Back-tastic

THE APPOINTMENT
Time for an injury update. So last Monday I finally had an appointment with a Spine Specialist. I had to pick up my original x-ray that they took in the ER at Olympia Medical Center and then I headed over to Cedar Sinai to meet with Dr. Brian Perri. My Ortho guy recommened Dr. Perri to me so I felt confident in this new guys abilities.

Unfortunately, even though I arrived 45 min early I still wasn't seen by the good Dr until over an hour AFTER my original appt time. Which I found to be a bit ridiculous. But, I'm still feeling optimistic. Since I had so much free time I did a little sketch so that I could explain my accident. It's just really hard to explain without a visual. The doctor found my sketch to be comical and actually ended up asking if he could keep it. Read about my accident here.


THE ASSESSMENT

Upon his intial assessment Dr. Perri is concerned that I have either Herniated a Disc, or that I have Fractured a Lumbar Vertebrae. Neither sound good to me. My back pain is still pretty constant and I still cannot rotate to the right past roughly 30 degrees. I need to schedule two MRI's, but Stewart and I have offically started trying to get pregnant so I have to wait another few days to make sure that I am not before getting them done.

After taking my dance class last week the pain was back up to a 6 out of 10. So I have stopped going and have started icing my back regularly. I am trying to make sure that I ice at least twice a day. Stewart and I may need to invest in another large ice pack since he and I are both icing at night now. I stopped taking the Ibuprophen as well, because as my ortho pointed out. That's probably not very baby friendly. I need to find a OBGYN stat.

PHYSICAL THERAPY
Today I started physical therapy for my right shoulder which has been giving me a lot of grief since the accident. It sounds like I have inflamed the Rotator Cuff and that my Teres Minor is extremely tight and angry.

Treatment so far includes massaging of the Teres Minor to try to loosen it up. Exercises with a latex band. And some exercises which involved me laying on the side of a table and raising my arm up at certain angles. Sadly even the weight of my arm is a bit much for my muscles at this time. So sad when I look back at where I was only 2.5 months ago. I was climbing around like a monkey and not thinking twice about it. The massage really seemed to help and I was definitely in a lot less pain right afterwards. The other exercises are tough and I brought home a band to continue working on them from home.

Once we have gotten my shoulder into a good place I will start working on my left knee. My leg muscles have deteriorated to the point where they are not strong enough to hold the cartilage in the proper place. Which is causing my cartilage over my kneed cap to rub. It makes a delightful grinding sound which if you place your fingers directly over you can actually feel. Yuck!

I'm not sure what the next steps will be for my back after I get the MRI's done. But it will be nice to finally, hopefully, have an official game plan. These last few months I have felt like we were all just groping around in the dark trying to figure these issues out. I can't wait to get past all this.