Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Another Anatomy Lesson

L with her latest b-day gift, "Bryan the skeleton". Many thanks to Amy for finding this toddler size one! Click here to have L teach you many bones and muscles!!! Here she is pointing out the radius.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The Week in Review

There is no place like home! We were in Miami for a week and a half, it was great but it is also great to be home!
The trip began with my (not so) quick MRI the night before, getting the results, L's 4th b-day party and a long trip home!
Last we spoke, my knee "issue" was TBD, possible MCL, as seen on MRI, or muscle imbalances, but I am to strengthen and stay off of my spin bike. I still think it is "joint related".

I have been off the bike for 2 weeks, the knee was ok, yesterday I was thinking that staying off of the bike was helping but this morning it was back to normal. So I was feeling unbelievably fat from lack of spinning and lots of eating (Jewish holidays=food) so I rode. I hurt, but I cannot directly attribute it to the bike.
L's party was great, its no wonder my kids love going to my parent's house, check out the BEST 4 year old party ever.







I never had a bounce house or ponies at my b-day parties!!!

While we were away, J had to come home for a day for work. The day before he was to leave, he received an email from the parking company where we leave our car at the airport. It turns out, they needed to move our car to an overflow lot since we were gone for so long, in the process, they left the car illegally parked for "a few moments" and it was ticketed and towed, due to some unpaid tickets (oops).
So, J had to go from the airport to one office in Queens to pay for the tow, tickets, storage fee, marshall fee and judgement fee, then go to Brooklyn to pick up the car! The parking company felt so bad they drove him to all of those places, paid all the fees minus the actual tickets, and gave us free parking for the entire duration of the trip (that is a HUGE savings here). It sucked that it happened but I count my lucky stars that J went to retrieve the car alone than with all of us in tow, especially after yesterdays adventure.

We flew non-stop, through DC (don't ask). We left Miami on time and made it to DC with time to spare to catch the connection. Initially, the flight was delayed an hour. We boarded, pulled away from the gate and were told we would have to sit on the runway bc Laguardia was slowing down traffic. We sat for 2 hours, then they pulled us back to the gate bc there were 6 kids on a 40-50 seater plane...not happy kids. We ended up arriving around 4PM (left Miami at 8AM), then I realized I left L's sweater on the plane. One more hour in the airport, we finally left, without the sweater, and all I could think was :thank goodness the car is here, waiting for us!)

Monday, April 14, 2008

I Told You She Is A Genius

As I have mentioned before, L knows many of her bones and muscles. Here she is doing a beautiful job...until the end when she has trouble with her name! But we love her and think she is the smartest preschooler in the world!

Now if only her parents could figure out how to use proper lighting for filming....

Monday, March 3, 2008

Ride On!

The weather was beautiful today so I piled the kids into the double stroller and went to the park. For those of you who do not remember, pushing the double stroller was what eventually landed me in Dr Kelly's OR 3 times.





Just to recap, I drive this:
And I push

and

This is one of the first times since my revision scope that I remember pushing the double stroller all the way to the park, so it felt like an accomplishment, plus, I like having the experience and knowing that I can do it. My right hip felt weak while pushing. Then again, I am pushing 35lbs of stroller and about 70lbs of kids. I also had discomfort in my trouble spot. The area along the front of my thigh along all of the scope sites, where I have supposed nerve damage. It didn't hurt but I could feel that it was an area that was not done healing.

As for my arm, the tingling has diminished.I have decided to see my acupuncturist this week, I will let you know what happens.The good news is that I don't think it is too serious and the tingling has centralized to my elbow. The bad thing is that my elbow hurts now. I think it may be the way I am doing a manipulation at work so I will have to be careful.

In an unrelated story, have you been following Carlos Delgado's story, from the NY Mets? He was flown from Florida to NY to have an MRI at HSS, the findings were that it is not serious, it is just an impingement in his hip.

WTF???? Not serious? How many of you have been sidelined bc of a simple "hip impingement"?

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Evil Influences

After Amy and I left Dr. K's office, she insisted we go to the most incredible cupcake shop EVER, Crumbs. The following is what happenned that afternoon, in chronological order.














