Tag Archives: pain

More Hip Problems (or Thinking Out Of Order)

Posted on April 9, 2014 | Comments Off on More Hip Problems (or Thinking Out Of Order)

After my 5K, my right hip was pretty wrecked. I could barely walk, and when I did my hip kept locking and I couldn’t put my right foot flat on the ground (I was walking on the outside edge of my foot).

This terrified me. I was taking all my usual painkillers, but by Sunday things had just gotten worse. I could only walk if I was balancing against a wall and not putting much weight on my right side.

All this time, I assumed that the next part of my journey with my hip issues would be to have the surgery on my left hip that has already been done on my right. And then the steps after that would eventually be hip replacements. That’s pretty much the order that things were explained to me. In fact, my surgeon didn’t think I would make it 5 years after my first surgery before I needed the surgery on my left side (this was almost 8 years ago).

So for forever, I’ve been cautious about how my left hip felt. I got nervous with any pain and if things just didn’t feel right.

I never thought that maybe the next step in my surgeries would be on my right side again.

I talked to my parents about it and we all thought that I should wait to see if the pain went away on its own. It’s now Tuesday as I type this and while the pain isn’t gone, it has gotten better. I’m not rushing to make an appointment with my surgeon just yet, but I’m thinking differently now.

I have another 5K coming up this month and I’ll see how I feel after it. Maybe it was just this one 5K with the long time standing still and the elevation changes that made me hurt so bad. Maybe it was because I wasn’t prepared for the hills (like I am with the weSPARK 5K).

It has just thrown me since for so long, I’ve tried to ignore any pain I feel on my right side. I’ve almost considered having some pain normal now. I know that things aren’t exactly how they should be in my body and to me, expecting pain doesn’t seem weird. But now I’m going to pay way more attention to all those twinges of pain.

They could be a sign that I might need my next surgery on my right hip sooner than I hoped (I really didn’t want to have to have a hip replacement before I turn 40 and that’s kind of what my surgeon said to me as well). There’s not much I can do to prevent all of this. I just have to accept it as it is (which I have done) and know what’s best for my body.

Now I’m glad I didn’t make a goal of a certain number of 5Ks for this year so I can focus on low or no impact workouts (like spinning).

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More Goodness (or I Got Chipped!)

Posted on October 10, 2013 | 1 comment

Yesterday started off of a down note. It was getting ready to rain here in LA, and my hips were killing me! No painkiller seemed to be working. So I spent the morning in bed doing stretches (and catching up on my reading).

I finally started to feel better around noon and as I was walking into my living room, my doorbell rang. I opened the door to find the FedEx guy with a box for me.

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I seriously love that it was addressed to “Finding My Inner Bombshell”! I opened up the box to find this inside.

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A gift from Food Should Taste Good! They are promoting their Food Should Do Good program. This month they will be donating $100,000 to Play for P.I.N.K. to support breast cancer research.

Obviously, breast cancer research now means a lot more to me now than it used to. But I’ve also seen reports about companies exploiting the idea of pink things. You have to be careful about buying pink items to support breast cancer. But I’m proud to say that I did some research on Play for P.I.N.K. and they seem awesome! They use various sport events to raise money for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This seems pretty fitting to support my mom since she is still kicking butt on the tennis field even while going through chemo!

I haven’t opened the bags of chips yet. I have a friend coming over tonight for a happy hour hangout and I’m trying a new dip recipe to have with them.

It’s nice to have something bring a smile on my face when I was in such a foul mood when I woke up. I tried to continue the good mood by getting a lot of work stuff done. I also made it out to run some errands that I had been putting off (I’m so grateful for underground parking so I didn’t have to go out in the rain).

It’s not raining anymore here but I’m still in more pain that usual. Hopefully it will go away quickly because I’ve got a bunch of 5Ks coming up soon that I want to get some training done for!

