Monday, August 25, 2008

After the Olympics.....

Been very busy watching the Olympics. Every last second of them! I currently have a crush on Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. I wish I could get in the pool and swim. Oh well.
While the Olympics played out here is the status of my RPAO:
1. 8 week follow up.............can't bear anymore than 30lbs until the 10th week. Left hip looks good and unless it ever starts to hurt he sees no LPAO in my near future. That's about it.

2. Started physical therapy. Hip abductor and flexor exercises are killing me. They cause extreme pain and a sharp shooting pain from my outer thigh to my right butt cheek. Switched to crutches for about 5 hours until they caused my underarms to hurt and have giant raw marks.

3. Not much else.

I wish I had known how bored, helpless, sad, frustrating this whole experience was going to be. I've managed to cry about everyday. I'm SICK of asking for help. I'm SICK of not going to the store by myself. I'm SICK of asking for help. I'm SICK of not working and providing for my family. I'm SICK of everything! It's just been a long boring road. Now I have about a week prior to going back to work that I have to bear weight and gait train. I don't know what I'm going to do about that. My OS and PT seem to think I'll be fine by September 22nd, but I'm not so sure because it still hurts to lift my leg. I don't know how I'm suppose to go back to work on the 22nd do stress test, etc. without tiring out. Maybe they'll be nice. I haven't called and told work yet. I'm waiting for another 2 weeks to see how I'm doing then I'll call and inform them of what is going on. At least I have a little more endurance. Today I cleaned out my closet and then did a couple of loads of laundry. I didn't say I did all that in a timely manner but I did it. I'm trying to do all that I can in a day to build up my endurance so that I can survive at work when I go back. Well I'm really can't think of much else right now. I'm sure I will later and will try and write more sooner than the last post.

1 comment:

Eczema Mom said...

Hey Brenna--I'm so sorry you're having such a rough go of this whole PAO thing. You are 3 or 4 weeks ahead of me, and I know week 4 was the toughest on me by far. Just feeling locked up in the house is such a mental drain.

I've been on crutches the entire time, never was assigned a walker. I wonder if yours are adjusted properly? They should be about 2 fingers below your armpits. I've never had raw arms, just my hands/wrists get sore from bearing all the weight. I do think you could get a better range of motion using the crutches (I had a walker for my scope and I really liked how my hands were free to do stuff, but it didn't allow my legs to recover like they needed to. Just my experience.)

Hang in there. With PT going now, you'll start to see those muscles fire up and you're endurance will be back soon.