Just some background info, it is no coincidence that amy and I have the same OS. We actually met through labralicious (a yahoo group for people with labral tears). She had posted about her own experience and mentioned that dr. K was her OS. I decided to take the liberty of emailing her off-list. My first email ever stated: "I am seeing Dr. K in a few weeks, I think I have a labral tear. I am a PT and all day long my patients complain about thier doctors. Is he an a$$hole?"
She obviously answered no and we ended up emailing eachother for a few months until we finally met in person last March. My kids adore her, you can clearly see why!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

I am in Adductor Hell

Poor P, he just doesn't get it. He is going to be shocked tomorrow at how things have deteriorated in the 'PT addressable area' tomorrow (as opposed to the 'surgeon addressable area'). My muscles and joint capsule are so tight, it hurts so much. I contemplated taking a Darvocet today the adductor was so bad. I ended up lying on the floor in a FABER position and having Jk sit on my knee to stretch it out. I want it to 'pop', or something, I think I am developing scar tissue in there and it is contributing to my problem. So it has been a rough day!

To top things off, I took the kids to CVS, which for some reason unbeknown to me, makes them wild. So we finally got out of there in one piece and Jk needed a diaper change. It was snowing and cold, but we had no choice. So I started doing it in the passenger seat of my car, but then realized I ran out of wipes. "Shit', I said. To which L replied 'Mommy, that is not a nice word.'

Someone actually asked me today if I can 'feel the cold' in my hips. I am not sure if any of this is weather related. I like to think it is not, since I reserve thatfor 90 year old little old ladies with arthritic hips (so I fit 50% of that description). Hmmmmmm, maybe I can!

Everyone is in bed, I am also getting ready to get in bed soon and watch Gossip Girl on Tivo.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Rough Day in Hipville

L was off of school today for some teacher preparation/total BS day. So I decided to be super mom. I took both kids to an indoor nature center. They had fun, petting snakes, chinchillas and ferrets. Since things were going so well, we headed to the supermarket, where they both decided to have meltdowns, until cookies magically appeared. Since the cookies calmed them down, I decided to push my luck and headed to a craft store.

Let me backtrack on the craft thing. I am not crafty, at all. I felt so out of place in the craft store, like I needed a few more piercings and Birkenstocks. For the longest time, I have wanted to try a project. It is called BeautiFill. I have an empty bowl with compartments, and you are supposed to fill it. Hard to visualize so I have included pictures. (see below) I decided to fill the bowl with silk flowers, it looks great! The kids were a disaster in the store. They were exhausted and weren't letting me put my things int he cart, crying for stickers, books, candy.....you get the picture. Luckily, we made it out alive, with a few dirty looks from complete strangers, and safely into the car. They both fell asleep in the car!



I left them at home and proceeded to Target (where else), where things began to go achey...again. I even thought about calling P to squeeze me in tomorrow, but being that it is 1AM and I am on the computer, no where near ready for bed, I am glad I did not, I would never get out of bed that early. I am not 100% sure what is going on, and have been pretty busy so haven't been able to sort it out. I think it may be psoas (I hope it is psoas) as opposed to some joint crap. I am no where near ready to deal with any thing possibly going downhill in the joint. Maybe 30 years from now when I begin thinking about my THR or resurfacing, but this better not be an indication that it may be sooner. Obviously, I am sure the FAI has been wiped out. But there is always the fear that the cartilage damage has continued, or that scar tissue is running rampant in there. Or maybe I need to take a step back and say 'Chill Out!' I am only 9 weeks out, there are ups and downs, and this is just a down. It happens. I have had much worse 'downs' in the past. Don't freak out. Clearly the FAI is gone and that is the most important thing. Maybe I do need to haul my a$$ back to PT like a good, compliant patient and stop rock climbing on my off days!

My evening did end on a funny/ embarassing note though! L is into the Cha Cha Slide. The singer goes through a verse where he says 'funky funky funky funky'. We were getting pizza for dinner and L started singing the song, but she leaves out the 'N' in funky, boy was I embarrassed.

L has some new bones she knows, to date she knows: Scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, phalanges, clavicle, sternum, ribs, femur, patella, tibia, fibula, calcaneus, phalanges. Plus Gluteus maximus and hamstrings. Now, when I ask her if she knows what a hip looks like, she does that classic fist with one hand, other hand over it, then she takes the cupped hand and says 'this is the acetabulum'. She is a genius!





Thursday, December 27, 2007

Making Good Decisions....as Always

I went ice skating today. I went ice skating in lieu of going to the doctor for my throat/ ear/ sinuses and cough. The premise was that we would call a friend tonight to call in a Rx for me but...he is on vacation. So I am in bed, prior to 9PM, having just taken cough medicine, which totally wipes me out (at least it doesn't make me puke), and freaking out since my nanny is now officially on vacation.

