Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Happy Place

Today was a really strange day.  I had to go to my "happy place" four times, and I'm still feeling all out of sorts about it how the day played out.

1.  During physical therapy the therapist took a metal device and scraped my foot all over the place.  Up until today I wasn't totally clear about all my injuries (and I'm actually still a little confused).  It turns out I've got a few fractures in most of my metatarsils and surrounding joints, as well as a few torn liaments, including a really strange "lateral" tear on the side of my foot.  I thought I had six fractures, but I've actually got fractures in six areas.  The therapist said there are actually too many to count.  So when he rubbed around with that metal torture device, it scraped all on sorts of sore areas.  I was too busy in my happy place to ask what in the world he was doing but I'll be sure to do that next time.  By the way, I had a bone scan yesterday and I've got the beginnings of osteopenia, which puts me at risk of osteoporosis, which is no big surprise considering the number of low-impact injuries I sustained.  What's really lame is that I'm young still, so it's not good news really, but it's not horrible news either.  I really think this all relates to my infertility.  So insufficient hormones are the gift that keep on giving.  Who knows really because I also have low vitamin D, and can't stand most dairy products.  Plus being a Caucasian women with a family history of osteoporosis.  I've learned more about osteoporosis in the past two days than I ever cared to know, that's for sure.

2.  Then my physical therapist tried to put one of my joints back into place by whipping my leg in a forceful way.  It sort of felt good but it actually really hurt.  Then right after, he strapped a block of ice with velcro all around my foot.  It hurt so bad, I seriously wondered if it was worse than natural childbirth.  (Just kidding Myndi and Tahsha!)  Luckily my foot went numb after five minutes.  The one good thing that happened was getting to dip my foot in hot paraffin wax.  It was heaven in the midst of an otherwise really sucky visit.  I asked him if he'd like to give me a pedicure while he was at it, since I REALLY need one but don't trust anyone else to do it with the tenderness of my foot and all.  But that was before the torture device and ice episodes, so now I don't trust him either.  Not to worry, he wasn't amused by my pedicure request anyway.

3.  Then I decided to go to the gym for the first time in almost 11 weeks.  I can only ride a bike, do a rowing machine, or lift upper body weights, so I settled on a few weights and a 30 minute bike ride.  I can not believe how out of shape I've gotten.  I was exhausted after about 10 minutes of the bike ride, but I managed to finish.  Wowsers that sucked.  And here's what's really lame.  I got on a scale for the first time since the injury and was surprised to see I haven't gained a single pound.  Clearly I've lost muscle and gained fat, but honestly, if I was working out that hard before... and now I'm not... and my body really hasn't changed that much... why in tarnation am I torturing myself at the gym?  I mean, yeah-I feel better when I work out.  But seriously I'm thinking it's just not worth the effort!  If I had cottage cheese and a muffin top before, and I have one now, conventional wisdom would tell me it's just not worth the trouble.  Except now with this osteopenia problem, weights are a requirement to keep my bones as strong as possible.  What do you think?  I was doing weights religiously before the injury and it didn't seem to help. 

4.  A couple days ago we finally got around to ordering some books my sister recommended to teach Buddy about the birds and the bees.  They arrived today and G and I about died of embarrassment reading through them.  The first one is supposedly for children ages 4 and older.  But oh.my.gosh.  I think I will be removing the page with the mom and dad in bed, with a detailed description of how babies are made.  Myndi-are you sure this is OK?????!!!!!!!  We are freaking out here because Buddy is super curious and has already learned a few things from friends so we need to be clear with him.  But oh mercy, he just seems so incredibly young.  And I just feel so incredibly foolish opening up such a big can of worms.  Not to mention the awkwardness!!!!  Could someone please talk me off a cliff here?!

2 comments:

Molly said...

Hi michelle. It's Molly here,Long-time reader, first-time commentor. I just have to comment on the metal torture device your therapist used. Lee has been dealing with an injured hamstring for a year now and his therapist also used that metal bar thing. I think it's called the "gaston technique". Lee described it as torture as well-and it didn't do a darn bit of good. Sorry for all the pain.

I know you feel terribly awkward about "the talk" with Buddy, but honestly you'll be surprised how easily they take the info. It's embarrassing to you but to them it's just "how babies are made". They haven't really been exposed to enough(hopefully) to have it be embarrassing. Especially when they're younger like yours. We waited way to long to talk with Cade and he was a little more embarrassed but still Ok.
Good luck!

JLJ said...

I want to know the titles of the books your sister recommended. I think reading through a book and discussing it afterwards is a great idea. Much better than not know what the heck to say! So, need titles.