Answers - Yes! Finally

We moved. And I finally got an answer as to what is wrong with my foot. Let us begin.

Ok, well before we begin, here is a quick picture of Birdie snuggling with me on the couch. I love her so much.

I don't know why but she loves to lay in between your legs. Must be because it's warm?

Ok, back to the "let us begin" part.

Friday morning started off with my MRI. 

Thankfully I've had two in the past, so I knew not to be scared. My previous two were of my knee, and each time I was only in the machine for about 20 minutes. Well friends, feet take longer! After 45 minutes of trying to hold perfectly still, I was done. One step closer to the illusive "answers" I've been after. Of course you don't get any results there, so the waiting game continued until my next appointment, which was Tuesday the 22nd. 

The weekend was BUSY.

Emily came to town so I got to get out of the house for FroYo to see her. I miss Emily so much. She is such a good person.

Speaking of good people, Elizabeth and Anna win the award for most amazing helpful friends in the entire universe. Elizabeth came over on Saturday for four hours and basically packed up our entire kitchen for us. I am forever indebted to her! And Anna came over on Sunday for the entire morning and helped me pack the living room and both bedrooms. And then she came to the new place on Monday and helped me unpack the entire kitchen. WOW!!! Anyone need some amazing friends?? Too bad!!! Elizabeth and Anna are taken!!! They're mine!!!! Mwa ha ha. ;)

Birdie did not like all of those boxes around, so she spent most of her time on my lap, no matter where I was or what I was doing. Usually I was just laying on the couch. That's what I do...

Sunday, in a whirlwind of people and activity, all of our things (for the most part) got moved from our old place and into our new place. I can't believe it all happened so fast. Here I am elevating my foot in the new house! Haha, thrilling I know.

Wouldn't you know, the second everyone left, Andy fell down our new basement stairs. We are having terrible luck... He did a number on his toe, and has been walking around with a little limp for a few days now. Poor guy. 

Birdie is slowly getting used to her new home. She likes to peek out the windows...

But her favorite thing is playing with the puppy that visits her in the sliding glass door reflection. :)

See her little butt up in the air? She is playing with that puppy! (sorry some of these pictures are so dark)

The house is great. It is a total disaster, I have no idea where anything is, and once I find things I have no idea where we will put them, but to have everything on one floor is the best thing a crutch-bound girl could ask for. Now I can freely drink beverages because it's easy to go to the bathroom!

Alright, onto the answers now.

I had my follow-up on Tuesday morning...

...and finally have my pain validated. I swear there have been a handful of people that think I'm just making this all up... especially when three rounds of X-Rays showed nothing. Well turns out my pain has been legit! Imagine that! I have bruised bones. 1) I didn't know you could bruise a bone. 2) That doesn't sound like it should be super painful. Bruises aren't cool but they usually don't hurt that bad, and not for that long... 

Here's what the ol' internet has to say about a bone bruise.

What is a bone bruise?
The term bone bruise is a misnomer and makes the injury seem less serious than it is.  A so-called bone bruise is actually a fracturing of the inner layer of bone.
Bones are composed of 2 different types of bony tissue, the compact (cortical) bone and the cancellous (spongy) bone.  

• The compact bone is the outer layer of bone and is highly organized, solid, and extremely strong.  When you injure this layer of the bone, it is referred to as a stress reaction or an occult fracture.
• The cancellous bone is the innermost layer of bone.  Unlike the outer layer of bone, it is not arranged in concentric layers, but in plates (called trabeculae) which form an irregular meshwork that is neither as organized nor as strong as the outer bone.  An injury to this area of the bone represents very small fractures to the trabeculae in the meshwork of the bone and may be referred to as a bone bruise.

Awesome. The MRI showed I have a bruised talus and cuboid bone. Here's where those are...

Well, no wonder I feel pain, especially in my heel area when I put too much weight on my foot. And depending on the day, that "weight" can be as little as 9 pounds. 

My MRI also showed lots of fluid buildup throughout my foot. Well no duh, it's totally swollen - no surprise there. 

The good news. No surgery. Everything should heal properly (eventually). The bad news. He said it will take anywhere from several weeks to several months for it to heal. 

*head in hands*

This is not what I wanted to hear. 

Let me tell you something. Crutches suck. In fact I'll probably write a post at some point about the dos and don'ts or can and cannots of crutches. So to hear that there's not a near end in sight....

