Hi Diane, Thanks for thinking of me. I hope you are doing well and your hip/leg are improving even more as time goes by. I was very impressed when I saw you walk without your cane limp-free at the restaurant
Unfortunately, I'm having a "downer" time. I'm tired of the leg hurting in front from the muscle tear and I'm tired of my back hurting, along with referred pain from both. Everything hurts from the waist down on my right side--not horrible pain, but it is there 24/7 and increases with the smallest little thing I do, so it's really getting on my nerves.
I was able to get in to see the back/pain clinic yesterday and I think I finally have convinced them that a lot of my back pain is coming from my SI joint and they are going to inject that. Unfortunately the earliest opening is October 3rd--I was like HUH!!!??? I talked with the nurse practitioner I saw and asked her if she would talk with someone to see if they can squeeze me in earlier--much earlier, I hope. She, too, seemed upset by the schedule and said she will call the other office where these are done and kind of beg them to fit me in earlier. I was grateful for that. She said she will call me when she knows more, but to call her by Wednesday if I haven't heard from her. I think if I can get the back feeling better I can wait out the healing on the hip flexor tear. It's just the the two problems together are getting very difficult to tolerate day in and day out ... The PT has given me stretches and exercises for the back, but they don't do anything. He thinks I just have so much inflammation there that it's going to be tough to quiet it down. He was in favor of trying the injection into the joint.
Speaking of PT, I saw the him today and he is frustrated (for me) that the back is bugging me more and the hip flexor healing is slow slow slow ... and I can't even do the stuff we started with a couple of weeks ago. That's depressing. The pain clinic had suggested trying a TENS unit for the back at PT and then buying one for home if it worked. He put that on me--actually it was an IF kind of TENS that gives more of a pulsating electrical stimulation that he likes better than the regular TENS--I liked it better too and thought it was more effective than the TENS straight current. In the past, TENS really hasn't done much for my back, but today I did feel better afterwards and I still feel somewhat better later in the day now. I think I'll have him use it one more time next week and then start pursuing purchasing a home unit through my insurance company if it gives me relief again. They cover TENS units by I don't know if they cover the IF unit specifically. They told me to get the billing code and call them back and they would tell me if it's covered.
The back/pain clinic also encouraged me to up my Percocet/oxycodone frequency. I had cut back on it a while back because I thought I was building a tolerance--the dose I was taking after the hip replacement just didn't seem to be doing much any more as time went on. So, I was only taking it once or twice a day and decreasing the dose as well, and had planned to just discontinue it soon. I thought I could get by with over the counter pain meds. But, I can see that's not going to work. I started taking it on a regular basis again after I got home from my appointment yesterday, and it does help quite a bit and I feel like I can cope better. I couldn't take it too close to my drive to physical therapy this morning, so I was very eager to take it after I arrived home. It seems like my response to it is back and it's working again. I do have to be careful that I don't over do, though, and aggravate the muscle tear further, just because I don't feel as much pain. But, I'll be careful.
The weather has been cooler and you are right--the dogs and horses are very happy with that. Especially the horses. I think they got so bored hiding from the heat and flies in the barn most of the day. My mare, Babe, absolutely hates the heat and flies and she gets a bit depressed when we have a hot spell. She'll take snow and cold over heat and flies any day. When I went out to take care of them earlier I gave her a good, long scratching-massage in some of her favorite places and she was pretty happy about that. It's so good for me to spend time with the horses--just being near them, touching them, and taking in their beauty makes the day better no matter how I'm feeling. Babe and I have a strong bond and she's pretty in tune with how I'm feeling--sometimes she looks at me with an "I'm sorry you feel bad, Mom" look that kind of melts my heart. She's a good girl. That's why I was determined to start walking out to see them as soon as I could after surgery--I made my first trip out to see them less than a week post op (walker through the grassy yard!) and I haven't missed a day yet!
Hope everyone is doing well in Bonesmart Land!
Dorothy
Australia
