Another fall

I got up early to do my Sunday chores, make coffee, and let the dogs out/feed the animals. I was finishing up and was about to wake up my friend, and only had to take out the trash, the litter, some reusable shopping bags, and the recyclables. I also had some soda out in the trunk of the car that I was going to bring in so I'd be awake and perky for the Call of Cthulhu game. I was going down the steps of the porch with the first load and had a sudden pain in my right hip area like I'd pulled a muscle, but I made it on down. This was on top of the sciatica I've been having, which has not only been painful, but it's been making me have trouble lifting my right foot completely--something that's already an issue, as that was the foot that was slightly turned in when I was born but corrected as I grew.

I was coming back up and I had to come up with my left foot first, which is my bad side (my bad knee), and it gave out and I somersaulted completely off the porch, thankfully not hitting the concrete or brick as far as I know.I did hit the ground hard and wound up in the front garden on top of the Virginia creeper and a rose bush next to the front porch. I couldn't move at first, and I tried calling my friend (I try to keep my phone on me for this very reason), but he was asleep, and he is very hard to wake up. I tried to sit up, but I was really dizzy. I was contemplating calling 911, but decided to give it another try, and I finally managed to do sit up after the second call. I was skinned up on my right arm (I think that did hit the porch) and pretty much sore all over, especially my right hip and my right shoulder. I called a third time, with no success.

I managed to roll over away from the porch, then crawled over to it and bring myself up. I'd thankfully missed the petunias completely, although I'd fallen on a couple of logs. I went up the couple of smaller stairs with my hands and feet, then carefully went up the bigger step that had been the problem before, all without my sandals on, so I'd be in contact fully with the concrete, and picked up the soda and my shoes, and pulled myself over the step into the threshold by using the wall and post. I then put things down.

I then stopped my arm from seeping blood where it had been skinned up, walked back to my roommate's bedroom, and slapped him on his leg and woke him up, telling him I'd fallen and he'd slept through the whole thing and I hated how deeply he slept. He did apologise, and we talked about how I could have been there all morning, dead for all we knew, and he'd have gone and gotten his coffee, assuming I'd gone somewhere, and he'd be sitting there watching Charmed, and our friend would find me in the front garden next to the porch laid out on the roses.

Anyway, I'm resting now. I don't think I need to go to the ER. I am very sore, especially on my right hip and lower back. My friend told me to make sure not to lie down because I'll just go to sleep and we're not 100% I didn't hit my head, at least on the ground or a log, at least not on the porch, though. The funny thing is it didn't knock my glasses off my head or my earbuds out of my ears. I really did a complete somersault. I was heading towards the door, fell towards the house, and wound up with my feet towards the walkway and my head next to the brick wall, face up, just like I decided to lie down next to the porch for some reason.

I need to invest in some heavy-duty bubble wrap, I think I need to start coming in through the back door. There are two smaller steps and a wall to steady oneself with--but the back gate is really hard to open.

Sigh. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

I guess I won't be going to the pill bottle collection held by one of the UK sororities today. They collect empty, clean bottles to be used in other countries, and collect them today from 1-2 pm at several library locations, but I am not going down those stairs today.

PS My roommate gets to take out the recyclables and cat litter after he has some coffee, wakes up, and maybe before he has his study session online. 🙂

UPDATE:

My roommate has instituted two new very logical house rules:

1. He will take the trash out from now on (he's already taking the bins to the street, as I can no longer do it).
2. I am not to go up and down the stairs without my cane.

In the meantime, there is a temporary rule that I am not to lie down till 10 PM just to be on the safe side in case of concussion. I must admit that while I am not sleepy, I am sore and tired, and I have ice on my butt. It is helping quite a bit.

I scraped up my right arm the worst, plus a little on my right pinky and knee

Wow...I've missed two whole months of posting...

 Sorry about that. I've been a bit busy. I've:

• Taken a new position at work
• Have been trying to work on my health, particularly my shoulder and dizziness
• Have a new diagnosis
• Started with a new behavioural therapist
• Wrapped up with three health providers (two are retiring)
• Have had an MRI and determined the cause of the freaking amount of pain I've been in
• Have been really tired and in pain, so I've been crashing a lot

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PART ONE:

The Health Emergencies

So, in February, I had not one, but two, emergency room visits. The first was a haemorrhagic urinary tract infection, where basically my back hurt all day, I was in some pain, and then suddenly I couldn't pee despite really needing to do so and feeling like I was going to burst, and then suddenly I was peeing blood instead. This was alarming, so I called my primary care provider, who thought I might be passing a kidney stone, so called a friend to take me to the ER [I'd had some reason I couldn't drive, I think, either a medicine or car trouble], where I found out after many hours and imaging (CT scans) that I did not have a kidney stone, but rather a raging E. coli bladder infection--something I hadn't had for years, and which I'd never had this particularly type of before. Apparently blood seeps from the lining of the bladder. But they wouldn't let me go until I could produce a urine sample, which was something like five hours, and then it was such a scant amount, barely the minimum they needed to run the test. I got put on two fairly major antibiotics. I had an excuse but went to work the next day feeling like crap because I couldn't afford and occurrence. We'd had bad weather in January and I'd had one where I'd got stuck on the glazed icy street after a snowstorm and the tow truck couldn't get down my street. My boss had told me to stay home before I could suggest trying to take the bus in, so I did. But I got an occurrence. So there was that. I couldn't afford to take one. But between my coinsurance for my medication and that visit, I met my out of pocket for my health insurance, so that was something, at least.

