It's Christmas...

I'm home alone tonight (my husband has to close, so he won't be home until 11:30-11:45). This morning we went to my Sister-In-Law's house for Christmas. It was really nice to spend a few hours with the family. My niece is adorable when she opens gifts.

We'll start with the good news. My ankle seems to be progressing quite well. I can limp on it for short periods of time now. That's a huge milestone for me :) I'm continuing the the PT, and slowly putting more and more weight on it as I walk.

Then to the bad news. I'm able to give a bit of a forewarning this time. I may not be able to post any updates for a while. Work is picking up again. We reach a huge milestone recently, and lost a major part of our department, so I'm going to be insanely busy there for a while. Hopefully the stress doesn't set back my recovery.

A light at the end of the tunnel?

Shortly after my last post I broke my ankle (yup, the one with the RSD). It's been a long 4 weeks. I hadn't used crutches in such a long time I had almost forgotten how to use them. I've gotten the hang of it since, though.

I've been trying my best to keep it mobile and keep up with my PT, as per the doctor's instructions.

I had my check up with the orthopedic doctor today. He checked out my ankle, had me stand on it (which I managed to do for about .5 seconds), and told me it looks good. He said it seems to be healing, and it doesn't seem as though I've done any more damage than they had originally expected :D He scheduled a follow up for 6 weeks from now, but he said that if I'm walking on it in a month or so, I could call and cancel it.

It's nice to get some good news :)

Oh the stress of life...

It has been incredibly stressful around these parts lately. The stressors have just been piling on top of the work that I've been talking about for a while now.

The week before last my grandfather passed. He had cancer, so we knew for a while that he was going to die, but once it got bad he just deteriorated so quickly. Before we knew it he was gone.

Then on the way home from the funeral on Thursday I started coughing this hacking cough, and sneezing. It didn't let up all weekend, so I went to see the doctor today. Yup, you guessed it, I have H1N1.

I just can't seem to catch a break lately.

Flare ups...

I've been very busy lately. I've been working a lot. I've been working almost 10 hours of overtime every week :( It's really stressful. It's been causing my RSD to flare quite a bit. It's peaking at about 6/10, so it's not as bad as before the SCS, but it still sucks. Hopefully before to long my company will find a way to get me back on my regular 40 hour a week schedule.

In my last post I mentioned my husband was sick. He's feeling much better now :)

Busy as a bee

The last time I posted an entry we were moving. We're done with the moving, but we're not really unpacking unless we need something. We're so sick of it all at this point.

We've been so busy. My husband has been working long hours at his job. He usually works late into the night, which doesn't really jive with my early morning schedule, but we're working though it. I've been working overtime at work again. There's so much to do at the end of the quarter.

A couple of weeks ago a local brewery had a beer festival. We had plans for a bunch of people to come over afterward, but only our families ended up showing up. We still had a great time, though. We made chili, pulled pork, mulled cider, and this delicious buffalo chicken dip. Everyone had tons of fun.

Then this week my husband got sick. It's nothing serious, and I think he's on the mend, but I've been taking care of him. I had been planning on using Friday night to unwind. Instead I sat up until 3:30 with my husband becase he couldn't sleep. It was a long weekend...

It's been kind of stressful, so the pain level is a bit higher lately. I'm thinking of taking a vacation coming up in the next few months. I really need to talk to my boss about that.

Ah....Summer

I can't even begin to describe how busy I've been lately. My husband just got a new job. I'm so excited for him!

I've been busy with work. There's a lot going on at the company I work for.

We've also been in the process of moving. We finally have our own apartment! It's been a long time in coming and I'm so glad it's finally here.

Because of the move leg has been in a lot of pain. I've been moving things in and setting them up. Sometimes it's a few hours before I can finally sit down and just relax for a few minutes. Even then I need to get right back up and back to work.

It's times like these I'm glad I have the stimulator. The last time we moved I was completely useless. I was still in recovery from the implantation so I couldn't bend, lift, or twist. All I was allowed to do was sit on the couch (I also couldn't sit or stand for more then 20 minutes at a time) and direct people. I'm so glad I can actually be useful this time.

This was a big week for me. Not only did my husband start working last week, and we got an apartment, but it was also my birthday this week. My husband planned such a great couple of days for us. The night before my birthday we met some friends at the hibachi grill. It was so much fun and the food was delicious. I even managed to escape embarrassment because no one called birthday on me :D

On my actual birthday my husband brought me to an amusement park. It rained the whole time we were there, but that actually ended up being for the better. The rain wasn't heavy, but since it was raining the park was pretty much empty. We got to do everything we wanted to and only had to wait in 2 lines the whole day!

I will say that ever since then, though, my leg has been screaming at me. I've spent way too much time on my feet in the last week. Hopefully this weekend the move will be over and my husband and I can just relax for a while.

Florida

My husband and I recently travelled to Florida with my family. We had a great time. We went to Universal Studios, 3 of the Disney Parks, and we saw the Blue Man Group. It was so much fun.

Each day that we went to the amusement parks we were walking around all day. This is the first time in years I've gone to an amusement park and didn't have to rent a wheelchair. Although I was in some pain by the end of each day, it was so much easier to cope with than it has bene in the past (even when I had the wheelchair). It was incredible.

Again way too long....

Wow, I never seem to have time to update this blog now. My husband and I are always on the move. We've been so busy lately doing things I never could have done before the SCS was implanted.

On April 21 we went to see the remaining members of the Grateful Dead perform live in Buffalo. It was a great show! They played a bunch of songs I know and love, and then they played a few songs I had never heard, which I also loved! I didn't think I was a dead fan until I saw them live.

Last weekend I worked an 8 hour convention for my company. It was 8 straight hours of standing on concrete floors. I won't lie, my leg was killing me afterwards, but I wouldn't have made it through even an hour before I got the SCS.