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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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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

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Being a Graceful Klutz (or Why I’m Black and Blue)

Posted on February 15, 2013 | Comments Off on Being a Graceful Klutz (or Why I’m Black and Blue)

For my entire life, I’ve been a klutz and I’ve bruised easily. Not necessarily the best combination.

If someone hugs me too hard, I might have bruises on my back. If I sleep with my hand under my face, I will normally wake up with a bruise on my check.

Because of how easily I bruise (and because clothing can’t cover everything), I’ve gotten used to using tattoo coverup makeup to cover any bruises that will draw attention. I used to use makeup from Urban Decay, but I’m out of that so I’m thinking of trying this concealer from Sephora next.

The accidental bruises are a little funny. Sometimes I’ll see a bruise and be so confused on how I got them.

But lately, I’ve gotten some bruises that I can pinpoint to the exact minute I got them.

When I was at Disneyland, one of the rides we went on was the Matterhorn. The bobsleds had been redone since my last visit, plus my mom really wanted to go on it. So we tried it out. The new seats are not comfortable and have no padding at all! My butt hurt so much, but to keep myself steady during the ride, I gripped the seat in front of me with my knees. So now the insides of my knees have funny bruises on them.

And then yesterday when I was leaving work, I had a pretty bad spill. The steps outside of the trailer I work in were slick because of all the fog. I didn’t notice that and even holding on to the handrail couldn’t save me. I fell down 4 stairs.

I give myself 10 points for the fall. It was pretty awesome. My boss saw it happen and came running over to me. I said I was in a bit of pain but ok, but once I got home and evaluated my injuries a bit more, I noticed how badly I fell.

My right arm is scraped up from the metal steps. It looks like an animal scratched me. I also hit my head at some point so I have a bruise on the back of my head near my ear. And worst of all is my right hip. Of course most of the impact would be there (this is the hip that was operated on). I have a big bruise on both my leg and back around my hip. Fortunately, all of those injuries will be covered up by clothes (maybe not my arm when I go to spin class, but that’s ok).

I try to be a graceful person, but my klutziness just comes out at times. Maybe my gracefulness doesn’t come from not being a klutz, but how I handle myself after a klutzy incident.

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Feeling The Pain With The Weather (or The Full Story About My Hip Problems)

Posted on December 4, 2012 | 8 comments

It’s been pretty rainy the past few days in LA. I know that we are lucky because a majority of the time it is gorgeous and sunny, but I hate the rainy days.

I used to hate it because my hair would frizz, my makeup would run, and my clothes would get wet (I hate wet shoes the most). But now I hate this weather because of the pain I am in.

I’ve always heard of people joke how they can feel it in their bones when it’s going to rain. Especially in bones that have been broken. Until 2006, the only bones that I had broken were in my toes (small hairline breaks that weren’t too bad), and I never felt it in my toes when it was going to rain.

But in 2006 (July 7th to be exact), I had my hip surgery on my right hip. I haven’t really explained what was done to my hip before, so here is my attempt. In 2005 I started having severe hip pain. It hurt to walk, and I felt like I couldn’t move my right leg all the way. For 6 months I was misdiagnosed (they thought it was a muscle tear) until finally my physical therapist recommended I go to an orthopedic surgeon. I did, and after an MRI to confirm it, I was diagnosed with a hip labral tear. There weren’t too many options for me to correct it without surgery, so I went for it.

In my surgery, they discovered that I had a bone spur on the top of my femur and that is what caused the tear. They removed the bone spur, removed the torn cartilage, and after about 3 months, I was pretty much fully recovered from surgery. I have the same problem on my left side, but since it doesn’t hurt too much, I haven’t scheduled surgery for it yet.

But because of the removal of the bone spur, the top of my femur feels the change in weather like a broken bone. I hate taking too much pain medicine because I had to do that for so long. Most of the time, I just try to not sit still too long (that causes pain too), and hope for the best.

