Ultrasound

I had my ultrasound done today on my gallbladder. The tech that did the procedure told me that she did not see any gallstones in there and my gallbladder looked clean. So my stomach problems are still a mystery. I was hoping it was just gallstones so that I could know the problem and fix it quickly. After my ultrasound, I went to the lab and had my blood drawn for the doctor. I was trying to be brave and went to the little room by myself. The lab tech tapped around on my arms looking for a good vein for a few minutes and that started me getting nervous. I didn't look when she stuck me or took the blood. But then by the time she finished I felt sick and broke out in a sweat. I almost passed out, but after a few minutes of resting I was able to get up and leave. I hope they find something in my blood just so that wasn't all for nothing. Now I just wait for my MRI results and my appointment with the gastroenterologist on January 21st.

Merry Christmas to me!

I went to the gastroenterologist today to find out if I have gall stones or not. He ordered blood work, scheduled an ultrasound, and gave me some powdery stuff to drink each day. He wants to check everything out. He told me to stay away from fatty foods and try not to take anything with aspirin in it (which is all my pills for knee pain). He said if my ultrasound does show gall stones, then he'll schedule me for a surgical consult right away. Otherwise I go back to see him on January 21st.

Also, I spent all day yesterday cleaning my house top to bottom. Something a healthy 26 year old woman should be able to do. By the time I was done cleaning, both knees were throbbing and my hips were very tired. No more full house cleaning days for awhile.

Still awaiting the MRI results. I think the holiday messed things up for me. Hopefully I will hear something Monday after my ultrasound and blood work.

I survived!

So I survived the MRI. I was a little worried because Jeff couldn't come back with me, but the staff at CDI was very friendly and helped me calm down. I was squeezing the tech's hand while the doctor inserted the needles. I did not look at the needles at all but I did feel some pinching and a little bit of shooting pain when they were doing it. They injected some cortisone right after the dye using the same needle so I would not have to go back and get more needles after the MRI. I got to keep all of my clothes on except my bra (since it had metal in it), so that was nice. I almost fell asleep while I was in the machine. I had headphones on listening to X103 and then the dull roar of the machine in the background. All in all it wasn't that bad. I walked around the mall for a little while afterward and my hip was stiff, but not painful. I can't wait to get the results to find out how my cartilage looks.

Also, I talked to Dr. Scheid's office today and scheduled my surgery on my knee. I'm having it done on March 22nd. My check in time is 6am and the surgery will be at 8am. I'm having the Elmslie Trillat done, so I will be taking two weeks off of work. One of the weeks is Spring Break so I don't have to take all of those days. I will be on crutches for awhile, but I should be pretty much back to normal by Key West in June.

Today's the day!

I'm going in for my MRI this morning. Check-in time is 10:00am at CDI in Fishers. I'm ready to get it over with. I took two Hydrocodone this morning left over from a car accident I was in, and so now I'm feeling pretty happy. I will update later today to let everyone know how the procedure went.

Wrong knee!

I went to my husband's holiday party last night hoping to have a great time. I wore some cute high heeled boots like most of the girls at the party, and was only on my feet about 3 hours. By the time we were walking to an after party, I could not walk. We decided to drive to a friends house and when we got there I discovered I could not squat or put any weight on my right knee without pain. I laid around there for awhile and then slept it off. When I got up this morning and had to clean up something on the kitchen floor, there was the knee pain again. I'm worried because this is the knee I normally do not have problems with. I think I'm definitely going to call the doctor on Monday to schedule my TTT on the left knee for Spring Break and tell them about my right knee pain. I don't want to be hurting this summer when we go to Key West.

Getting closer...

I'm getting closer to my MRI and school is doing a good job of keeping my mind off of it. I'm having a hard time getting a hold of the imaging place that is doing the MRI. They called me to prep me, but I keep getting voicemail when I try to call them back. They are only open 8-4 M-F, which are my teaching hours. So that is really frustrating. Also, my knee pain has increased a lot since I stopped physical therapy. My legs, knees, hips have hurt every night this week, and I've been wearing tennis shoes each day. I guess I just can't win. Right now I am hoping to have my knee surgery done over spring break and then take an additional week off for recovery.

Doctor visit #3

I went back to see Dr. Scheid today to check up on my knee pain. I told him that I haven't had much change. He looked over my report card from physical therapy, and wants me to continue my at-home exercises. I asked about miserable malalignment and my rotation issues. He said that I do have miserable malalignment, but my tibias are the main location for the deformation. He said I could have my tibias reset straight, but it's not necessary to take care of the knee pain. Instead he still suggests the elmslie trillat procedure on my left knee. He doesn't want to schedule it quite yet though. Instead he is having me get an MRI done and an injection of an anti-inflammatory with my left hip. He wants to check for any torn cartilage since I am having a lot of clicking and popping in my hip. He also wants to see if the injection helps at all with my knee pain. So I go for my MRI on December 22nd, and I am not looking forward to the biggest needle in the world.

I had more medical issues last weekend also. Sunday night I woke up with a severe gallbladder attack. The pain was so intense I could not get up of the floor. I missed a day of work from it trying to recover. So I go to the gastroenterologist on December 24th (in the morning) to check for gallstones.

So my body is starting to turn into a theme park for medical issues...

So much to think about...

I have one more day of physical therapy left and then it's back to the doctor for me. I have been reading up a lot about my possible problems and coming up with a lot of questions for the doctor. I want to make sure that this knee surgery is going to be the best option for me in the long run. I don't want to have this done and then find out that derotational osteotomies would have been the best fix for my problem. My PT did notice some different things going on with me at my last visit. My left hip (the problem hip) was actually sitting up about an inch higher than my right one when I laid down. After going through my exercises though, they settled fairly even. He gave me some new exercises to help focus on the hip muscles because he said the rotation is definitely one of my major problems. He also told me to stop sitting indian style or any variation because it only makes the situation worse. So I keep having to readjust my normal sitting ways. Very annoying for me, but it is supposed to help.

I also had to downgrade in cars today. I normally drive a 2005 Mitsubishi Evolution that is a 5-speed manual. It can really irritate my left knee and hip to work the clutch, so we got a car for me that is automatic. It's a mid-90's Civic with some body damage and a flat black hood. Not very styling. But when it comes time for surgeries, I'll be able to get back to driving a lot faster in this car.