Do not ask what I have done to myself now . . . just know that I am in PAIN !! Actually I think that, without even trying, I have created the "Perfect Storm" for leg injuries All I know is my leg hurts like hell! It hurts enough that I went to the walk in medical here in Gladstone, MI just to try to get some relief. When drugs AND drinking don't do the trick it's time to consider real medicine.
It all began about 6 weeks before we left Florida for our drive back to Michigan. Well, Actually it started 2 years ago when I had a total knee replacement for my right knee. I was told at the time that my left knee would also need replacing "some time down the road" and I would know when it was time. My chiropractor advised me to get the second knee done as soon as possible to avoid putting stress on my back from the difference in leg lengths due to the new knee but I just wasn't ready to go back into the hospital and put up with all the painful therapy associated with knee replacement.
Then my shoulder started bothering me so I put my focus on getting that taken care of before the second knee. Which would have been all well and good except for the several postponements due to Dwaynes medical needs and then the Covid virus shutdown.
Which brings us to today . . . When I first got up here to the U.P. I was fired up and ready to go with gardening and working around the house. The weather was cool so it felt great to be outside and moving. As the first month passed my interest in "work" also passed and I was more ready to sit under a tree and read. Now I don't know if all the sitting is to blame or if all the previous working in the yard and basement did me in but Sunday afternoon I fell apart !
I went to church on Sunday and felt wonderful. We had a lovely day puttering around here but by the time we went to bed I was feeling "off". By Monday morning at 5:00 AM I was feeling lousy but couldn't sleep. Just feeling like a wet noodle with little to no energy or interest in anything but food. (I know when I am really sick when I loose my appetite. As long as I'm looking for food to stuff in my face I know I'm not at deaths door.). I slept ALL day Monday and most of Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon I was feeling better and looking forward to getting some things done on Wednesday. Only problem was that the Perfect Storm had started brewing a few days earlier when I dropped a wrought iron chair on the pinky toe of my right foot. I hobbled around for a few days thinking I had probably cracked the bone but what the hell, you don't cast a pinky toe so I'll just ignore it.
I don't know if it was the limping around from the sore toe, all the laying around in bed for 2 days or the fact that 6 weeks before we came up here from Florida I tripped and fell on my right knee and it has been a little "off" ever since. I didn't go to a doctor after my fall because by then all the doctors offices were shut down so I figured it would just go away after a while.
Add up . . . broken toe + sore knee from fall + being super lazy and not stretching my back all equals a trip to walk in medical today because the pain that I had running down my right leg from knee to foot was just too much to put up with. At first I thought it was my sciatic nerve because the pain would go up my leg to my butt . . . but the worst of the pain is from the knee down.
After driving around with Dwayne this morning and getting in and out of the car several times we came home and I was in tears from the pain. Mr. Man laid down for his usual afternoon nap and I drove into town to see a doctor. Now I am the first to admit that I take after my dad and am a coward the it comes to my health. If something is off for more than a day or two I am going to a doctor to get it checked out. Had I been home in Florida I would have been calling my knee doctor but up here I am not going to trust anybody to do more than prescribe an aspirin.
With that thought in mind I still knew I better get some help because this pain was really getting to me. (I have a pretty high tolerance for pain but my theory is, "Why suffer if you don't have to".
I was the only person in the office and the doctor was the same one that I have seen on past visits. She calmed my fears that I most likely DID NOT have a blood clot and would probably live to see another day. She politely listened to my list of events leading up to todays visit and came to the conclusion that I would probably do well to take some anti-inflammatory medication for five days and then see how I was doing. If I am still suffering after the five days she will then send me for an
X-Ray of my knee. She gave me the option of getting an x-ray tomorrow but WE decided it was probably not going to be necessary after the round of prednisone.
All this is great with me because the thought that I had messed up my knee and might need surgery up here terrifies me. I think I would call my Florida doc and get on a plane rather than take my chances with small town USA doctors. I am spoiled by my wonderful Florida doctors !
But if you don't hear from me for a while check the obituaries . . . just in case !
No comments:
Post a Comment