Today is the one year anniversary of my first appointment with Dr. Kelly. Who would have thought that after a long argument with his receptionist 13 months ago, who almost refused to give me an appointment because my injury was not 'sports related', that I would be recovering from not 1, not 2, but 3 surgeries...all done by him. I told you so!!!!
I have been busy the past few days, J and I are going away for the weekend, without the kids. We are going on a weekend cruise to the Bahamas, and my in-laws are watching L and Jk. I have been furiously cleaning up he apartment, not cleaning cleaning, but putting things away.Like all of my maternity clothes which were stacked on our treadmill, someone wanted to borrow 1 shirt, so I had to pull all of it out, and then repack it. The desk is a mess, , my Spinning Bike is in the way.......basically make it look like I didn't have surgery 7 weeks ago and my nanny is really not on vacation!
I had to return to PT. To add insult to injury, P said 'I knew you would be back...it was only a matter of time.' I think I am hitting my 7-8 week dip.This has happened in the past, I regress for a while but eventually do come back.I have been having a lot of muscular pain, mostly adductors and TFL, maybe some psoas and occasional piriformis spasms (nice). My anterior capsule is also pretty tight, this is why I developed a limp a few days ago, I have lost extension, yet again. Since this was a sudden decision, I had to go in today, on a day I don't normally work. Even though P really mobed the heck out of it, I am tight. He also worked my psoas, iliacus, adductors and stretched my hip flexors. I am typing in bed, and just took half of a Darvocet to take the edge off. Just a reminder...the last time I took a painkiller was post-op Day 2. I am not a happy camper...plus I have to begin (and finish) packing for my trip.
I received a call form one of Dr.Kelly's people yesterday, I was supposed to call them at 6 weeks post-op to report on my progress. We discussed the tenderness issue, and she said it sounded like a 'nerve thing'. She said they don't write for Lidocaine patches, but she will discuss it with him.I told her that he had said that if the nerve issues got bad, he could give me Lyrica...which I DON'T want. She admitted that she doesn't think it works anyway!!! I am waiting to hear back...no call today though...surprise surprise!!!
I am a little bit nervous since I am exactly where I was after scope #2 when the post-op pain got really really bad. Hopefully this won't happen...but I am taking Darvocet on the cruise!
Showing posts with label numbness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label numbness. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Raining on My Parade
If you would have seen me this morning, you would have been very impressed. I was dressed, really dressed, skirt, tights, shoes, top (I ditched the hip brace). I had makeup on, my hair looked good. I looked presentable. J and I had an 'interview' for L's preschool for next year (welcome to the wonderful world of NY). We went, the school is in a small building with 4 floors, no elevator. But I was feeling great. I had taken Percocet through the night as needed, Zofran in the morning. We arrived and I did all the steps for our tour, they loved L, they even asked 'what can we do to convince you to let us have her next year?' One less thing to worry about.
After the interview, we dropped her off at her current pre-school and I walked home the 1 1/2 blocks. I came home and got into bed since my left leg was tired and my TFL and adductors were aching. I was also hungry, but nauseous and lightheaded. 'Traditionally', Wed. has been my 'not so great day' post-op. I decided on toast and tea for lunch. My stomach decided on no toast, no tea, and no more Percocet, and proceeded to expel every thing inside of it, numerous times.
This left me in a dilemma, I NEED narcotics, ok, that sounds bad, but temporarily, I am in pain and need something. I put a call into my OS office, with a note of urgency, and luckily got a call back within 20 minutes. I was told to wait until the Percocet is all gone/metabolized, no narcotics right now. This may be a reaction to anesthesia as well, not just Percocet. Start with ice chips, proceed to water, then crackers and take Tylenol. I am feeling better nausea wise. I have also iced like a madwoman, to numb it up to help with pain.
It also helps that my thigh is pretty numb from the surgery itself, hopefully it will go away on its own, it is a pretty large patch this time. All anterior, over my quad.
I had big plans to attend the PTA meeting tonight at L's school, since I had been doing so well. Maybe tomorrow I will have a more exciting day. I would love to work on my TFL on the operated side but the entire area is purple, looks awful. This is the worst I have looked after surgery ever. L asked me why my femur is purple! She is so funny. She is great with anatomy. She knows the following bones: Scapula, humerus, radius, femur, patella, tibia, calcaneus, phalanges, clavicle and 2 muscles: gluteus maximus and hamstrings. She is my little genius!
