Gift of RA

I saw my surgeon yesterday – end of week 8 – and he said I am healing well.  I don’t have to wear the sling any more.  I still have to be careful and of course I can’t drive yet.  DRAT!  Since I have to be able to drive myself for outpatient focused physical therapy, he gave me some simple exercises that will help me.  I am supposed to see him in 3 or 4 weeks – another period of being housebound.  The good news is I am less hindered now without having to wear the sling and I am healing.  I want to speed it up, it is a slow process and this is where my patience has to really kick in.

This morning was the first time I had a shower by myself in 8 weeks.  Unfortunately my arm doesn’t quite stretch to my tush, so I had to ask  Eddie to help me.  I will be able to stretch in a bit as I use the exercises to get myself back to normal – whatever normal is for me.  Who knows, I will be able to break out of this bubble I have been living in for weeks – I know the world is out there and it has continued on while I have been healing.  I know it has stopped to wait for me, I wonder how it will feel to be independent again and be out on my own.

It’s interesting that the one thing Eddie really noticed was my bruises from the accident.  My right arm was nearly black all over as well as the right side of my back.  He saw the full technicolor range as they began to heal.  I couldn’t see the total picture, I saw the inside of my arm – that was plenty for me.  Now I am back to my regular color again.

I need a haircut in the worst way – I am 8 weeks overdue, it looks shaggy and doesn’t work well.  I have a cowlick that sticks up no matter what I do.  I look a bit like Alfalfa in the Our Gang comedy.  I had  found a great way to comb it over to the left, now it is too long for it to work well.  It covers the cowlick well, when I have it combed to the right, it sticks up.  I’m hoping maybe I can get to Michelle soon.  I know she will be horrified by the trimming I did to keep it from being too shaggy.  I have cut places to make sure I don’t have some bits sticking out – not the best job but it seems to have helped.  Well, that’s from my perspective, not having been able to see the full effect.

I am able to sleep on my right side for brief times – its more comfortable than my left side.  I am so tired of sleeping reclined that I want to sleep in a different position.  Still have to do the reclined but the side sleeping is getting better.  Small improvements take more time to notice.

That’s the update for now – slowly getting better and able to do more things.  Sure beats going backwards!

I must be doing better, I am restless and antsy to take off the sling permanently and work on being able to drive my new car.  So far I have only been able to ride in it, I really like it.  However, driving would be even better.  I can do a bit more with my right arm, even more without the sling.  Since I want to make sure I don’t mess up my arm, I continue to be confined by the sling.  I think my big problem is lethargy.  It often feels as if it is too much work to do things – putting on clothes and shoes for instance.

When Eddie is here it is easier; when I am by myself, I often feel all kattywampus.  I have been wearing short sleeves to make things easier, as well as not climbing into a bra.  Eddie is still helping me with a shower and getting dressed – yesterday we were at Uwajimaya for things we don’t find anywhere else.  I usually push the basket, but this one had a list to the right and as we filled the basket, it got heavier and harder to steer.  I had to ask Eddie to drive it.

He has remarked several times lately that I am back to my usual color.  That’s because my whole right arm and the right side of my back were very technicolor from bruises.  I couldn’t really see the extent, though I could see my arm on the front side.  It was certainly contributing to the pain and discomfort, it is comfortable again.  Doc Pierce  was concerned I was anemic as a result, but I wasn’t after my rheumatologist did tests. This coming Thursday is my infusion day – I am hoping my next one in October I can drive myself.  I miss my independence more and more as I improve.

I can’t say I have done much of interest this last week.  I fixed up Eddie’s Kaplanian Report – he still doesn’t put spaces after commas or periods.  However, the content is great and that is most important.  He receives a lot of compliments and raves about it – I think he is very gratified.

We have gone to 80 degrees this week, now suddenly from 83 to 70 today.  It will be in the 60’s this week – quite  a lot of ups and downs.  We have noticed the leaves beginning to turn in a few places – looks as if Fall is ready to come in any minute.  Looking back, we did quite well with blueberries, figs and pears from our trees – the apple tree was full but they were pithy and not very good.  There were apples constantly on the ground – they had a lot of trouble staying on the tree.  I must admit, I didn’t really do much for any of them – I didn’t put any fertilizer sticks in the spring or water them when it was hot.

