Category Archives: Health

Unexpected Injuries (or I’m Still Doing My 5K Tonight)

Posted on May 31, 2013 | 1 comment

With all the issues with my hips, I’m used to waking up in pain. It happens more days than it doesn’t. And sadly, this is probably what it will be like for me for most of my life.

What I’m not used to it waking up in the morning with pain on another part of my body. All day Wednesday, I felt fine. I didn’t do anything weird that would cause me to get injured. But when I woke up on Thursday morning, I could feel that something was wrong with my hamstring on my right side. I could bend my leg, but straightening it was very painful. Honestly, I don’t know what I did. Maybe I just slept funny.

I did some research online, and after going through all the scary websites that pretty much say you are dying no matter what the symptom is, I found some things that helped. I’m taking the same pain medications that I take for my hip and I’m also trying to do some compression on my thigh. I used an ace bandage yesterday and that really seemed to take the edge off of the pain.

I’m feeling a bit better today, but I’m still in more pain than normal. So what does this mean for the 5K that I’m doing tonight?

Nothing.

I’m still doing it no matter what. If I was on crutches, I’d possibly still do it. I got a really great outfit picked out, and I want to do 5K #4 tonight. I’m so incredibly close to the goal that I set for the end of the year, and the year is almost at the half way point.

While I was hoping that tonight I would get a better time than my 5Ks in the past, I’m not going to let myself stress out about it. It really is more important to me that I cross the finish line no matter what.

And while tomorrow is the first day of ticket sales at my work (which means a lot of craziness is going to happen), I will be able to rest for the whole day while I work (multitasking at its best!).

I promise I’ll have a 5K recap post on here in the beginning of next week! Wish me luck tonight!

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Default ThumbnailTaking Things A Bit Easier (or No More Injuries) Default ThumbnailMy 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year) Default Thumbnail26.2 (or No Marathon For Me) Default ThumbnailInjury After Injury (or I Swear It’s Not Because I’m A Klutz) Default ThumbnailHitting A New PR (or Forgetting To Take Things Easy) Default ThumbnailFour Eyes (or An Unexpected Expense)

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

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Setting Myself Up To Win (or More Preparation)

Posted on April 24, 2013 | Comments Off on Setting Myself Up To Win (or More Preparation)

I do a lot of things to try to make my life easier. When I have late shifts at work, I try to get some extra sleep (because I really do function better on more than 5 hours a night). I know that when I don’t remember to prepare a lunch or a dinner one day, I can always find something at Subway or some salad places near my house. And I try to get things done on my day off so I don’t have to try to squeeze them in before or after an 8 hour work day.

But just because these things are easier doesn’t mean that they are good for me. I’m trying to look at things now as better options, not easier options.

One thing that I’ve been able to do is figure out when I can fit in spin class into my work schedule. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a shift that starts at noon. In the past, I used the late start to catch up on sleep. On Monday nights, there are times that I don’t get home until 10pm and then I still need to have dinner and get work done. But now I’m making going to an 8:30am spin class a priority. I know that this won’t happen every Tuesday/Thursday (yet), but I’m working towards it.

Also, I’m trying (again) to be better at having food prepared so I don’t have to think about what I’m going to do for lunch or dinner. I’ll admit that this week I haven’t been good. I’m going out-of-town this weekend and didn’t want to go to the grocery store if I didn’t have to before my trip. But no matter what I eat, I am tracking all my calories on my app on my phone. I’m holding myself accountable for my good and bad choices.

Finally, I’m allowing myself to make mistakes. I really am an all or nothing sort of person. I didn’t want to start this blog until I knew I could maintain doing it 5 days a week (there’s no way to get yourself ready for that). So when I’ve had slip ups in the past, I’ve allowed myself then to continue slipping up until a determined date/time that I was going to “start over”. There’s no starting over in this now, just continuing on. I’m not letting a speed bump stop me completely.

I’m hoping with this new mindset not only will I be moving towards my goals a bit faster, but I’m hoping that I will not feel so over worked and stressed about being at my day job 6 days a week. I need to allow myself time to have a life and do things that are good for me and I enjoy. I didn’t allow myself that freedom last year.

Of course, I could completely change my mind about all of this next month, but I’m giving it a shot for now.