I am starving, as you can imagine. I am going to go try to eat something.
I have been in bed for 7 1/2 hours now, my leg has been climbed over numerous times but rambunxious children and is holding up!
After the interview, we dropped her off at her current pre-school and I walked home the 1 1/2 blocks. I came home and got into bed since my left leg was tired and my TFL and adductors were aching. I was also hungry, but nauseous and lightheaded. 'Traditionally', Wed. has been my 'not so great day' post-op. I decided on toast and tea for lunch. My stomach decided on no toast, no tea, and no more Percocet, and proceeded to expel every thing inside of it, numerous times.
This left me in a dilemma, I NEED narcotics, ok, that sounds bad, but temporarily, I am in pain and need something. I put a call into my OS office, with a note of urgency, and luckily got a call back within 20 minutes. I was told to wait until the Percocet is all gone/metabolized, no narcotics right now. This may be a reaction to anesthesia as well, not just Percocet. Start with ice chips, proceed to water, then crackers and take Tylenol. I am feeling better nausea wise. I have also iced like a madwoman, to numb it up to help with pain.
It also helps that my thigh is pretty numb from the surgery itself, hopefully it will go away on its own, it is a pretty large patch this time. All anterior, over my quad.
I had big plans to attend the PTA meeting tonight at L's school, since I had been doing so well. Maybe tomorrow I will have a more exciting day. I would love to work on my TFL on the operated side but the entire area is purple, looks awful. This is the worst I have looked after surgery ever. L asked me why my femur is purple! She is so funny. She is great with anatomy. She knows the following bones: Scapula, humerus, radius, femur, patella, tibia, calcaneus, phalanges, clavicle and 2 muscles: gluteus maximus and hamstrings. She is my little genius!
I am starving, as you can imagine. I am going to go try to eat something.
I have been in bed for 7 1/2 hours now, my leg has been climbed over numerous times but rambunxious children and is holding up!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Week 2 Begins
Ahhhh...the numbness persists, plus additional negative thoughts. Ok, this is my blog, and I can publish all my negativity/ doubts here!
Since my "twisting/ popping" episode the Thurs. before my surgery on the right hip, things have been kind of funky. Now, in my compulsive state, I notice that there are positive impingement signs in that hip (gulp). So what is going through my head....was cam impingement missed on that side? My left hip (most recently done) is doing awesome, and there is no pinching at end range, there is pain and discomfort at endrange, but it is a different quality of pain. The right hip pinches (omg, tons of freaking out), but now is not a good time to judge the outcome of the first surgery.But still...
Why does my left hip feel so much better than the right one did? I had pinching for so long, I was told it may never go away because the area was worked on, bone was shaved, so there may be some residual pain for life, I am OK with that, but as long as that is what I am feeling. I know my hips will never be the same as they were before this happened, but I want them better than pre-op. So my doubts continue to exist in my mind...at the same time,I don't know if I want to know if here is still some issue going on in there...my personal recovery is going well, but it is so hard not being able to do things on my own, more on that later!
On a more positive note, I had my 3rd PT session today. P, my other PT was in today, he is not sure what to make of the numbness, on another positive note, he worked the hell out of my ITB and it didn't bother me. He did ART on my psoas, iliacus, TFL and ITB. I rode the bike for 15 minutes (I had pain after 10 pre-op), isometric hip ab/dduction (blue band today), bridges, stool IR/ER/extension, and we decided it would be ok to add the wobble board. Yes, I am only supposed to be 20 lbs weight bearing, I am doing more (see disclaimer below), but I am doing more and want to ditch my crutches ASAP. Oh, I ditched my hip brace today too, it was too cumbersome and my ROM is great, and beyond what the brace allows. My hip flexes way beyond 90', ER is almost full, IR exists this time!!!
To address the swelling (and hopefully the numbness), I set the e-stim machine to Hi-volt, 1-10mhz, for a muscle pump action. It didn't feel good, but I am willing to do it if here is even a remote possibility it will help.
I have been off of Percocet since Saturday. I take a lot of Tylenol, and could probably use the percocet at times, especially at night, but I am desperate to feel "normal" again!