I woke up this morning and became super mom/ housewife, once again. 2 loads of laundry, dishes, cooking and cleaning up. For those of you who know me, I can be a bit of a diva at times, so this no nanny business is freaking me out. To cover my ass(ets), I have one person babysitting only, and one person cleaning only. So tomorrow, I will actually have a 'staff' in my home so I can comfortably go to work and know things will (hopefully) get done and the kids will be ok. But just to make sure, I got the house ready today so that day #1 would not be too overwhelming, hence the laundry and cleaning. J said he has never seen me so domestic!

So after my cleaning streak, we went ice skating. I was pretty scared, I should not be ice skating at 6 weeks...I should probably not be ice skating even at 12 weeks! But I did. If I was my patient, I would absolutely have put a stop to the ice skating. My hip friend Amy is a professional ice skater, and was not allowed back on the ice after a scope for JUST a labral tear for 8 weeks, and she clearly knew how to skate...well! But L really wanted to go, and I really wanted to take her. Luckily, she was not too keen on ice skating, so we only made it one lap, it took about 20 minutes! I should have followed her off the ice and called it a day, but no, I decided to try a few laps. Interestingly, I could only do a single leg skate. My right leg just wouldn't work. I guess it was sending me a message.

When I came off of the ice, my ITB and TFL really hurt. But the joint is good, painfree and intact! We had a great time the rest of the day as my kids always seem to be up for an adventure.

We were at an indoor amusement/ attraction center, and they had some indoor kiddie rides. They were on the wild side, but my kids never say no to adventure. One ride took you straight up and dropped you down little by little in jolts, looked scary as hell. L tried it with a friend, L loved it but the friend freaked out. L wanted to go again, and Jk wanted to join her. Jk is 2....I said absolutely not. But he insisted and threw a tantrum, and the ride operator assured me it was safe for him and would stop it if he freaked out...so I let him go. The kid loved it. I had to turn away and not watch bc he was wiggling around in his seat and had his hands in the air....but he had a great time!
He also rode the kiddie version of 'teacups', each time it turned, he was flung into the side of his cup, he realized that if he didn't hold on to the handlebar, he would be flung harder and faster, so he let go. Again,I almost had a heart attack, but he was having the time of his life.

Now they are both sleeping very soundly, and I am ready to join them, as I figure out how to juggle my schedule tomorrow and see all my patients, see my kids and get to the doctor!!!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Pictures From The Train Show

We had a lot of fun but the kids have become impossible to photograph, they are so wiggly!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cutest tushies!




Sunday, December 16, 2007

(Trying to) Set Limits

I just got home from a wedding, I had to wear my sexy shoes of course. This is after I attended L's ballet recital this morning. When we got there, she was being shy and didn't want to practice her solo, which consisted of her following these commands from her teacher: 'Jump out, Jump in, Jump out, Jump in, Jump out, Jump in, Boogy Woogy Woogy'. She decided that she wanted mommy to do it with her. Ok, I though, how bad can 6 little jumps be? BAD. I am such an idiot. It seems I had forgotten that less than 5 weeks ago I had a chunk of femur shaved off, so even though it has been feeling great, jumping on it wouldn't be the smartest of things to do. I am probably at risk still for a femoral neck fracture. Stupid. Anyway, I did the jumping, in fleece lined Crocs. Normally, when I do stupid things (wow, I do stupid things often enough that I can say 'normally' when referring to them), I feel the effects later, either later in the day, that evening or in the morning. Not this time. I did my jumps, took a step and was hit with 'Stupid! Why did you do that?' Even J saw me from far away and asked what I was thinking. Sometimes, a mother has to do what a mother has to do. Did I do great damage? No. Probably just some irritation on my recently shaved bone, some inflammation, no big deal. I am guessing it will feel great in the AM (I am really really hoping this)!

We then went to a wedding tonight. I did not even attempt to dance (see, I don't always do stupid things). I sat a lot, and we even went home early since my babysitter called and said the kids weren't behaving!
I am sore now, in the groin (gasp....but I am ok), it is soreness, not pain, I will live!!! I will check back in in the AM with an update!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Our First Snow Day






I decided I was less likely to kill myself when I went out this morning if I left my crutch at home. It went well, I had Jk's stroller to use as a 'walker', but overall I did well, I am just exhausted from it. At least I am not missing anything by being home since the weather is so awful!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Slowly Returning to Normal

