Back to Work

Well, tomorrow is back to work after being off for two weeks (the first week due to knee injury and the second week was scheduled PTO). I'm a little nervous but really feel that all will be well. I'm getting around pretty good on my knee. It gets stiff when not moving it but quickly loosens up. I would say that the knee is functioning at about 75% at this point. I do have some limitations on my range of motion (ROM), i.e. can't straighten it yet. I still am limping which causes some discomfort in other muscles and joints (especially since my ankles are some of my more troublesome joints). I will bring my crutch with me in case I need it. I'm a little nervous about sitting on the stool in the exam rooms...I'm worried that I will have trouble getting up without falling or hurting myself. I will stand when in rooms as much as possible to avoid this. The only thing I am very unsure about is first assisting for c-sections. There are none tomorrow (scheduled anyway) but on New Year's Eve there are 2! Will see how things are feeling and decide whether I can do it or not.

My knee still has puffy spots...but they are mild. I seem to have plateau'd (sp). The first week I was improving daily after the initial 2-3 days. This past week's progress has included more mobility and the ability to walk without a crutch. However, it's really been very slow progression. I have my f/u appointment on Tuesday to go over the results of the MRI and determine the POC. I suspect surgery is in my near future. I was supposed to have had the f/u last week but they rescheduled it to this week so the doctor could be present. That seems to be a huge hint that I will need surgery.

Here's hoping that all goes well tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting back to work and to seeing my patients. I miss it all :)

Random Thoughts

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Now I feel like breaking out in song!

It's been quite busy these past few days, with preparation for Christmas, Nutcracker with my mother and the girls, making poor attempts at resting my knee. I've enjoyed the time for the most part...

Highlights (aside from the obvious of spending lots of time with my close family and friends)

-homemade fudge from my BFF
- seeing the Nutcracker
- italian christmas cookies made and decorated bymy mom, me, the kids, and my BFF

The bathtub

I am so excited because I made it into the bathtub! Getting out might be a whole other blog post. And yes, I am blogging from my tub...the modern miracle of my fabulous cellphone :) I'm hoping my BFF might catch on and try buying something up to date and user useful, let alone friendly. Her phone is a piece of shite. Having a text conversation with her is like talking to a man with ADD...the conversation is all over the place and disjointed and confusing. You see, on my phone, text is laid out in chat form. Nice and organized, not to mention that I have a kkeyboard and she has some weird number/symbol/letter thing going on. Oh and no touch screen either. I'm so used to touch screen that if I use my moms crackberry, I start hitting the screen and get p*ssed off that it doesn't do anything!

Oh dear...am I rambling?

So, I got my christmas cards done. I'm off to do some christmas shopping and dinner with my BFF. I get to ride in a wheelchair - what fun!

Rumors

I started a rumor that my knee was injured when Tonya Harding attacked me. I thought that was clever but likely that only people my age and older would get it. :p

I am struggling with my insurance company - I am surrounded by incompetence as well so that doesn't help. My rheum wanted to increase the dose interval on my meds which would likely require preauth as they are a bit expensive. I get a notice from my insurance that I am now required to use a specialty pharmacy instead of the ease of my local pharmacy. Ok. So I mail the Rx off to the pharmacy, like , 6-8 weeks ago. In the meantime I have some samples from my rheum to keep me going. I haven't filled any prescriptions at my local pharmacy since prior to the new RX. I get told that they can't fill it until the middle of this month....but it will be for the four syringes. Ok, I have enough samples to get by. I call back when I am supposed to and say ship my sh*t (well, maybe not in those words). They inform me that it has to be preauth'd. Uh wait...what have we been doing for past 6 weeks that you guys have had this Rx????

Ok, so I put on my patience mask and they get the ball rolling. Three days later my rheum's office calls me to let me know it's been approved. Woohoo! I go off to have my MRI done and come home to get a message from my insurance saying that my request for additional doses has been approved. Woohoo! I call the pharm to get it shipped. They promptly inform me that it can't be shipped until a week into january. Are you punking me???? Oh and it hasn't been authorized for the additional doses. But wait....did I dream the two calls saying it had? Maybe it was drug-induced wishful thinking. So the pharm chick calls my insurance to be told that the case is still pending. WTF? So I am waiting patiently...*snicker*....a couple days then will try again. It aggravates me because the increased dosing is working. Hardly any temps recently and very quick and low at that (like 99 as a high), they go away within a few minutes. My joints aren't giving me a lot of grief anymore. So aside from some fibro issues and the knee thing, I had been feeling better. Then this happens.

Guess what my temp is right now? 99.8 F*ck.

On the lighter side of things....my husband has been a doll. The girls too. They have been very helpful, waiting on me like the Queen that I am. My bestie and my mother have also been attentive to my needs, as it should be - LOL! I have a plan in place for grocery shopping and finishing my Christmas shopping, all with injured knee.

The knee, btw, is getting better....swelling is down considerably, less painful, and I can bear some weight now. My worst fear is falling. I'm scared it will go out again. I won't know MRI results and plan of care (POC) until Christmas Eve. That sucks. My husband says it ain't right that a football player can get injured and have the MRI and follow-up immediately. I mentioned a slight difference...I'm not an athlete making millions.

Poledancing

I am writing this blog post from my bed. Are you titillated by the title? Well here's the scoop. I was out dancing with my BFF and my husband. I had had quite a bit to drink but wasn't dizzy or anything like that. I'm on the dance floorwith my BFF when I lean back a bit, then have the thought that 'something just happened and I'm gonna fall'. Two seconds later I hit the floor. So, I'm all emabarrased and not really sure what happened. My BFF helps meup, and I go down again when I try to put weight on my leg. Now, sh*t be hurtin' in my knee and I know something is wrong. I manage to get up with the assistance of my BFF and husband. I'm horribly embarrased and just want to get out of there. I barely make it to the car and we head back to my BFF's place. They both start insisting I go to the ER. I respectfully and politely decline repeatedly. Really, my knee doesn't hurt that much. BTW, alcohol makes a wonderful anethestic. I get up to show them I'm ok. When I turn towards my husband, something happens in my knee again and I scream. This happens once more and they get adamant about going to the ER. You see, my drunken but sound logic was that they wouldn't do anything but x-rays and say follow up with your doc on Monday...elevate, ice, etc. I could save $125 on the co-pay by waiting until urgent care was open. But they wasn't havin' it. In fact, I think my husband was getting ticked off.

So off we go....me still very drunk and embarrassed. We get there and fortunately it isn't busy. The staff are very kind and pleasant. What can I say? I'm a funny drunk. In fact, my cell phone got into the hands of my bestieso there's some very funny video footage. So, x-rays get done, the PA sees me and says likely menisucs tear which means go home and rest it, ice, pain meds, blah blah. Gee, big surprise. So home I go....they get me all comfy as possible with ice etc. I manage to sleep for a bit then wake frequently due to pain. My alcoholic anesthestic was wearing off. So while finally deciding to take a pain pill (kinda wanted to wait until I was a bit more sober...cuz that whole stop breathing thing doesn't work for me) and researching from my cell phone on meniscus tears, I learn that this was probably already present and I just didn't recognize it for what it was. I had been having these episodes of popping in the same knee for 3-4 months now. Not painful, just weird feeling with occasional twinges of pain. I thought it was just an arthritis thing but now I know that I likely had a tear and just totally blew it out finally.

So where does the poledancing come in? I was NOT poledancing. However my BFF thinks it will be fun to see who can generate the best rumor on Facebook on how I blew out my knee. That's her first crack at it!