hour or more but can't any more. Then we go get clams for lunch.

My husband pointed out (I hate it when he's right) that I can't go to the beach, make dinner for a friend who is coming to spend the night and hang out with her. It would be too much for me and I would be crabby and to tired to have fun. So that is postponed until next weekend so that I can enjoy myself.

In the meantime, when I look at my calendar and try to schedule things, one item a day is all. One of my doctors just tweaked one of my prescriptions and I hope that will help.