Oh Hellllllll No. I rented a kneely scooter.

I zoomed around on this last night and this morning. It is definitely an improvement over crutches. However, after five and half weeks of not using my leg muscles, my thigh got so tired SO fast from holding me up. It's a good thing - hopefully I'll be able to build up the muscle a little bit at least while using this. Also my shin is covered in bruises now, but I don't care. To be able to have some relief from the crutches and also to have my hands free a little bit more is worth it.

Now if all of that weren't enough to absorb, there's more, although I'll keep it short. Yesterday we learned Birdie has a luxating patella on her back right leg. Again, here's the Internet's definition of that...

Luxating patella (or trick knee, subluxation of patella, floating patella, or floating kneecap) is a condition in which the patella, or kneecap, dislocates or moves out of its normal location. Patellar luxation is a common condition in dogs, particularly small and miniature breeds.

My poor little angel face. She is possibly going to need surgery to fix it and prevent it from giving her arthritis, which of course can't be fixed.

And there you have it. We are in our new house. Andy is working hard to get the old place cleaned so we can be done with it. All three of us have issues with either a knee, foot, or toe. Poor us.

Looking ahead...

- Still glad to have Good Friday off! Hopefully we can get some stuff accomplished around our new place.

- No clue what we will do for Easter, but did get an Easter package from my parents which was much appreciated. Thank you!

- Can't WAIT for my mom to get here.

- And another doctor's appointment to check on my progress in three weeks. Although not much to really do/look forward to about that except I don't know... maybe he'll have me start PT...

There you have it. Stay tuned for future posts with pics from the new place and my full thoughts about the crutch life.

Answers (no) - House (yes)

At the end of last post I left you all with a list of things I was looking forward to. Here's how that is going so far (using the headlines I used in the last post).

3/10 - Final Walk Through of our House! Then FroYo with Alyssa and Elizabeth :)

The final walk through was just ok. It was the first time seeing the place without any furniture. I must say, Andy and I were both a little freaked out by how small it seemed. Very small. Like we are moving from one apartment to another. I just kept trying to reassure myself that it felt bigger with the seller's furniture in it, so it will feel bigger once we get our furniture in too. (fingers crossed)

FroYo with Alyssa and Elizabeth was much more fun! Elizabeth brought Charlotte... she is such a sweetheart. It was so nice to see them both - I love those girls.

3/11 - DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT (praise the Heavens)

I do not praise the Heavens anymore. Uggggggghhhh. Long story short. Started with x-rays, the x-ray tech manhandled my foot and caused such pain that I instantly started crying (and didn't stop crying until about 3 hours later). The doc said there's no sign of a break or fracture, but because I'm still having pain, he is sending me for an MRI this Friday (3/18). Then back on Tuesday (3/22) to get results and HOPEFULLY a freaking answer! And hopefully that answer isn't surgery... (please no please no please no). Oh and in case anyone is still counting, today is day 33 on crutches.

3/14 - We close on our house! Can you believe it????

Ok wait, first I have to show you what happened the morning of our closing. Birdie wiggled her way up my shirt and woke up me with a face full of puppy kisses. She is so funny!

Anyway, after almost two months of waiting, we've got the keys! We signed our names for 47 minutes straight, went to the hardware store to make copies of the keys, and we were in! We took Birdie with us to see her new yard (she loves it), ripped out his gross shelf paper, and greeted the Merry Maids who showed up to clean the new house. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!! Merry Maids is one of the best gifts we could have gotten (especially with my foot busted still).

While the Merry Maids worked their magic, I went back home to elevate my foot and start a new book one of my awesome coworkers gave me. Birdie kept me company. Such a cute little snuggle bug. You'll notice I'm not wearing my boot in the picture. Trust me, it is still in use. I just take it off when I'm on the couch to give myself a break.

Later that night we went back to the new house. Andy has been taking things over in his dad's SUV (we traded cars for the week which has been a huge help). I have been working on putting in new shelf paper. So far I have the linen closet, bathroom, and 7 drawers in the kitchen completed.

We also had our first dinner in our new place (subs from Wegmans) while sitting on our new breakfast bar stools! 

And if you remember back at Christmas when we were visiting my parents'... Birdie found a puppy friend to play with in their mirrored closet doors? Well that same puppy came to visit in the sliding glass door of our new house!!! She LOVES to play with that puppy. :-)

 

Of course this is a busy week for Andy, so new house things are on hold until the weekend, but I lay in bed each night thinking about what we should do with it - it's very exciting, and a good distraction from my dumb foot.

