Back, Shoulder and Newness

Let's start with newness. New location. I see I've failed to include here that I've started and important chapter in life, college. I'm successfully moved in and have started class. New inserts. A couple weeks ago I was fitted for a new pair of orthotics at PT. The goal was to make new ones that I hopefully wouldn't hate as much as my last pair. They're in, now all I need to do is set up a time to pick them up and make sure they fit well. I'm optimistic about them, and hoping that they will help keep my right knee more inline and more pain free.

Unfortunately, carrying heavy text books around campus and climbing into a bed that is unnaturally high (don't worry mom, I'm getting it lowered soon...I promise) is taking a tole on my shoulders. I've been waking up more with shoulder pain, and the feeling that my shoulder isn't staying in place as well as it should. I'm hoping that hammering my exercises and trying to limit the stress to my shoulders will calm this down. Fingers crossed!

The back pain is back. It had gone away for a little bit, or at least gotten a lot better, but now it's full swing again. The more I walk around, the worse my back gets because of the movement I have in my SI joints. Unfortunately, I am walking much more than I was at home. I've been trying to counteract that with doing my back stretches, using my heating pad and trying to not overdue things.

I have to say, when I was thinking about the transition to college at this time, last year I never would have thought things would be going this smoothly. I don't have any hip problems. My knee issues are minor, and not causing any damage. And other than my back pain returning and the shifting shoulders, I don't have any new developments causing me issues. I think that is something to be happy about.

Keep calm, and carry on.

Knee News

I got some very good news at the Cleveland Clinic, my meniscus isn't torn. I have developed a bursa where my MPFL graft was anchored on the inside of my knee. My surgeon thought that a cortisone shot wouldn't be as beneficial in my case because my pain is too general. Basically, all I need to do is mange my pain. Ice my knee, and not over do things. It's really nice and comforting to know that my knee looks really well and that this pain isn't doing any damage, which is what everyone was worried about. I occasionally have discomfort under my knee cap, which isn't doing any damage now, but that is pain that I have to respect and not push through.

I'm excited to be able to move in the direction of actually working out again.

Not so Great Knee

I went to Cleveland at the beginning of this week to see my knee guy. I had been having some odd knee discomfort the past couple months that just didn't seem right to me. At my 4 mouth check up he decided that it was too early to decide if this was something to worry about, or if it could just be something that would go away. Typically, when you have surgery it's normal to have some weird sensations early on post operatively. He decide to wait until I was 6 months out to decide if it was something we should look into more.

Here I am 6 months out now, and my knee pain has gotten worse and has really limited me in PT. So, he wanted me to get an MRI to see if I tore my meniscus or have a bursa (inflammation bubble) where they anchored my MPFL (ligament on the inside of the knee) graft. The complicated thing is that because of the screw in my knee, in order to be able to see my meniscus and MPFL I need to have a high resolution MRI because my screw will create a blurred area, which would limit visibility to my meniscus and surrounding area. Luckily, I was able to get an appointment for tomorrow so I can get the special MRI and follow up with my surgeon and develop a plan for this before I move into school next week.

Keeping my finger crossed!

Overdue trip to Cincinatti

I went to Cincinatti to see my EDS doctor earlier this week. I hadn't seen him on a regular basis because I keept having surgery, so there was a lot to catch him up on. He had a lot of great advice treatment wise.

He's going to look into a gait analysis for me. The hospital where he is located recently opened a gait training lab which he has been interested in doing research with EDS patients to see if that would be beneficial. This would be different than a traditional gait analysis (study of a patient's walking and movement patterns, usually with recording the movement patterns). From what I understand, there would be a gait analysis which would be evaluated, then followed by a correction plan. The goal would be to limit compensation and create a "normal" gait. He told me that he has been interested in this, particularly with my gait (because of my pre-hip surgery gait; see videos). He is going to see if he can work with the gait lab and develop a research project using my gait.

We're going to look into possibly seeing a cardiologist for my high blood pressure. He wasn't happy with where my readings were now after being on the diuretic from my nephrologist. We're most likely going to set up a phone call between him and my nephrologist so that they can discuss the issue and develop a better plan.

He gave me a PenAgain (http://www.penagain.com/) which is a specially designed pen to limit the amount of stress to your hands while writing. I don't have a huge issue with this on a daily basis, but my hand do get fairly fatigued after prolonged writing. The little I've used it already, it seems to be comfortable and even take some pressure off of my shoulder while writing (I hold my pencil in a cave-man-like fashion, which is probably not the best thing for me).

We'll see if I can get used to the PenAgain, and give my hand a little break.