Very soon my husband and I will be starting our search for our first house. It's so exciting! I can't wait, because I know that now I'll be able to walk through the house and not be in terrible pain the whole time. So I guess you can all take that to mean that my updates will still be fairly rare. Hopefully once things settle down a bit I'll be able to devote a little more time to my blogging.

Oh the stress...

I realize it's been a very long time since I last posted. I've been meaning to update this, but haven't had much time lately. I'm happy to report that my stimulator is still helping a great deal with my pain. Now on to the bad news... the stress:

My coworker left today. He's going to live out his dream and I couldn't be happier for him. A few weeks ago I offered to take over his job, as it's a much needed position in the company. Today they tell me I'll be doing it temporarily until they can find a suitable replacement for him. I got all of 15 minutes of training. The job that he does really required about 3 full weeks of training in order to do it properly.

The job is in technical support. I'm supposed to be dealing with emails more than phones, which is a good thing, because I have a fear of phones. I used to work as a telemarketer and ever since I've had serious anxiety surrounding phones. I rarely even answer my own phone.

I'll be doing this job on top of my regular work, which also has gotten more complicated recently. I really hope they find a good replacement soon.

On top of all of this, I have barely been sleeping. Our cat has been keeping me up at night. I also have been dealing with tension headaches recently.

Yesterday was my mother in law's birthday. My husband and I made dinner for her and I could barely even eat because I had a headache. I made dinner, picked at it a bit and then got in bed around 7:00. I took some muscle relaxants and slept a bit, so that was good.

Although the stimulator is helping with my pain, it's not getting rid of it entirely when I am this stressed out and sleeping so poorly.

I'll try to update again soon, and hopefully will have better news.

Headaches

UGH! I've had a headache now for 2.5 weeks. It's terrible. I went to my doctor, thinking it might have something to do with some medications I am taking and they put me on Ultram for it. She said this should get rid of the headache. It's been about 5 days and nothing yet :-( I'm getting really sick of this. I'm calling her again this week if it still hurts.

I had an appointment with the pain clinic doctor yesterday. I've been so out of it because of the headache that I completely forgot. We were sitting in Friendly's when my phone's alarm went off. I called the doctor's office, and sure enough I had an appointment about 10 minutes later. I told the receptionist that I might be late, but I was leaving right then. She told me not to rush and rescheduled for Tuesday.

I feel like such an idiot. The appointment was only a checkup before I go back to work full time, which I start doing on Monday. I just can't believe I forgot.

UGH! No sleep

I've been really stressed about work lately. There have been some not so cool things going on. So last night the stress was really getting to me and I couldn't sleep. My stupid leg hurts again :( It's not as bad as it has been in the past. My pain level is about a 5/6 instead of being a 10, but it still sucks.

It was rainy/windy yesterday and there's a layer of snow on the ground this morning, so I'm sure that's not helping to much, but hey that's what I get for living in NY.

So yeah, that's my update for the day.

An awesome, yet emotional weekend

My husband and I went on a wine and chocolate tasting tour this weekend. It was at a wine trail about an hour from where we live. The wine and chocolate were both awesome at every winery we went to. It was a 3-day event, but we only went on Saturday and Sunday. We were too busy on Friday to attend.

I have to say I had tons of fun, and now I truly know how much the SCS has changed my life. 4 months ago, I would have been able to go to one or two wineries before I had to call it quits. My CRPS just would not have allowed me to stand for that period of time. The first day we hit 5 wineries. As we were leaving the 5th winery, my husband turned to me and said "I'm tired. Are you okay with going home now?" This was the first time since we met that I wasn't the one who had to call it quits first. It meant so much to me!

Day 2 we hit 6 wineries. By the end of the 6th we were both ready to go home, but it wasn't my leg telling me I was done. We were both in tears on the way home because of how much it meant to both of us for me to be able to do these things and not be held back. Although my back was sore, it wasn't enough to make me stop.

In the last 7 years I've never been able to just enjoy myself. It was a huge weekend for me. I know there will be many more to come. I'm so excited!

Today is the day!

Today marks the 3-month point from when I had my SCS implanted. I'm so excited. Beginning today I can be much less careful about what I do. Of course I'll be starting it slowly, but I can now bend, lift, and twist without worrying about the lead in my spine moving. I'm so excited.

My husband and I are going on a wine and chocolate tasting tour this weekend. It should be lots of fun. I'm a little worried about my back, because I still can't sit or stand for more than 3-4 hours without being in some serious pain, but I guess we'll see how it goes.

My recovery is progressing well. I'm still only working part time until the end of this month, so I'm going to be doing more in hopes of getting my back used to me being up and about before I go back in.

As for the pain levels in my leg, they are still very low. I'm so happy to report this is actually working for me. I was beginning to think I'd never see relief from this beast.

Again, I'll do my best to update this more often now. I really suck at this blogging thing.

Seriously stressed

I realize it’s been a very long time since my last post. I decided it was time to update my blog. We've been going through some things lately, and they have been taking a toll on my ability to recover.

We had some housing issues, and those have yet to be resolved. We’re looking for another place to live after being displaced from the house we recently moved into (there’s way too much to go into here).

I’m back at work part time, as I said in my last entry. There is a lot of work to catch up on, but thankfully I have been offered some help in that area. It’s a huge relief.

As for the good news, I’m on my way to recovery. It is very slow going, but I will get there. I have a little under a month left until I hit the 3-month mark. That’s pretty exciting. The pain in my leg is still on the low end compared to before the operation. It has gotten worse lately, but that’s most likely due to stress and the constantly changing weather we’ve had lately.

I’ll try to be better about updating my blog, but I can’t make any promises. With all that has been going on lately I have very little time to post. I’m working on that.