3/25 - Good Friday (happy because the office is closed!)

Still excited for this. 

3/27 - Easter - I hope I get a basket from the Easter Bunny :)

We found out that Andy's parents are going to be gone for Easter, so I'm still excited for it, but I have no idea what we'll do now as we usually have a big family dinner. Is it wrong to go to the casino buffet for Easter?? haha

4/2 - MY MOM COMES!!!!!!!!! 

THANK GOODNESS. As Andy brings load after load of unpacked things (I was obviously planning to pack but it didn't happen - crutches strike again), I am quickly realizing we are about to live in a total disaster zone as everything is just getting dumped in one big pile. *cue hyperventilation* I need my mom to help me figure this mess out, not only because she is super duper good at organizing and decorating but also because I can be frank and honest with her (translation, if I get bossy I know she'll still love me, lol). April 2nd can't get here fast enough!

Looking ahead - hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures of our new place!! With furniture in it!!

Still not marching in March

Hello hello.

Today is day 26 on crutches. My foot is still super swollen, it is still bruised, I can only wiggle my big two and its neighbor (not the other three), I still get zings of pain if I put too much weight on it... joy. But tomorrow is a very exciting day because I go to the doctor for more x-rays. I am anticipating getting some "answers" from my appointment tomorrow. What exactly is wrong and how much longer do I have to go until I can walk again. Lordy if I leave that appointment without answers I will not be happy.

I can say I have gotten much better getting around on crutches and figuring out how to do a few things (there's still a LOT I can't do). One of the BEST things that happened... I ordered a pouch for my crutch, and it is life changing. Now I can carry my phone, keys, debit card, water bottle.... not a lot at the same time but at least it's something!

And no, Birdie does not fit in the pouch.

Thankfully I've still been able to get out with Birdie (and Andy of course... no way I get anywhere without Andy). We've gone to puppy playtime... 

...and also to the dog park (they have a bench). The weather here has been very nice so I especially like going to the dog park to enjoy the sun.

Birdie continues to be my little nurse, but has also learned that even though I might be laying on the couch elevating my foot, I can still play pig. Birdie LOVES pig. Anna got Birdie's first pig. She destroyed that. We have since got her 3 more. All destroyed. The pig below was from Mama Kay and Papa Lyle. So far so good, but I'm sure there will be many more pigs in our future.

I also had a birthday! It was pretty good considering I was still on crutches. After work Andy took me out for Mexican food and then we went to the Comedy Club, where Will and Anna joined us. It was really fun!

My friends at work also got me a lemon roll cake. :) I really work with some great people. (note the word some, haha)

I suppose one of the good things about my birthday this year.... this year can only get better for me. Translation: I CAN'T WAIT TO GET BETTER.

In other news, this is the busiest week of the year for me at work. Four days of concerts, a total of 8,300 kids, four separate slide shows totaling 1400 slides (I have been making slides like I work in a slide-making sweat shop this last week), and about 200 volunteers who all want to share their ideas with me (patience Barbara, patience). I only have one more concert to go, but I will be so happy when it is done! The good news is that they're all going well. Phew. Here's a picture from Monday's rehearsal...

Alright there you go. Here's a list of what I'm looking forward to...

3/10 - Final Walk Through of our House! Then FroYo with Alyssa and Elizabeth :)

3/11 - DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT (praise the Heavens)

3/14 - We close on our house! Can you believe it????

3/25 - Good Friday (happy because the office is closed!)

3/27 - Easter - I hope I get a basket from the Easter Bunny :)

4/2 - MY MOM COMES!!!!!!!!! 

There you have it! Ok back to making more slides. Oh joy... ;)

F*#! Fabruary

Despite my best efforts, Fabruary blows. It is the opposite of fabulous. Might as well call it F!ckruary. 

Today is day 14 of being on crutches. It's also day 9 of wearing a boot. Why?

I tripped on Andy's shoe on my way down the basement stairs to do his laundry. ........ UGH. He's definitely paying for it though because I am dependent on him for almost everything. I can't get around without crutches, which means I can't carry anything anywhere. I actually tried once... it ended up with me losing my crutches and falling, which made my ankle hurt even more, so I've learned my lesson. I can't carry anything. I also can't drive because it's my right foot. He's having to do a lot.

