Thursday, August 5, 2021

 Thursday, August 5, 2021

 

    My morning was free. I went out to do the shopping I had planned for Wednesday. My first stop was Target to pick up Hersey’s Milk Chocolate nuggets or kisses with whole almonds. Then to the UPS store to drop off two returns to Amazon. A pair of shorts I ordered were a knit instead of woven cotton. It pills—also, two USB cords with the wrong plug for my appliances. Then to the bank to cash a check. Then home. I got home to wrote before heading out for my physical therapy appointment.

      I had 24 sessions two years ago and discovered this great PT, Katie Click. She’s a whole different order of PT than I had in Ohio. They only worked on the one muscle the doctor mentioned in the prescription. Katie looks at my entire body and can work on anything at her discretion. 

      My prescription was for my foot, my hips, and my back. I didn’t consider my foot a problem. While it hurt a lot initially, I felt little distress in that area now, even though it was still somewhat swollen. Sometimes at odd moments, like when I lie down. I think the change of position generates some discomfort.  

     I told Katie that I was seriously considering hip replacement surgery. I had even less flexion in my hip because of my fall. I don’t think I go much beyond 200 in my left hip. I am pretty limited. Dorothy, my sister, told me she does squats after her hip replacement. Katie said I had to remember that my degree of flexion would still be limited with the hip replacement. Flexion beyond 900 can cause the artificial hip to pop out of its socket. Besides that problem, which I will ask the doctor to address, I need to have another bone density examined. Do I have enough bone left to hold a THR? Also, I think it is time to get an MRI on my left inner thigh muscle, Michael’s muscle, the one he wrenched. Is it torn? If it is, my hip flexion may be limited even after the hip replacement. If so, I do not want to have major surgery and artificial body parts for nothing. I also want to ask the doctor if it’s possible to shave down the bone spurs on my hip joint instead of removing the whole thing. Why not? I know age is a factor. As I write, I wonder if I can pay some doctor for this procedure out of pocket. I can’t imagine Kaiser approving something so unconventional. 

       Katie did a careful examination of my alignment. She had me twist left and right. She noted that I had a great range of motion to the left than the right. She gave me an explanation. She had to repeat the information three times before I understood what she was saying. Here’s my wording: my default spinal alignment is an exaggerated twist to the right instead of being in neutral. This is why my twist to the left is greater; some of that twist is just getting my alignment to neutral in the first place. My twist to the right is smaller because I was already twisted in that direction. I don’t have that much left to go. Goal: get my spine to neutral. Katie suggested I swing my knees over to the left. I grabbed the seat of the bench with my left hand and pulled hard. That got my hips and legs and spine into correct neutral alignment. Wow! I’ve gotten far enough, so a small move like that will get me there. I’m almost to a straight spine. What will I be like then? Will all the bone sculpting from years of misalignment cause me more trouble than a straight spine is worth?

      I had a session with A at 4 pm. This poor kid; he hates his problem. He hates working on his problem. He hates being different, not normal. I talked about releasing the evolutionary-induced fear of not being like others. He said he felt better after the release. However, he doubled over in shame/pain at the end of the class when facing his inability to read the way he wanted to. I don’t know how to help him release his self-judgment so he can allow himself to be helped.