Archive for Pain
Phew!
Posted by: | CommentsOoops, so I’ve neglected you guys a wee bit! It has been a pretty busy week for me so here’s a rundown.
Monday: morning physio at the gym, then the relaxation class which was really quite good, I will be going again tomorrow. Worked 4 hours.
Tuesday: I worked a 9-hour split shift at work, went for a swim at lunch time and then a bike ride after dinner (the same route as Sunday). Then I remembered that I was supposed to do a gym session on my own before I met my physio next, which I thought was Thursday but upon checking discovered it was Wednesday, so didn’t have time to fit that in unless I wanted to do two sessions on Wednesday!
Wednesday: Physio was very happy with me doing a swim and bike ride on Tuesday so not worried about skipping the gym and we made some changes to my program, mainly just adding in some extra sets where things were a bit easy. Told me to try a longer bike ride on the weekend. Worked a 9-hour split shift.
Thursday: I slept in and had a day off exercise. Worked 6 hours.
Friday: I had an appointment with the psychologist who was very pleased with how things are going. It’s amazing what a difference diminished pain levels coupled with a feeling of well deserved normalcy and harmony among peers can make to ones mood! Worked 6 hours. Went to a fund-raising silent auction for my cousin’s rowing team. Managed to buy myself a pair of awsome Roxy snowboarding boots…ummm, never been snowboarding in my life but they were a BARGAIN, winning bid of $80 and they are worth $350! One guess at what I am going to do this winter…and if I don’t like it I can sell the boots lol.
Saturday: I biked to Nanna and Grandy’s for scones and coffee then back home, a 22km round trip. It was good having the break in between. Came home and did some gardening/loading garden waste onto a trailer to take to the dump and felt pretty good afterwards.
Sunday (today): Sleep in, took half an hour to find clothes that fit, argh! Glad to be able to exercise again and ready to put in the hard yards! Sushi for lunch at the mall, grocery shopping then off to the gym with hubby for an hour and a bit. Managed to jog for my warm-up today (first time since surgery) with the treadmill set to intervals for 10 minutes. NO pain on impact, a nice and very welcome surprise! Did all my exercises then 5 minutes on the bike to finish off.
Yummy home-made Balinese curry for dinner at my inlaw’s and now a nice hot cuppa as I recline on the couch and blog 
I am really pleased with the way things are going at the moment. I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere. The hardest part of my physical activity is the flexion exercise on the hip machine at the gym which still causes a reasonable amount of discomfort but I’m sure it will just take a little time to sort this out.
I am nearly off all medications. Pain killers are stored in the cupboard (except for the emergency ones in my bag) and haven’t been touched at all during the week.
Life is good
1 Day Shy of 10 Weeks
Posted by: | CommentsI had a great physio session today, a whole hour! I am so lucky to have such a caring and hard-working team looking after me.
My strength and gait have both improved since my last assessment a couple of weeks ago and my ROM is improved after a bit of a warm up. I still feel something in the joint interfering with flexion at about 70 degrees, but if I just push a little further I feel it move out of the way and I can flex to 90 degrees, maybe a rough patch of cartilage or something?
My physio had a closer look at my back today as I have had difficulty with the pelvic tilts due to low back pain. I have had this for a while and it is most likely compensatory. Standing straight it appears that my pelvis is ever so slightly crooked (with my arms hanging at my sides the gap between my body and right arm was larger than the gap on the left). The pain was more pronounced while standing and bending (forwards and backwards) than while lying on my back doing bridge exercises (very similar movement) so it is apparently caused by compression which I have been told is easier to fix. My physio did some stretches and then I got a nice massage. My ROM was immediately improved, though by the time I cooled down and put my shoes back on I was feeling sore again bending over. I was reassured this would wear off.
I have had a good couple of days pain-wise. I am back on Diclofenac 75mg (Voltaren) twice a day and have not had to take any pain killers since Friday night. The nausea from increasing another medication has settled thank goodness so I’m feeling a lot better today. I even managed a pain-free 5 minutes on my bike this morning
Working 3 hours 5 days this week, starting tonight
Yay, It’s The Weekend!
Posted by: | CommentsThe Paradex seems to have worked last night. It definitely helped with the pain I had, though it wasn’t unbearable last night so it will be interesting to see how it works on 8+ pain God forbid that ever happens again. As far as I remember I only woke up once at 1:10am and usually I’m not even asleep by then.
I did wake up nauseous this morning but I am putting that down to increasing another medication.
For some reason I am still feeling extremely tired, almost like I didn’t sleep at all. Possibly still recovering from a bad week I guess, but have the weekend to rest so will make the most of it starting with a Nanna nap this afternoon lol
I txt Dad yesterday to see how he is as the last time I spoke to him (New Year’s Eve) he sounded like he was having a hard time and didn’t want us to visit. I’ve been worried about him, but now he’s worried about me lol He is going to visit next weekend which will be nice.
Cut The Bloody Thing Off!
Posted by: | CommentsOnce again blogging in the dead of night. Monday and Tuesday felt much better than Sunday, then today (now yesterday) I decided to prune a rather nasty annoying tree hanging over the fence in our driveway. It turned out to have a weedy vine thing growing through it and what I thought would be a half hour job ended up taking 3 hours.
Yep, have myself to blame again. I am really paying for it now. My hip is screaming and throbbing all the way to my knee.
Codeine doesn’t seem to be particularly helpful, I think the only thing it would be good at treating is diarrhoea lol. I had to take two 60mg doses on Sunday night within two hours…was worried it might be a bit much but I didn’t know what else to do. Tonight’s dose hasn’t worked at all and I am lying in bed with my wheatbag heated for the second time and am too sore to sleep.
In my insomniac state I did some googling and have found (mentioned in many places) that Codeine’s effectiveness can be reduced by the antidepressant I’m on, so that may have something to do with it and if it is, why wasn’t the interaction thought of when prescribing it?
Now, what to do…take more? Get up and have a bath? Find a chainsaw?