Since my "twisting/ popping" episode the Thurs. before my surgery on the right hip, things have been kind of funky. Now, in my compulsive state, I notice that there are positive impingement signs in that hip (gulp). So what is going through my head....was cam impingement missed on that side? My left hip (most recently done) is doing awesome, and there is no pinching at end range, there is pain and discomfort at endrange, but it is a different quality of pain. The right hip pinches (omg, tons of freaking out), but now is not a good time to judge the outcome of the first surgery.But still...
Why does my left hip feel so much better than the right one did? I had pinching for so long, I was told it may never go away because the area was worked on, bone was shaved, so there may be some residual pain for life, I am OK with that, but as long as that is what I am feeling. I know my hips will never be the same as they were before this happened, but I want them better than pre-op. So my doubts continue to exist in my mind...at the same time,I don't know if I want to know if here is still some issue going on in there...my personal recovery is going well, but it is so hard not being able to do things on my own, more on that later!
On a more positive note, I had my 3rd PT session today. P, my other PT was in today, he is not sure what to make of the numbness, on another positive note, he worked the hell out of my ITB and it didn't bother me. He did ART on my psoas, iliacus, TFL and ITB. I rode the bike for 15 minutes (I had pain after 10 pre-op), isometric hip ab/dduction (blue band today), bridges, stool IR/ER/extension, and we decided it would be ok to add the wobble board. Yes, I am only supposed to be 20 lbs weight bearing, I am doing more (see disclaimer below), but I am doing more and want to ditch my crutches ASAP. Oh, I ditched my hip brace today too, it was too cumbersome and my ROM is great, and beyond what the brace allows. My hip flexes way beyond 90', ER is almost full, IR exists this time!!!
To address the swelling (and hopefully the numbness), I set the e-stim machine to Hi-volt, 1-10mhz, for a muscle pump action. It didn't feel good, but I am willing to do it if here is even a remote possibility it will help.
I have been off of Percocet since Saturday. I take a lot of Tylenol, and could probably use the percocet at times, especially at night, but I am desperate to feel "normal" again!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Chugging Along
I am learning to time my Percocet to coincide with activities I want to do. Today for example, I knew I wanted to walk to the park, about 1/3 mile, so I took a Percocet 2 hours before going. For me, it is at its best 2-4 hours after taking it, and I can increase its effect with Tylenol 3-4 hours later. So I walked to the park, I didn't do that until 2 1/2 weeks post-op last time.
I would really like to be off of painkillers in the next few days. My mom is staying with us, doing practically everything, she is amazing. The hard thing is that despite how amazing she is, I really would prefer if I didn't need this "amazingness" and could function on my own. She is my chauffeur, nanny, cook, waiter etc. I also feel bad that she is so bored here because I can't really do to many fun things right now.
Everything seems to be going well except for the persistent numbness, I am still really hopeful that it is a swelling issue, so all this excessive walking is not helpful. I am not capable of staying home, it makes me crazy. I have always been like this, just to give you an idea, one week after my c-section, I was walking around the mall, yes, I was in pain, and exhausted, but I was bored at home, and I needed a diaper bag!
I plan on continuing to ice aggressively, plus I will try ultrasound on a swelling setting on Monday at PT. I am not at all into modalities, I rarely use ultrasound, it is usually a last resort, when nothing else is working, but that is how I feel in this instance. Maybe some retrograde massage will help too, anything to decrease the size of my leg and increase the amount of sensation to it. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!!!
I would really like to be off of painkillers in the next few days. My mom is staying with us, doing practically everything, she is amazing. The hard thing is that despite how amazing she is, I really would prefer if I didn't need this "amazingness" and could function on my own. She is my chauffeur, nanny, cook, waiter etc. I also feel bad that she is so bored here because I can't really do to many fun things right now.
Everything seems to be going well except for the persistent numbness, I am still really hopeful that it is a swelling issue, so all this excessive walking is not helpful. I am not capable of staying home, it makes me crazy. I have always been like this, just to give you an idea, one week after my c-section, I was walking around the mall, yes, I was in pain, and exhausted, but I was bored at home, and I needed a diaper bag!