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Default ThumbnailReadjusting (or I Guess I Forgot What It Felt Like To Work My Work Schedule) Default ThumbnailFitting It All In (or Getting Better At Time Management) Default ThumbnailBack Into The Groove (or Staying On The Right Path While At Work) Default ThumbnailScheduling Life (or Trying To Remember What Day Of The Week It Is) Default ThumbnailWorking On Figuring It Out (or I Wish This Was Easier) Default ThumbnailA Weekend Catchup Post (or Maybe The Craziness Made Me Get Sick)

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Posted in Fitness, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss, Work

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Seeing My Hip Doctor (or Looking Cute In A Hospital Gown)

Posted on April 22, 2013 | 1 comment

Last Friday, I finally went in to see my hip surgeon. I had been pretty anxious for this appointment as I’ve been feeling pain in both the hip I had operated on as well as the hip that needs to be fixed.

I also wanted to ask my surgeon about the pain I feel when I’m doing the standing up work in spin class.

As soon as I got to the appointment, I was sent to get my x-rays.

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I had to get two different x-ray views. The first was pretty easy. I was laying on the x-ray table with my toes pointed in. It took a few tries to get a good x-ray, but it was easy enough to pose like that. The second pose was super awkward. The x-ray tech put a stool on the x-ray table and I had to put my legs and feet on it. Then I had to keep my feet together and my knees out. I’m glad that I had a female x-ray tech because the hospital gown did not cover much when I was in that pose!

After the x-rays were done, I took a shot showing how awesome I looked in the hospital gown.

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After my x-rays were all done, I got dressed again and went back to the regular waiting room to wait to see my doctor.

I was finally called in, and I have to admit the room was a little scary looking to me.

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It was nice to see my surgeon again. I had my hip surgery in 2006, and I haven’t seen my surgeon since my 1 year post op appointment. We spent the first few minutes catching up, and then it was time to look at my x-rays.

The x-rays looked good. My right hip is showing no signs of early onset arthritis (I’m at high risk for that). And on my left hip, you can see the bone spur that is causing me pain (I had one on my right hip too, but that was removed in surgery).

Then it was time for the physical exam part of the appointment. My surgeon moved my legs around to do full range of motion of my hips to find out where my pain was.

The outcome of my appointment: there is no reason I should be having pain in my right hip. Therefore there is nothing I can do for it. And my left hip is showing signs that surgery will be needed. But it’s not urgent now. The next step for me would be to get an MRI to see the damage, but I’m not going to do that now. My surgeon suggested waiting until the pain is much worse before I do the MRI.

Overall, the appointment was almost all positive news. The negative news was about spinning. My surgeon said that if something is causing me pain in spin class, I shouldn’t be doing it. It’s ok if the pain is after class, but when it’s pain in class that is not good.

I’m glad that I saw my surgeon last week. I’ve been really nervous about the pain I’ve been feeling, and now I know that I haven’t been doing damage to my body. I have a timeline in my head when I want to go ahead with the MRI, but if I’m in a lot of pain before then, I’ll go ahead and do it. Having a plan makes me feel a lot better about a situation that I really don’t have control over.

And having a plan is really all I can do about this now.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Year Another Orthopedic Surgeon (or Not Worrying About My Hips As Much) Default ThumbnailI Might Have Found My New Hip Surgeon (or Studying My X-Rays Like Crazy) Default ThumbnailFearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best) Default Thumbnail7 Years (or Time Really Does Fly By) Default ThumbnailUnexpected Injuries (or I’m Still Doing My 5K Tonight) Default ThumbnailFollowing My Doctor’s Instructions (or Days Off From Vyvanse)

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More Hip Issues (or Wish It Was Me)

Posted on April 3, 2013 | Comments Off on More Hip Issues (or Wish It Was Me)

If you follow me on twitter or Facebook, you have some idea of what’s been going on in my life the past few days. But here’s my recap for the rest of you.

On Monday, I called my mom for some silly reason. It was probably something about an upcoming doctors appointment or something. I honestly don’t remember. But a few minutes in to our conversation, my mom let me know that something had happened to my grandma.

From what we understand, she was walking on the hardwood floor in my grandparents’ place in socks and slipped and fell. She wasn’t able to get up, so my grandpa got help. Turns out, my grandma broke her hip.

All day Monday, my family wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen. We pretty much knew she needed surgery, but we weren’t sure what exactly was going to be done.

Finally on Monday evening, my grandma went in to surgery for a partial hip replacement. She did wonderfully in surgery.

I’ve been staying in touch with several family members the past few days. My aunt and mom both got to talk with my grandma yesterday, so they let me know that she is in good spirits (and is recovering nicely).

I’ve previously mentioned my hip issues, but my grandma’s is much more extensive than mine. But my aunt has had both her hips replaced in the past so she can really help my grandma understand what she needs to do in recovery. Yes, that’s 3 generations of hip issues in my family (although if you are being technical, my aunt isn’t blood related, but I don’t count that).