That’s about it – I will see the orthopedic surgeon in 2 weeks on September 23rd – I’m curious to know he has to say.

Thursday

I saw the orthopedic surgeon yesterday – he said the x-ray of my bone is a little fuzzy.  That means the bone is healing.  He says it is tenuous at the moment, I am hoping it will keep getting stronger and stronger.  He had given me three exercises last time – 2 are easy, the third is isometric and hurts.  So he said not to do the 3rd one.  He also said in about 2 weeks it shouldn’t hurt; I am all for that.  Sometimes it feels as if it is taking forever, other times it is hard to believe it has been 5 weeks already no doubt because I am looking back.

The biggest frustration – besides not being able to do much or drive – is dealing with the orthopedic surgeon’s office.  I couldn’t make them understand State Farm is my primary insurance, auto and Medicare supplement – they kept saying they don’t bill 3rd party insurance in the case of an auto accident.  The fact is was an auto accident seem to cancel anything else I said.  I talked to the person in billing and explained I had Personal Injury Protection with my insurance – still didn’t register.  She said they didn’t have a signed consent form from me to bill the insurance company or  release records to them.  Finally she said she would sent me the proper form to sign and I could send it back.

What has been happening is I have had to pay to see the doc each time – then it turns out my visit costs more.  We have paid with a credit card and now the bill has come – still trying to get them to reimburse us for what we have paid out-of-pocket.  At least this time they didn’t make us pay and they asked for Medicare and Medicare supplement cards – so we will see what happens next.

Sunday

Eddie has been looking at cars  to replace my Versa; he has pretty much decided on a Subaru Imprezza with all wheel drive.

We went a couple of weeks ago to see it and I had a chance to sit in it – I liked it but since I can’t drive, I don’t know how it will handle for me.    Eddie had been to the other branch of the dealer and talked to a young salesmen and when he decided to buy, he was going to deal with the young man.  I asked about Leighton, he was great and I really liked him, so Eddie played the 2 against each other and Leighton did a better job.

Friday was a very lethargic day, I didn’t want to get up in the morning, so stayed in bed as long as I could until I just had to get up to go tot he bathroom.  That night I had such a hard time going to sleep and didn’t really sleep very well.  Plus I slept or at least lay on my left side and when I got up, my right hip hurt – felt like the sciatic nerve in the middle of my right bun had a knife in it.  Needless to say, I was very uncomfortable walking.

However, we were going down to pick up my new silver car.  Since I couldn’t drive, Leighton would drive it home for us and Eddie would take him back to the dealership in Ballard.  I rode with Leighton to see how it all worked, he synced my phone for me and showed me how things worked.  We programmed some of the radio stations I like and I saw how to do a CD.  Unfortunately there isn’t a CD changer – I can live with that.  I am going to have to read the Quick Reference Guide to see just what is where and how it all works.

I was concerned about insurance for the car, so I called Vickie to see what needs to done.  It was so simple, she reinstated the Versa insurance and because it is a replacement car, it is good for 30 days.  Tuesday Eddie will call her and give her the VIN # and then it will be in the Subaru’s name.

After Eddie came back, we took it to go for coffee and some groceries.  Then I had that sudden hip pain – left side – that says it is going to rain.  I wondered – didn’t look as if there was any coming.  By evening I was miserable, my shoulders hurt and both hips bothering me.  Not my preferred state of body.

I slept will last night and my left hip doesn’t hurt – it rained in the night – and my right bun is much more comfortable.  No idea if it will again or not.  We have been waiting for Jorge and his guys to come and mow the lawn – or should I say dandelions – for several days.  We have noticed everyone in the neighborhood has a lawn full of them.

Hmmmm, I am amazed I was able to write this much; I find more and more small increments of progress and I am very glad.  I will take pictures of my car so you can see it.