I am slowly returning to my life as it was pre-scope, minus the pain, minus the 'am I crazy' thoughts! Today I also returned to acupuncture. As skeptical as I was, I think it was great. I had so much energy afterwards and my Crohn's issues got better. Today was no exception. I was speaking to the acupuncturist about my results.....and he checked my pulse bc that is what they do. So he said 'are you sick?', I am, I have had a cold and ear and sinus pain for a while, but have been trying to put off going to my doctor since I really don't like her anymore, after the 'stitches incident' after my second scope. So he keeps feeling my pulse, 'are you coughing anything up? do you have head pain? ear pain?', wow, is he a mind reader? I said I am sick and probably need an antibiotic, he said no, it is viral (okay???) bc my pulse is very slow and weak, my body is fighting something. Weird. He sent me home with some herbs in pill form bc there is no way I would make a tea out of dirt and drink it! I have no clue what I just took, one says take 8 pills 3 times/ day and one says take 3-4 pills 3 times/day. I hope this works. I I don't ever blog again you will know never to take strange, unknown herbs!

I have been sticking with one crutch outside, except today, I had to go to Toys R Us. Jk's b-day is Thursday and chanukah is next week. I didn't think I would be able to maneuver the shopping cart and my crutch so I left it in the car and used the cart as support. Note to self and others: carts are not intended to be substitutes for crutches. I was exhausted, really exhausted when I left, I mean, close to dead (this was before I took the herbs). I went to pick up L at school and contemplated using 2 crutches but really really didn't want to. So now my Trendelenburg is worse but I have a feeling it will be fine in the morning. Still no real pain!! Hooray!

As a gift to my hip, I had my groceries delivered today!!!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Fun Cont.

Luckily we are home and have no stairs! I have minimal pain, could probably benefit from Tylenol but I have a huge aversion to anything that closely resembles a pill, or may possibly be medicinal. I didn't leave the house all day yesterday but took care of the kids crutchless. This involved breakfast, playing, lunch, naptime, snack. Luckily J did all the packing and loading of the car. We tried to minimize the stairs and stay on one level as much as possible. Stairs in and of themselves don't seem to be a problem, it was actually easier to them crutchless using a step through pattern as opposed to a step to pattern. But the hip really feels good. I have a little move I call my 'making sure I still have pain...or am I losing it', it was especially helpful post-injection 1 and 2 when the radiologist did not do a pre and post test. I stand on the affected leg and internally rotate the hip by turning my body away (out).If there is impingement, it pinches. It no longer pinches on the right, YAY!!!!! I am cured! I will have a 'brace throwing away event' soon. Interestingly, I held onto it after my first scope, something in the back of my head said to keep it. I still have the left brace too but I will toss it as well. Anyway, I wore it one day after this scope.

This morning we took the kids to a holiday cookie baking and magic show (the magician didn't show up though), it is at L's school so we walked. I walked with 2 crutches but left 1 in the stroller when we got there. Later we went out for pizza and I took one crutch. I get tired after a while, that's why in the house I was ok, I wasn't going very far in one stretch.

But it is so nice to be home, like any good Jewish family, there are always in-law issues, sibling issues and plenty of food! I have never eaten so much dessert before, hopefully my body needed all those extra calories to heal!

I return to PT tomorrow, I am not sure if I will go more than one time this week. Dr. Kelly wants me to take it slow, and it is Jk's birthday on Thursday, we are going to see Playhouse Disney Live! I will let P check my ROM and see what he thinks. Extension is going to be my biggest issue this time around I think, and I am developing some trochnateric bursitis, I think. I am still awfully bruised on the trochanter and medial to the incisions. It makes me wonder if they ever found the cushioning device that was 'missing' pre-op. L says my femur is very purple. Yes, she says femur. She is very into anatomy, and at 3, it i impressive, She knows the following bones: Scapula, clavicle, humerus, radius,ulna, phalanges, femur, patella, tibia, fibula, calcaneus. She loves medical dramas as well. We watch House, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Scrubs.

I have some cute pics, we have a new camera so I will try to get J to upload them for me!! I am in bed for my daily rest!

Friday, August 17, 2007

I Gave In

My 'game plan' lasted exactly 3 days, meaning, waiting as long as possible to get an injection. Today my pain was so awful I called to schedule an injection. Now I have to wait for Dr. Kelly's office to call me back....so hopefully by next month:-) Seriously, I hope to hear no later than Monday so I can proceed with this!

We just uploaded some more pics from our trip!!!




Thursday, August 16, 2007

Family Vacation

Even though my 'hip life' is kind of in the dumps right now, everything else is great! Here are some highlights from our trip to Costa Rica last week!



Jk in the pool


My sister, Sandy, and L


L, Jeff (my brother), Sandy, me and Jk

Family pic
The Girls (Sandy, my mom and Me)
Let the Party Begin

Me and J

Yes, I wore heels, my sexy shoes to be exact, 4-5" heel!!!!