I’m hoping with encouragement from my aunt and all the rest of my family members, my grandma can get back to her usual self in the projected recovery time.

I’d appreciate all positive and healing thoughts for my grandma. I know she isn’t going through the easiest time. I’m going to go down to see her this week so I’m hoping that I can cheer her up just a little.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

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Four Eyes (or An Unexpected Expense)

Posted on March 28, 2013 | 4 comments

I’ve had horrible vision pretty much since birth. I used to wear glasses all the time, but when I was 9, my parents decided to let me get contacts (thank you Mom and Dad for that!). Now, I pretty much only wear glasses when I’m getting ready for bed or for rare occasions (like when I’ve gone in for surgery).

So I don’t get glasses too often. I think since I was 18, I’ve had 2 different pairs. The pair that I currently have I know I’ve had at least since 2006. I’m wearing them in this picture that was taken right after I had my hip surgery.

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Well, the other night, I was getting my glasses out of their case so I could read in bed, and this happened.

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At first, I figured it would be an easy fix. Most hinges on glasses have a screw and I figured it must have come loose. But what actually broke was where the hinge connected to the piece that broke off, and that was glued together.

So I did some emergency gluing but realized that maybe I should get a new pair of glasses that aren’t broken.

So I made a trip to Kaiser to pick up my glasses prescription. My plan was to go to Costco or Lens Crafters or someplace I could get some cheap frames.

While I was waiting, I decided to see what glasses Kaiser had and how much they were.

And oh my goodness! Most of the frames were in the $200 range! And that didn’t include the cost of the lenses which typically run me about $100 since I have a strong prescription (and a slight astigmatism).

I managed to find a few frames that were under $100.

These were $79.

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And these were $99 (and I think a bit more flattering even though it doesn’t really matter).

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So finally my name is called, and I bring both frames with me just out of curiosity (I was also going to get a discount on any purchase I made at Kaiser since I hadn’t purchased glasses there within the past two years).

Turns out, the first frames (the $79 ones) were actually part of a special sale. I could get both frames and lenses for $99! The lenses would be a bit thick since I wouldn’t get the special ones, but it really doesn’t matter when I’m reading in bed. The nerdy look isn’t too bad on me either.

So I ended up decided to get my glasses at Kaiser and going with the first pair. After my discount, my new glasses cost just under $70! Not too bad.

I get to pick them up in about a week, so in the meantime, I’m being really gentle with my broken glasses. I’m hoping that this new pair will last me close to a decade (as long as my vision doesn’t change). And hopefully within the next decade I’ll get laser surgery on my eyes (it’s been my dream to do that since high school). And if manage to find a way to pay for laser eye surgery, then my glasses and contacts will be a thing of the past!

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Posted in Health, Shopping, Tough Stuff

26.2 (or No Marathon For Me)

Posted on March 18, 2013 | 1 comment

It was the LA Marathon here in LA yesterday. I had a bunch of friends running, so I had the news coverage of the marathon on my tv this morning hoping I’d catch a glimpse of one of them running (sadly, I didn’t).

I’ve never done a marathon (the farthest I’ve ever done was a 5K and that’s walking), and at one point in my life, I dreamed of being able to say that I ran a marathon. I even had a personal trainer at one point who was training me to run. That stopped pretty quickly due to my hip hurting. So I gave up on that dream for a while.

Then they started doing marathons on The Biggest Loser. Some of those people were in much worse physical shape when they started and they could do a marathon. So I tried starting with the Couch to 5K program. And I had to give up on that again because of my hip.

I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of running. I know that high impact workouts are not the best for me.

And then one day, I came across this post on Daily Garnish. And it made me realize that it doesn’t matter if I never get to do a marathon one day. That shouldn’t be an end goal for me. For some people, all they dream of doing is a 5K. I have lots of friends who don’t think that they could do one. And I do it. Sometimes I’m a lot slower than I’d like to be, but I still cross the finish line.

And running isn’t for everyone. For me, it’s just not something that I should do because of my health restrictions. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be healthy or that I don’t get good workouts in. I push myself so far in spin class. I drip sweat and I know that even though I’m not do all the standing work, I’ll get there one day.

So maybe I can take the approach I wanted to take with doing a marathon to spinning. Doing a 5K is the same as being able to do an entire class without a break. Doing a 10K is like not taking a break and making sure I use all the resistance that the instructor is saying. And finishing a marathon is being able to do the entire class, standing up work and all, exactly how the instructor wants it to be.

