Head Bonking

I went for my third post-op trip to the foot surgeon today. Things look great on the outside, but I'm building up too much scar tissue on the inside, so I have to beat up my foot as much as I can stand. The surgeon told me to make BJ mad and then ask him to rub my foot. My surgeon is a funny guy.

Either I've been too drugged up in the past to understand what the surgeon has been telling me- or he never really told me the full scope of the surgery. He said that he took out a tunnel of bone that goes from one side of my ankle to the other, about an inch wide. Hmmmm... THAT explains the pain. He also told me that I'm having pain up the back of my ankle and lower leg because the tendon is getting too tight from not being able to move my ankle around. He sees physical therapy in my future.

He said that there's nothing I could do to harm my foot (except what happened in the first place, fall and break stuff), so I can so whatever I want as long as I'm willing to put up with the pain. That's comforting in a way, I guess.

I've been driving myself around the last few days and having a blast being on my own. It's been over a month since I've been able to go anywhere by myself. Unfortunately, I tend to overdo it when I get excited about things, so now I'm sitting with my foot up on a pillow with a percocet (without the 'cet since tylenol is not my friend) on board.

Here's the list of things that I've enjoyed about being temporarily disabled:

1. I got to ride in a wheelchair at the airport and go to the front of security and board the plane first. The wheelchair was fun until my brother Michael started pushing me and tried to scare me. Some things never change.



2. I got to see what it was like to be under suspicion for carrying a bomb on a plane. Apparently the stuff they use to make the crutch pads is also used to make bombs. I was frisked from head to toe (from a woman- meh!) and all of the contents in my backpack were wiped down with bomb detection stuff. After that, security had to make a decision as to whether they'd want to be on an airplane with me because they STILL couldn't tell if I was bringing on bomb-making materials. I told them to not take the company I keep into consideration (my brother).



3. People are nice to me when I'm on crutches. In fact, today a man offered to take my shopping cart to the cart return for me. I thanked him profusely



4. I got to ride in one of those silly carts at Walmart. It's not as fun as it looks, but I do recommend that everyone do it at least once! Do not judge my hair in this picture. I haven't had it cut in 2 months, but I'm willing to forgo the pride to let you see me make a complete fool of myself.
   
   

I'm not going to make a list of things I haven't enjoyed, because I fear you'll go blind from all the words.

Next up on my list of things to blog about in no particular order:

• Our family visit to see my parents


• My new HTC EVO 4G. Holy smokes, it's my new favorite toy. ::ahem:: I mean phone.


• Ummm... I've lost my train of thought- but there's something else. Stupid drugs...

PS- Einstein is hosting a 40.00 gift certificate giveaway on his blog. Everyone is eligible to enter. You don't even have to like dogs (but why wouldn't you? tee hee)

The cardiologist did a modified version of the tilt-table test today and said that he was able to catch my problem right then and there. I was hooked up to an EKG and blood pressure monitor in his office. He said I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and my main problem is that I’m not fully aware when it happens. For example, when he stood me up from a laying down position, my blood pressure plunged and my heart rate went up. I didn’t “feel” it, which is why I’m getting injured so often. He said that I need to pay better attention to what my body is telling me. Hmmm, I thought I was….

He gave me a list of things to try before he decides to give me medicine:

• Drink more fluids plus add fluids with electrolytes like Gatorade/propel/smartwater.


• Drink caffeine (which is opposite of what the other cardiologist said.. so I’m just going to leave that one alone..)


• Increase salt in my diet


• Lower-body resistance training to get the blood moving in my lower extremities


• Physical counter-pressure maneuvers (squeeze hands, tense muscles)


• Lay down for at least five minutes when I start to feel faint


• Smoke cigarettes. (I’m kidding!)

He’s scheduled an echo and I see him in two months. If the above stuff doesn’t work, then he might try something that makes me retain water and/or Ritalin (seriously.. isn’t that weird?) He said that I’m tired all the time because every time my body does this, it’s like getting an adrenaline rush and then my body has to recover.

While rooting around on the Internet I found an interesting article that pretty much follows everything the cardiologist told me, and explains quite a bit of stuff I've been experiencing.

I went back for my six month check up with the cardiologist today. I’d broken my foot and tore that ligamenty-type stuff due to fainting since the last time I’d seen him and was wearing a boot. I shared with him that my neurologist wasn’t a happy camper that he was taking a watch and see attitude with the fainting because each time I hit my head could be the last time I hit my head. A brain injury on top of another brain injury could be fatal or other terrible things that I’d personally find to be worse than fatal.

Anyhoo- enough of the fatalistic thinking. Bleh.

My cardiologist says that he knows why I faint (tachycardia), but he doesn’t know the cause of the tachycardia, so he is sending me to another cardiologist that specializes in electrical problems of the heart and said that he’s going to advise that he surgically place an internal heart monitor. Here's some information about it if you're curious.

I would have this for up to a year, depending on how often I faint.

He also ran a slew of blood tests today.

It would certainly be nice to get to the bottom of this and get it treated so I quit bonking and breaking things. I’ve gained almost 20 lbs since breaking my foot because I’m supposed to stay off of it as much as possible until it’s healed. My instructions are, when it starts to hurt, get off of it. That takes about 10-15 minutes, which isn’t very long. I can’t even ride the bike because it involves moving my ankle around (where the stuff is torn.)

Summer is coming and I want to be ACTIVE again.

I go back to see the foot surgeon in April to see if surgical intervention is required.

Surgery, surgery, surgery. Thank goodness for health insurance.

BJ and I have been going through our tax stuff the past few weeks. There's lots to do, since we're both self-employed.

I proclaimed today as "the day I get rid of the big pile of stuff shoved in my 'stuff' drawer" and thought that I might as well add the 'honey-do' list of finance stuff that BJ has asked me for.

The stuff in my 'stuff' drawer are Dr visit reminders, insurance forms to resend, industry rags to read, etc. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. I got through the pile about 1/2 hour ago.

Next- on to the stuff I owe BJ. I've been a naughty business owner and have been co-mingling funds in my Pay'friend' account (you know- the one linked to eHay). So many things accept Pay'friend' that it's just too easy to click that button, rather than go to the other room to get my wallet and cc information.

That leaves us with a fun exercise to go through all the Pay'friend' transactions and tell BJ which is business-related and which isn't.

I just finished my report and handed it to BJ. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "don't you remember doing this with me a couple of weeks ago?" Apparently we did it in person and I printed off the same report I just did today and went through it with him line-by-line.

I don't remember any piece of that exercise- so BJ got the report and showed it to me. There it was- my handwriting and his on it. Less than two weeks ago.

I kind of freaked out about it, because if I have such a blank on this- what else have I done that I don't remember? I'm like everyone else and have 'faded' memories where details are sketchy- but I've never had a realization that I've completely erased something, especially something that happened so recently. It's kind of weird and I wonder if it has something to do with the head bonking.

BJ made me laugh though because I'm not shy about the fact that I hate anything to do with money, finance, bills, etc. He said that I must hate it so much that I completely blocked it out of my memory.

Let me know if I've been in your house and put a lampshade on my head or something.

I'm being extra careful with myself, because I can feel my stress levels rising. I'm unable to complete sentences, can't find words and, I kid you not- I forgot how to shake hands. Not quite, mind you- just enough to make it really awkward. I couldn't get my thumb right. It was almost like thumb wrestling. With a client. Way to impress, eh?

I laughed it off, saying that it was the secret handshake.

I laughed off multiple conversation bloopers with clients today, saying that this is why I am an online trainer, rather than classroom.

This has been going on for a couple of days. Bleh. Will this ever end?

Signed,
Crabby