I plan on continuing to ice aggressively, plus I will try ultrasound on a swelling setting on Monday at PT. I am not at all into modalities, I rarely use ultrasound, it is usually a last resort, when nothing else is working, but that is how I feel in this instance. Maybe some retrograde massage will help too, anything to decrease the size of my leg and increase the amount of sensation to it. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!!!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
What a Difference a Day Makes
I have almost no pain today, I am in shock, my muscles are sore, and very weak, but my pain is almost non-existent. I know this is a change from last time. I don't even know what to attribute it to, more work was done this time, unless, a tiny thought lingers in the back of my mind, not enough work was done the first time. I quickly brush this aside, it is highly unlikely.
My numbness is definitely there. I spoke with Dr Kelly's office today, there is a tiny possibility of nerve damage, but they are really careful with portal placement, so also, unlikely. Hopefully it is due to swelling, and will resolve in time as the swelling does. I have been icing like crazy, this may also attribute to my lack of pain.
I took one Percocet this morning, had PT and took a 4 block walk, then took 2 Tylenol, I really want to be off of narcotic painkillers.
Pt went like this. First, I had J check my sensation, she agreed that it was parasthesia most likely due to swelling, since there is a lot, but agreed that I should call Dr.Kelly about it. I wanted to try some active assisted ROM, so we did hip flexion, abduction, and active assisted heel slides. I rode the bike again, for some reason, it is still difficult for me. I did isometric abduction with a green theraband, and isometric adduction with the "kegel ball". J worked on my ROM, very gentle, emphasizing flexion at this point, but I am past 90', like last time, IR is coming back the slowest, but it will be back soon! I also did stool IR/ER and extension.
Disclaimer: A lot of what I did is a little accelerated for Dr. Kelly's protocol, but I made my own call on this and felt ready. My surgery was just a debridement, probably (even though I hate to admit it) best for my lifestyle, since I need a quick recovery, and don't want to constantly have a fear of retearing the repair. Don't get me wrong, I really did want him to repair it, but I am happy this way as well.
I am also putting more than 20lbs of pressure on my foot, again, I am calling the shots and feel like this is ok, for me, at this point. I tried walking with one crutch but was unable to do it well due to weakness.
Hmm, maybe it was my prehab that helped? I will never know, but I wasn't doing a ton on that side in my workouts, isometrics hurt, bridging hurt, single leg stance hurt....who knows!! I will continue trying to figure it out. Or, maybe it is just too numb for me to process the pain!!
My numbness is definitely there. I spoke with Dr Kelly's office today, there is a tiny possibility of nerve damage, but they are really careful with portal placement, so also, unlikely. Hopefully it is due to swelling, and will resolve in time as the swelling does. I have been icing like crazy, this may also attribute to my lack of pain.
I took one Percocet this morning, had PT and took a 4 block walk, then took 2 Tylenol, I really want to be off of narcotic painkillers.
Pt went like this. First, I had J check my sensation, she agreed that it was parasthesia most likely due to swelling, since there is a lot, but agreed that I should call Dr.Kelly about it. I wanted to try some active assisted ROM, so we did hip flexion, abduction, and active assisted heel slides. I rode the bike again, for some reason, it is still difficult for me. I did isometric abduction with a green theraband, and isometric adduction with the "kegel ball". J worked on my ROM, very gentle, emphasizing flexion at this point, but I am past 90', like last time, IR is coming back the slowest, but it will be back soon! I also did stool IR/ER and extension.
Disclaimer: A lot of what I did is a little accelerated for Dr. Kelly's protocol, but I made my own call on this and felt ready. My surgery was just a debridement, probably (even though I hate to admit it) best for my lifestyle, since I need a quick recovery, and don't want to constantly have a fear of retearing the repair. Don't get me wrong, I really did want him to repair it, but I am happy this way as well.
I am also putting more than 20lbs of pressure on my foot, again, I am calling the shots and feel like this is ok, for me, at this point. I tried walking with one crutch but was unable to do it well due to weakness.
Hmm, maybe it was my prehab that helped? I will never know, but I wasn't doing a ton on that side in my workouts, isometrics hurt, bridging hurt, single leg stance hurt....who knows!! I will continue trying to figure it out. Or, maybe it is just too numb for me to process the pain!!
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