I might not be able to do a traditional marathon, but I can make my own marathon with what I am able and love to do.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

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Spinning Machine (or Continuing My New Healthy Addiction)

Posted on March 11, 2013 | 1 comment

This past weekend, I got to take 2 classes at SoulCycle! This is the first time that I’ve taken more than one class in a week, but I’m really proud of myself for doing this!

The first class I took was on Friday morning. It was an 8:30am class, and one of the reasons I wanted to take that class was because I’m trying to figure out if I have time in the mornings to take a class when I go back to work (it would be cutting it close with the 8:30 class but possible).

On Friday, my friend Kate, who comes with me to spin class often, was able to come. And we were joined by my new friend Chelsea, who is participating in the same fitness challenge on Facebook that I’m doing. Chelsea had taken one spin class before, but never at SoulCycle, and all of our bikes were in the first row. I normally take the front so I don’t feel as claustrophobic. It might not have been the right choice as the instructor who was teaching that class likes the people in the front row to do everything as instructed (I’m still struggling with standing up on the bike). So the instructor encouraged me to try the second row for her classes in the future.

I’m not upset or insulted that she suggested that. I’m used to Sal’s class where he encouraged me to be in the front. I just need to test out more instructors and see what each of them like.

After the class, Kate took a picture of me and Chelsea so we could share it online with the other participants of the fitness challenge.

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And on Sunday, I went to a class on my own. I’m still a little nervous going to class solo, but I’m sure the more I do it the easier it will be. The instructor for this class was Laurie, who was in for the weekend from NYC (where SoulCycle started). I didn’t know this when I signed up for the class (I picked the one that worked in my schedule the best), but it was an amazing class. Laurie had a great energy and so did everyone else in the class.

Laurie’s class had more of a meditation element to it for me, and that’s what I needed. My muscles were still recovering from Friday’s class, and all of Laurie’s encouragement to let go and enjoy the ride really hit home for me. I survived and felt amazing afterwards! I’m only upset that she is not one of the usual instructors here at the Santa Monica studio, but when she returns to teach here again, I know I’ll be signing up for her classes!

I left on Sunday super sweaty but it was exactly what I needed!

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This week, I’m hoping to do at least 2 spin classes, but I might push myself and try for 3! And hopefully my bike shoes will be in this week so I can finally stop renting them!

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Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

Posted on March 5, 2013 | Comments Off on Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

I’ve previously mentioned my hip issues on here. Also, my hip defect is pretty popular now since Lady Gaga has had surgery to correct the same issue that I have. This is something I’ve been dealing with since 2005. My right hip surgery was July 7, 2006 and my surgeon was sure I’d need my left hip done within 5 years.

And until recently, I’ve been doing pretty great! I have the occasional pains, but nothing like what I was having with my right hip prior to surgery.

But last week, I started to feel more pain more often. My left hip was having a catching sensation about 60% of the time. That’s not good. I was in a little pain, but it was more of a dull pain, and I am used to feeling a sharp almost electrical shock sort of pain.

So I decided to make an appointment with my hip surgeon to get checked out. My appointment isn’t until next month, but I’m already starting to freak out a little.

Maybe it’s because I’m starting to realize that my next surgery might end up happening within the next year or two. I don’t want to have surgery soon, because it will affect my brother’s wedding. I know that when I have surgery I will be on crutches for 2 weeks prior (due to not being able to take pain meds) and for about 6 weeks after. I don’t want to be on crutches in Maui, nor do I want to be in the first few months of recovery (it’s not the most fun time of my life).

Freaking out like this about my hip is all new to me. The way my right hip started to hurt was pretty sudden. I was walking in the Portland airport and I collapsed. I was barely able to walk after it, and the pain was so intense that I was scared that I did some serious damage. When I got back to LA, I went to the ER (I had pretty awesome health insurance then), and ended up being misdiagnosed. 6 months later (and after having to be on constant pain medications), I found out what was wrong with me and made plans to have surgery.

This time, I’m aware that I have a problem and have to wait for it to get bad. I was warned that this time, I might not have a sudden tear in my cartilage. It could be a slow process. I’m scared that the pain and catching sensations I’ve been having are the start of it.

But I’m really trying to stay positive. I have about a month to go before my appointment so there’s no use worrying yet. And after my appointment and x-rays next month, my surgeon might tell me I still should wait to have surgery.

All this freaking out might be for nothing, but since I know my left hip is a ticking time bomb, I’d rather freak out more than I should than neglect a problem that might be starting.

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