Then, about the time I got over that, I went to get kitty litter while doing my chores before the Sunday Cthulhu game, I picked a 25-lb. box of Fresh Step off the shelf  and tried to get it into the cart. I felt and heard a large pop in my biceps, and at that point knew I'd ruptured it. I'd been through this before, when I'd fallen in November 2023 and hurt my left shoulder, which required a biceps tenodesis and rotator cuff repairs for both tears of the biceps tendon and several in the rotator cuff. I got home, and when Brenda arrived for the game, I asked her to take me to the ER again.  We were there for quite some day. They did x-rays but no MRI. They said if I'd torn my biceps tendon there would be a bruise.  This was all on my dominant right hand. My hand was numb, and white. They thought that might be a reaction to the trauma, but my arm wasn't broken (I didn't expect it to be). Then they sent me home and told me to take ibuprofen. Again, I had an excuse for two days, but went to work anyway.

The next day I had a very nasty bruise right over my biceps.  Ding, ding, ding!

I made an appointment with my orthopaedist who did the rotator cuff/tenodesis last year. He said I most likely tore the long head of my biceps tendon up near the shoulder itself this time, and that it was probably on its way already, and it had been hurting when I reached for them in the checkout bay. He said that it was attached in two places, so they'd normally clip the long head anyway and see how it healed, so it sort of did what it would do, but that in 40-5% of people, they also injure the rotator cuff, so he'd suggest waiting a month to see how it would do. At first it did seem to be getting better, than it went downhill from there. By the time I went back at the beginning of April, it was clear that I was most likely in that 40-50%. So he ordered an MRI. The MRI showed a completely torn biceps tendon at the long head, with degenerative issues in the rotator cuff and at least three tears in the tendons of the rotator cuff. So. Yeah. He knows his stuff.

But I saw him the other day. He thought even with all that physical therapy would be better than surgery and strengthening would help more, but I have already been through shoulder PT and have pullies, bands, and weights, so he recommended a home exercise programme. So I'm going to focus on that. He also told me to cut back on the ibuprofen. I have been taking the absolute max, and I know it. It's just been hurting so much, all of it--shoulder, knees, etc., that it's been hard to function otherwise. So I'm down to the standard 400 mg. about three times a day. I was taking twice that, for awhile. And that's not good for my kidneys, especially as a diabetic.  So I did take his advice, because, well, I do know better, and he went to med school for four years plus all those residency and fellowship years. :)

Anyway, I've been trying to focus on my health for the last five months. I've also had a lot of dizziness. It started last autumn, well, really before that, I've gone through physical therapy before, but it hasn't resolved it, and it's coming in spells lasting from an hour to a couple of weeks. I'm thinking it may be a problem with my inner ear.  I always seem to have what my PCP likes to call 'Eustachian tube dysfunction', because they're stuffy a lot. So I have an audiogram and visit with an otolaryngologist (ENT) scheduled on May 30th. Oddly enough, just after I made the appointment, the last spell stopped. Of course. But that's good, right? Hopefully, he'll be able to give me some answers.

This is going to be a long post. I'm already tired. Maybe it's best to break them up.

More to come...

On Saturday

I took a pretty bad tumble at Kohl's coming out of the store and crossing the curb. It was one of those gradual ones for the carts and was marked, but I kind of stepped on the slanted part and just went down to the ground. A couple of guys came by and made sure I'd gotten hurt and check if I needed steadying as I got up. Fortunately, I didn't fall into traffic or break my glasses (which would have meant that I couldn't have driven home). Also, I was wearing jeans, so while I came down on my right knee hard, and it is red, it's not bleeding much. My right elbow is scraped up pretty badly. Both palms of my hands are scraped and my left wrist (which is already a jumble of bones, as at some unknown point in my childhood it was broken, according to x-rays from a couple of years ago,) is really hurting.  All the fingers are sore, especially if I make the 'ok' sign. My shoulders are both sore, not from direct hits, but the impact shock. It happened about 12:20 pm and finally about 6:30 I went to the urgent treatment centre for x-rays and to make sure nothing was broken.  I just have a mild sprain in my knee and a bad sprain in my wrist and hand, so I've been taking ibuprofen, icing it, and wearing a brace (the night splint I already had at night, a smaller one during the day).  

As YKWIA says, I am a danger to myself (but not others). I hate being a klutz.

