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Showing posts from December, 2007

Flying vs. driving

The past few days I've been doing some research on how this whole out-of-state surgery is going to work. I'm concerned about how my family members are going to get to the hospital from the hotel and how the heck we're going to travel home when I'm all gimped up. I think these are the first issues I need to tackle so my family can start making plans as to who's coming to the hospital, how and when. The idea of flying after surgery is not appealing. I mean, even though air travel is normally such a joy ... with the crowds, long waits, security lines and tiny airplane seats ... all those things tend to scare me when I know I'll be in a lot of pain and have the walking ability of a 13-month-old. Looks like flying will take between six and seven hours (if the flight's on time) while driving would take about 11 hours, but also be less stressful and less expensive. There are a lot of other pros for driving as well: not needing a rental car in Tacoma, no hassl

Full plate of states

I live in Colorado and work in Wyoming. I'm having my surgery in Washington state and will recover in Montana. A bit of a jumble to manage, but with extra planning, it will all work out. In the four months before surgery, I need to find "backup doctors" in both Montana and Colorado to manage my follow-up care, as well as a physical therapist in both states. (PT starts at eight weeks, and my goal is to be back in Colorado by then, but I need someone in Montana, just in case.) The ladies in Dr. Mayo's office in Tacoma (I love Keri and Sandy already) are going to look into finding referrals for me. I obviously need someone with at least some basic knowledge of what a PAO is; those of you who are looking into the surgery know that this is not an easy task! Why Washington? Believe it or not, a "periacetabular osteotomy" is actually harder to perform than to pronounce! It's an uncommon, technically demanding surgery, so I sought out the most experienced surgeo

Pain changes everything

Today is the first day since I got the go-ahead for surgery that I'm super excited to do this. I've been dragging my feet and mentally not committing myself to it, but a full day of pain and limping have turned me around. It's funny that a bad day physically can make me feel so excited emotionally. April can't come soon enough. Yesterday, I went to BodyJam , my cardio dance class. It was the first time I'd made it in three weeks due to a pulled muscle in my back and then a sprained ankle. Everything felt fine at the time, but afterward, like usual, I limped home. So I iced it for an hour, like usual, and took some ibuprofen, like usual. When I woke up today, I was still sore, which is unusual because getting off my feet for eight hours normally helps. Getting all my chores done around the house and grocery shopping has not been fun today. I'm grumpy because I'm not going to be able to get it all done, but I've kinda sorta learned that I have to g