Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Practicing medicine without a license

Okay, I don't really practice medicine without a license, but it is nice to get a confirmation of a dx that I made on myself from someone who actually has the license. :-) What I suspected about my hip was trochanteric bursitis, and that is what it turned out to be. I told him what I was doing for it, and he said that I was doing all the right things. So, hopefully, continuing to do the right things will aid the relief of the pain. The doc took x-rays just to be sure of the dx and, for some reason, he had a comparision x-ray from 2001 (I cannot for the life of me remember why he had my hip x-ray'd then...) so he could measure the cartilage. There was no decrease in the cartilage and there were "no significant signs of arthritis", though it did appear that I was getting a bone spur. He actually let me see the x-rays, which was kewl. I think the fact that I was down 7 pounds from my visit in March is what pre-empted any "lose weight *finger shake*" lecture I might otherwise have gotten. Yes, I know that losing weight will dramatically help this problem, and that is one of the reasons I'm being so diligent about it. The past coupld of weeks have been kind of bad weeks, but I'm trying to be OP more than I'm not and that has to count for something. I've been to the gym more lately, but I'm trying to work up to my planned 4-5 days/week. I walked on the treadmill yesterday (and the workout kicked my butt) and did my PT exercises. I can always tell that I'm doing them correctly when they actually hurt a little. I'm trying to be careful to keep it in the realm of "this hurts because it needs to stretch" and not let it go into the realm of "this hurts because I'm damaging myself". It's a fine line some days, especially since I have a pretty high pain threshold due to living with Fibro for almost 10 years. I've made the promise to myself, and I'm putting it here in writing (as I've done [or will do if I haven't] in my paper journal) so I'm accountable... if, after about 6 weeks of diligent PT exercises and losing more weight I'm still having pain in that hip, I'll go back and let the Dr. do a corticosteroid injection. I was willing to have him do it on Friday, but he's not much on invasive therapy if he can treat a problem with more conservative therapies (like the PT & OTC anti-inflammatories). I've replaced my shoes, so that should help, but the PT exercises are really going to make the difference, I believe.

As for the spot on my arm, it was actually nothing to worry about. *whew* It's a capillary hemangioma, and the doc says they can pop up anywhere at anytime. His daughter apparently had one on her face. The magic phrase "these never turn into skin cancer" came out, and I almost started crying right there in the exam room. Even though it turned out to be "nothing", I'm still being careful to wear sunscreen and my hat when I'm outside. I'm prolly gonna turn into the sunscreen police, but I'll feel justified if I'm always careful about it myself. :-)

I was up 1.6 pounds last WI. Somehow I don't think I've gotten all of that off, but I'll be happy with some kind of loss, even if it's less than a full pound. This is a lifetime commitment and diligence with the food I put in my mouth will not end when I get to goal. I didn't gain it overnight and I won't lose it that way, but the loss halting completely will kinda take the wind out of my sails. Oh, well, it's not good to think negatively about these things, so I'll just see what the scale has in store for me tomorrow AM. They had to move the big block @ the doctor's, so that was a good scale experience for me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, your sister here...I emailed you but I'm not sure if I sent it to the right address. I'm proud o you. It seems like you are doing well with everything...hope to talk to you soon!