Phew! It’s been a long time since I posted something here. Well okay, not that long I guess, it just feels like a really long time. This must be what it feels like when you miss an appointment (or three) with your therapist, right?
So a LOT has been happening. We had to take Mom back to the ER again and spent several hours there on a Saturday evening a few weeks back. They couldn’t help her with the pain she was having in her arm but while we were there SIL asked the hospital social worker for help in moving Mom to another care facility. She’s now in a very nice skilled nursing home much like the one we’d wanted to move her to earlier. Her room was originally a 3-patient room but now has only two beds which really opens up the space. In addition she has a sliding patio door which lets in a lot of light. A couple of weeks ago we had two of the grandkids for the weekend along with their aunt, our favorite daughter K. They all went with us to visit Mom that Sunday and they went nuts decorating her area. They cut out construction paper hearts, flowers, grass and even hung up a wreath they’d found on sale at the JoAnn’s by our house. Mom wasn’t doing well that day, she still had a lot of pain in a new and different area. But you could see her pleasure – more at the company I think than the new interior design. And later I’m sure she looked on their handiwork and knew she was loved. She’s doing much better now; we can even take her out on field trips!
About 3 weeks ago our youngest daughter K came to stay with us for a while. She and the almost son-in-law are done. As nice a man as he is with us, and as much as I truly believe he loves her, he is also verbally abusive. When K texted us she was scared, we hit the road to pick her up ASAP. The next day we returned again with a U-Box in tow for most of her stuff. She’s been with us ever since and understandably sails between grief, anger and bitterness. There’s laughter and happiness too – she’s not letting this stop her from moving on. In fact, they’re still somewhat congenial – hell, they work in the same place it’s kind of necessary. Plus she’s very close to his young daughter and nieces and they both want those relationships to continue. I’m not telling parents out there anything new, but it’s difficult to watch your child suffer, even when they’re all grown up. We just want them to be happy, don’t we? She’ll get there; she’s mostly positive and right now she just needs a safe place to be while she clears up her credit and gets on her feet. I’m glad we can do that for her, though it helps she’s our favorite. We commute to Seattle together now and that’s fun too. This weekend I think we need pedicures.
Around the same time that all of the above was happening I began experiencing pain in my calf. It started out more of an annoyance but over a few days it quickly became severe enough I grew worried. I’d never felt this kind of pain before – and my lower leg was sometimes hugely swollen – never a good sign. At times it felt as though the muscle in my calf would rip apart when I walked it was so tight. Finally, last week I mentioned it to my chiropractor and he took a look before recommending I have my regular doctor check it out. Since I see a naturopath near where I live that meant I’d have to take at least a half day off work. Not possible with half a dozen secretaries out of the office and only 3 of us to cover all their folks and our own. But my chiropractor’s office is less than 3 blocks from my office and it’s full service – they have a naturopath on staff. I was able to get an appointment with her for yesterday.
Dr. E was very thorough and I think she’s going to be my new regular provider. After the usual questions and answers, and review of medical history she took my vitals and examined my leg. Then she said she wanted to send me for an ultrasound to confirm there wasn’t a blood clot or clots and she went to make an appointment for me. I didn’t think it was a big deal at first, but something about her tone when she popped back into the room to ask how soon I could get to the place made me re-think it. Apparently my symptoms were similar to deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which IS a big deal. If the ultrasound showed a clot I would need to go on blood thinners immediately, albeit temporarily. That scared me.
After checking in at work and requesting an Uber car, I tracked down the Swedish facility where I had both legs scanned by the ultrasound tech. Following the scans she left to call Dr. E while I cleaned off the remnants of the gel they use – yeesh! Boy did that bring back memories of my pregnancies! When she returned she explained there were no clots and my doctor would be calling me to follow up. Phew!
So I’m standing at the bus stop across the street waiting for the bus to my office when Dr. E calls my cell phone. How’s that for service? It was hard to hear her but the gist was that she confirmed there were no clots but it did appear I’d had a Baker’s cyst which had ruptured.
Say what? WTF is a Baker’s cyst? Not nearly as fun as a baker’s dozen, let me tell you. I won’t give you all the gory details; suffice it to say a Baker’s cyst can sometimes form behind your knee (especially if the knee has had trauma of some kind – hello knee replacement anyone?). Usually they’re small; you may not even be aware you have one. That type can resolve on its own. Other times they’re larger and can be uncomfortable just by existing. Then you have mine – the cyst bursts and all the synovial fluid drains into your leg causing severe pain and interfering with mobility, sleep, etc. Dr. E tried to explain what she wanted me to do but as I said, traffic noise made it difficult to hear her so she emailed me a treatment protocol. When I emailed her questions later in the day she responded very promptly too! How’s that for service?
Thank goodness it’s only a really painful cyst! I don’t have to take blood thinners! The only downside is that if our more conservative approach to treatment doesn’t help Dr. E may want to have the cyst aspirated. That is so NOT happening!
Now that I’ve grossed you all out my job here is done! Back to the trenches – happy hump day everyone!
Janey Does Blogging 