No word on the dog yet

but we did come back from the pharmacy to discover the muzzle hanging from the screen door, which probably isn't a good sign. YKWIA said he'd stop by in a couple of days and ask about it, when they've had some time to recover from the shock. He barely slept last night. A lot of people think he's somewhat heartless, but he has a soft spot for animals and kept thinking about how it could have been one of his own, on occasions when there have been breakouts. One dog actually did go out the front door one time behind someone, got out, and disappeared. She wound up several miles away, on Richmond Road, someone found her, and they dropped her off at the night drop-off at the Lexington Humane Society, so they were thankfully reunited. How she managed not to get hit I have no idea, especially as she has border collie markings so is mostly black, and it was night.

I've come home, made some macaroni and cheese with white cheddar shells (which always look like trilobites to me when I see them flattened on a wooden spoon) and some of the beans, which are softer after sitting a couple of days and pretty decent, actually. I' going to prepare and roast some potatoes, onions, and garlic now in a little olive oil with herbs, so I'll have something for later. It's the first time I've used a glass baking dish, so wish me luck--YKWIA once had a very old one just totally explode and crack, and I had just gotten my set of three, so I've been a little reluctant to use them. But I realised I don't actually own a metal baking pan, just a Bundt pan and cookie sheet. That will have to be rectified when I have a little money. Okay, I'm off to cook.

Well

KoKo (CoCo? Cocoa?) is still hanging on and his people know what happened and are with him. They called and if animal control is called, he will most likely be euthanised. There is an emergency vet on Southland who will put him down for free but if they want treatment, it's $93 just for the exam, without x-rays, fluids, etc.--the things he needs. So they're trying to figure out what to do. But he has calmed down, isn't barking anymore, and is doing better now that they're on the scene. He'd been hit to the side of the road, so he's in a place where he won't be hit again. YKWIA brought out the muzzle and showed them how to put it on, so at least when they move him, no one will get bitten. YKWIA thinks he may have a broken hip. That's not good--when my cat broke his hip years ago, he was in an animal hospital for a month, which is very costly. He is apparently fairly old and has been hit before--you can tell from how he walks, actually. I'm afraid the only choice may be to put him down. Like I said, he's a sweet dog, rarely barks, just makes his rounds. I certainly would rather they keep him on leash, of course, and that would have prevented this whole thing, but right now I'm just hoping the best thing for KoKo can be done and that he won't suffer too badly. :(

I feel disoriented

I fell asleep around 7 pm and at one point woke up and thought the morning light was coming through the windows, but of course, the sun was still up. Just now I got a call from YKWIA that a man had banged on the door asking if the dog that had been hit out front was his (he drove off, even though he was the one that hit it), and the dog was dying. This is a medium-sized ginger dog that mostly stays across the street at the corner house, but roams the neighbourhood on a circuit every day. I asked if he'd checked with them, as I am reasonably sure they're the owners, and he was going to and if the dog isn't theirs, I'll go over there and we'll try to take it to the emergency vet on Southland. So I'm waiting back word. It's a sweet dog; I hate to hear that it got hit. I worry about it whenever it's out and about, as some people go down his street blazing, and it's an older dog and fairly slow. :(

So I got up and got re-oriented in time and space, and I'm drinking a big glass of ice water and fretting about the dog. I'll give him till 11:30 pm and then call back and check on it to see what's going on. I'm glad it's not either of the two that I'm auntie to. They don't normally run loose, but one is adept at taking boards off the fence, so that's sometimes an issue.

I feel a little better

not so much from sleeping but from a nice, hot shower this morning. It loosened the muscles that were so tight around my neck and I can actually move it with just a little pain. I got up a little early this morning again (not so early as yesterday, it took awhile to get moving). So I'm not having to rush.

Yesterday I got something interesting at Walgreens, of all places. They have socks especially designed for people who work on their feet. They have massaging bars of terrycloth on the soles, and I have to say my feet, combined with all the other measures I've done, felt better. They're by Peds.

I can already tell that I'm starting to pronate in my shoes. I guess I'll have to replace them more often than normally recommended. Still, for now, they're feeling better, although I did try to twist my ankle yesterday getting into my cubicle (I have about a foot of room to enter, when they put the chairs at the computer, and even though I removed all those boxes from the library yesterday, I came back downstairs to find three new boxes at the end of my cubicle. Figures. So I had a momentary issue navigating.

The other day, though, before we played the game, I almost went through a window. I tripped over the leg of a cedar chest whilst trying to plug in a battery charger and pitched forward, catching myself before I went through the glass. Then I dropped all the batteries, and started laughing. But is there any wonder I got AFLAC this year? I am a danger to myself (but rarely to others, at least). I think it was because I was wearing my glasses and misjudged where to step. But it could have been very bad had I not caught myself.

Here's hoping today will be quiet and no potential injuries ensue. I don't have to work at the store today, so I'm going over to YKWIA's. Have a good day.