So what's the diagnosis? I don't know and that's really killing me. I went to Urgent Care immediately after the initial fall. They did x-rays and checked out my ankle. She said I sprained my ankle, gave me crutches, and said I'd be back to walking in 2-3 days. Five days later and the thought of not using my crutches had me in tears. I made an appointment to see an orthopedic. 

Yep, I sprained my ankle alright, but what Urgent Care missed completely was that I f-ed up my foot, more particularly, my heel. When the doc was examining my foot he pressed on my heel and I hit him. Yes that is right. I whacked his arm away. Total reflex, but it hurt! Then he sent me for x-rays of my foot. They came back still not showing a break. However. He said a tiny fracture wouldn't show up in an x-ray unless I put some weight on my foot (which I was not doing in the x-ray). So... now I have a boot, which is actually great because it lets me at least put some weight on my foot, I'm on crutches until it's not painful anymore (I sure hope that's sooner than later), and I go back on March 11th for more x-rays. If there was a fracture, then we'll know then because bone growth will show up in the x-ray. If not... well then I guess I just tore the sh*t out of the soft-tissues in my foot. But after the 11th, I'll know "what's next."

Friends. I. am. miserable. 

1) This is my busiest time of year at work. In a way it's good because once I'm at the office I'm so swamped with things that the time flies by and I rarely even think about my foot. But I could be a lot more productive if I could get around and say, grab my print-outs from the photocopier. Our office is the opposite of handicapped-friendly, so being on crutches makes a lot of things next to impossible. In the meantime I'm strapped to my computer and having to ask for a lot of help from my coworkers, who (the ones I like) have all been very kind and helpful, so I am thankful for all of them.

2) Um... we're moving in less than a month. How many boxes are packed? Oh, that's zero. I honestly don't know how we are going to make this happen. Like literally. I cannot begin to fathom how on earth we will move our entire house to another house without me being able to do a thing. I can't even think about it or I'll have a panic attack.

3) I miss my independence. I miss everyday things being easy. Do you know how hard it is to get in and out of a claw-foot tub and shower while balancing on one foot? It is a living version of hell. Yet showering is also heaven because I do it so infrequently now, that it's glorious to feel clean for one second. Do you know how tiresome it is to rely on rides everywhere? I'm glad I have friends to lean on for rides, and again, Andy has been a champ. But the truth is, you're stuck to life on someone else's schedule that way... there's no way around it. I miss being able to make my own food. I miss being able to bend down and pick up Birdie... I can't even take her outside, poor little girl. I miss going to the bathroom whenever I want. Why? Because our bathroom is upstairs - and up a steep flight of stairs at that - and it is soooo hard to get up them, I now try to delay it until it absolutely must happen. And even then, I can't wait too late or I won't make it up the stairs in time!

4) Also, it's winter. And there's snow. And snow + crutches = super scary.

I could keep going,  but I won't for your sake. Let's just say I have been crying pretty much everyday. I hate this. I'm so frustrated. And I feel lots of despair. 

Andy has been a great helper. He makes my food, does my laundry, drives me places... basically does everything for me (poor guy). And my little Birdie has been such a sweetheart. She's my little snuggle bug.

She also got a haircut. She is so so so cute!

And she still brings me her toys and places them right on my boot so I can reach them. :-) Smart little girl.

Oh, here's a picture of the snow.... this all happened in one day. Thankfully some of it melted, but we're getting more as I type. Oh joy.

Thankfully my boss is super understanding and has let me work a day here and there from home. That usually looks like this...

And when I'm actually working at the office, it usually looks like this...

Other things... we spent Valentine's Day in Buffalo with Andy's family. How romantic, lol. Honestly, it was actually really nice to get out of the house and lay on someone else's couch - how sad is that! Back to Valentine's Day - I got Andy a creme brulee kit, blow torch included, so he made those. Using the torch was fun.

 

The following weekend we went to the Corning Museum of Glass (we called ahead and they had wheelchairs, so that is the only we were able to go there). It was so cool!! My favorite parts were the glass blowing demonstrations and the class we signed up for where we got to make our own glass wind chime! 

Other crutches-bound activities have included:

- Going to the casino (again, they had a wheelchair)

- Seeing "The Revenant" at a recliner movie theater. That was disappointingly uncomfortable. I could not get comfortable with that stupid boot on my foot. Also the movie was pretty gross...

