Well, I'd like to change the name of this thread. How do you do that? I have had a huge breakthrough. And most of it doesn't have to do with my knee, although I am able to walk a bit better. Here's what happened. The other night I had really bad stomach pains. Then back pain. I decided to try to sleep to see if I could get through the night, then go to the doc's the next day.
Woke at 1 in the morning and pain was awful. Moaning, rocking pain. So I called the doc, had the answering service wake him. He got back and said, "Well you're right, it might be diverticulitis. Go to the ER." My husband is in CA. taking care of his dad who had fallen and was in hospital. I drove myself to a friend's, she took me to nearby ER and stayed with me as I waited two hours groaning, calling out, breaking into sweats, vomiting, then getting chills.
Just horrible. I thought Appendicitis, I thought infected intestinal walls, I thought emergency surgery. But I had to wait my turn as other people who actually looked as sick or sicker, went first. By the time I had seen the one doc and gotten pain killers and stopped sweating, I was taken for a CAT scan. They had to wait while I stopped vomiting and trembling. Turns out the nurse, not the doc, knew what I had. She'd told me, "You're rocking with pain like you have a kidney stone." I did. I stayed the night in the ER dozing a tiny bit. My friend had stayed too, rubbing my back, never once telling me I was a baby. I slept a lot that day. Drank two gallons of water, took only ibuprofin, the pain never got unbearable again, and slept some more. But I'd been off my knee except for a short walk (because the evening air was like silk and so beautiful I needed to be out). And watered the garden (even though I said I couldn't) because I knew it would make my husband happy.
Today, more pain, I took some meds, passed the stone (I think it's just one) and realized I hadn't stretched, elevated or iced my leg at all yesterday. I think the intensity of the pain from the kidney stone made me realize that my knee really is not that bad; yes, it hurts bit and I wish it would bend more easily when I walk, but , in fact, it's pretty good considering. And today, my knee feels pretty good. I think maybe it just needed more rest. A lot more. And while I don't expect to feel completely exuberant about my progress, the experience shifted things for me. Both the intense pain, the real rest and waking up to a merely tight knee. A door opened, or a corner turned.
When Josephine wrote this post: CindyLu, I can promise you 110% that nobody ever had problems from not doing enough. Quite the reverse! I absolutely didn't believe it. Jo, I remember you told me that you "never ever said not to do any exercise at all." Well....that's sort of what you're saying to Cindy Lu. But no matter. I think that, all along, I didn't really understand what "less is more" means. I don't recommend kidney stones, but perhaps you could shut a door on your fingers, or try skigirl's head slapping exercise, with a really hard slap, to wake yourself up. Sometimes I just need someone or something to translate what my knee is trying to say to me. What a wake up!
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