Well, there you have my hip story. And just for fun, here’s a picture of me after surgery with the giant bandage that covered the 3 tiny scars that I had (my surgery was done arthoscopically).

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I’ve Got Writer’s Block (or I Might Have Taken Too Many Pain Meds)

Posted on September 5, 2012 | Comments Off on I’ve Got Writer’s Block (or I Might Have Taken Too Many Pain Meds)

I survived part one of the crown procedure. It took two shots to get me numb, but I didn’t pass out with either shot. I might have broken a finger or two on the dental assistant’s hand, but I didn’t faint.

My boss was nice enough to give me the entire day off to recover. I was planning on being super productive and get some work done around my house.

Nothing happened all day.

On the way home, I stopped by the grocery to get food that is appropriate for a temporary crown (soft and not sticky). I will be surviving on a lot of yogurt, applesauce, and eggs for the next two weeks.

I got home, and I slept off the numbness and then slept off the pain.

Why am I telling you all of this mundane stuff?

Because I honestly have no idea what else to write.

I took a bunch of panic medication yesterday and today to help me get through the shot portion of the procedure. And when I got home, I started taking pain medication. The injection sites in my mouth are extremely sore, same with my jaw.

The day was almost a wasted day. All I got done was play a few rounds of Words with Friend (I’m kicking your butt, Dad), sent a few emails, and did laundry.

I’m sorry for the boring post today. I made a deal with myself that once I started this blog, I will write every Monday-Friday without fail. And so far, I’ve been able to do that. And if it takes a few boring posts every so often to help me accomplish this, so be it.

I promise to be more interesting soon. I have to be.

Plus, tonight, I’m going to Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s! I promise to let you all know all about it!

Oh, and just to add a fun picture to a boring post, here’s a self-portrait I took after the drilling portion of the procedure was done.

 

I wanted to smile, but they were doing an impression for the permanent crown when I took the picture and my teeth and lips had to stay closed.

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Learning From My Dental Situation (or How Getting A Crown is Educating Me on My Weight Loss)

Posted on September 4, 2012 | 1 comment

I’m writing Tuesday’s post on Monday night because tomorrow morning is part one of my crown procedure at the dentist. I’m horribly nervous and can’t wait for this whole thing to be done.

The only positive that I can see out of having this done is getting an extra day off of work (but that also means less money in my next paycheck). Also, if this wasn’t being done now, it could end up being a root canal (which I’ve never had and never want).

Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and do something because in the long run, it will be a good thing, even if in the short term you are extremely unhappy or stressed.

This crown is costing a ton of money (and my insurance isn’t very good so at most, half of it is covered), but a cracked tooth or a root canal would be way more money.

Yes I’m missing out on another day of work, but my supervisor knows and if any of my customers call in, he’ll take the order for me and I’ll get my commission.

Yes, I hate that I have a ton of weight to lose now and a bunch of debt to pay off, but if I don’t do it now, how much worse will it get?

I’ve talked about the “what ifs” before, and I don’t want this time in my life to be a  “what if” in a year or two. If I don’t take action now, I’m going to regret it later in life. This I know for sure.

I’m going into tomorrow expecting a bad day. It will go one of two ways. Either my mouth will be so sore and so numb that I won’t eat anything all day and that will be that. Or I’ll be in a ton of pain until right before dinner and then I’ll be starving. I’m hoping it will be the first, but I’m trying to prepare my house with foods that are safe both for my crown and my waistline.

Soups, whole fruit popsicles, yogurt, and jello all seem like they are safe in both ways. I’ll have to be careful eating with the temporary crown, but maybe that will help kickstart this attempt at weight loss.

I’m hoping to not get too out of control tomorrow. But I’m also allowing myself to do so and not go into a downward spiral. If tomorrow is a bad day, why does the next day, or week, or month have to be bad too.

This is the lesson I’m hoping to learn from this really sucky dental situation.

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Posted in Food, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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