- Watching Birdie play at the dog park (I sat in the car to watch, there was too much snow for me to manage to get inside the park)

- Lots of reading. I am making my way quickly through "Room."

- And most of all sleeping. When I'm in bed I don't have to wear the boot and amazingly my ankle/foot doesn't hurt, so it is by far the most comfortable I am all day long. I wish I could sleep until this thing is healed and I'm done with it.

There you have it. My sad story with a few little happy highlights. 

Coming up: My birthday is in a week! What do I want? To walk again. hmmmm. Also, the Intermediate Concerts, my most busy crazy event of the year. And closing on our house! Ok, that panic attack is about to hit hard so I need to stop talking about this.

Hope you are all well. Be grateful for the little things - I promise you don't realize how much you take for granted. I sure didn't have a clue. 

Fabruary

Welcome to February, or as I am referring to it... Fabruary.

Now, I love challenges, but I tend to create them and not stick to them. Towards the end of January I thought, "I should really do a fitness challenge in February," and for whatever reason I decided that February would be Fab-AB-ruary, and I would make sure to do ab exercises each day. Thankfully I talked to Sheena, who reminded me that I wouldn't stick to it and then I'd feel like a failure, etc. initiate spiral of doom. And so I switched it up and instead decided that Fabruary would be a month of being fabulous by taking time to do something for myself each day.

Much better!

Let's get real. The REAL reason I wanted to do "something" in February was because this time of year tends to be my most stressful-crazy-terrible time at work. I go to work, I am stressed with all that I have to do, I am frustrated with people to my breaking point, and I usually end each night standing in the kitchen shoveling food in my face as fast as humanly possible. And I didn't want to do that, so I thought if I had something else to focus on, it would help change my usual routine. By making sure I was doing something nice for myself each day, I hoped it would keep my hands out of the fridge and my tush into the same pants (instead of going up a size, which seems to happen each year around this time).

Is it working? Well... as I type this right now I feel like I'm about to explode from frustration etc at work, so... I have 1) Closed the door to my office to keep people out, 2) Lit a new candle that's called "Stressless", and 3) have Justin Bieber playing on Pandora, because I like Justin Bieber. I admit it. Look at me taking steps to take care of myself!

Here are other things I've done for the month of Fabruary:

I painted my nails (actually have done that twice now).

I got myself a new powder compact instead of trying to dig the remnants out of the corners of my old one. Ain't nobody got time for that!

I went to Pittsford Dairy with Andy and treated myself to a Mexican Sundae. Yummmm

I made my favorite summertime salad. Even though it's not summer at all, I thought it would be nice to break up our usual "winter salad" routine (which is spinach, almonds, sunflower seeds, craisins, and goat cheese).

I took time to do a hand thingy... I have no idea what to call this, but it's like a scrub, special lotion stuff... my friend Brigid gave this to me and it's always fun to use!

I got a car wash! Birdie was with me, so I also learned Birdie is both fascinated and terrified of the car wash. Sorry little Bird!

I got my hair did!

I've also taken a tiny nap, which I usually never do. Last night I treated myself to loafing on the couch and watching two episodes of "Fixer Upper." It was great. And possibly the best one of all... I put clean sheets on the bed, and took a shower right before bed... crawling into a clean bed while being clean yourself... best ever.

For you Parks and Rec fans out there, this is a month Donna and Tom would be proud of.

There you have it. Fabruary - going strong. You know what I've learned most from it? I actually do a lot of things for myself already, like treating myself to a Dunkin Donuts coffee at work pretty much every day at 11am, haha. :-) 

What else is going on??? Well let's see...

House stuff is moving along. We aren't packing yet, but we have started to go through and set things aside for Goodwill. I've been reading "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" again, and it is really helping me to get rid of quite a bit. When in doubt, throw it out!

Andy and I drove by the new house over the weekend and CHECK IT OUT!!!!

SOLD!!!!!! Pretty cool, huh??

This was also on a tear off calendar last week and it made me laugh - I have a feeling this will be Andy and I to a T...

Birdie is still my favorite. I LOVE HER SO MUCH! We went to the pet store last week and she had a blast. She also looked pretty adorable wearing her hoodie from Auntie Sharman. :-)

And as for work... I had a flute masterclass on Saturday, and the Primary Concerts yesterday and today (the Primary Concerts have over 2,000 kids each day and they are exhausting).

All of that, and we're only 9 days into the month! Stay tuned to hear how the rest of the month turns out.