June 5, 2014

• Home, Sweet Home

  I arrived home on Tuesday afternoon. I do not recommend back to back trips, but if you must, I do recommend making one of them with a long lost cousin.

  One of the first things I did after pulling into my driveway was check out the growing things in our backyard. The long, harsh winter did some damage, but Brett cut back the butterfly bush and the climbing roses and they appear to be growing back healthy.

  

  The peace rose has healthy green leaves growing on it. The butterfly bush has several new shoots growing out of the older, sapling-sized stalks. The butterfly garden is looking green and lush even without the towering butterfly bush.

  

  The plum trees did not fare so well. They have produced leaves and look nice and green, but there were hardly any blossoms on them this spring. I am not expecting any plums this summer.  The cherry trees, however, are producing.

  

   

  And for the first time since Brett has been planting them, the strawberries are looking like they might ripen without being ravaged by vicious hordes of bunnies!

  

   

  I ran a few errands yesterday. I was on my second-to-last stop at the vision center to pick up my new glasses when my left knee, which has been giving me trouble for several weeks but seemed to be on the mend, popped loudly and caused sudden, excruciating pain. I was in the process of sitting down at the time and got kind of stuck in limbo, holding myself up with my hands on the arms of the chair as I tried to figure out how to lower myself the rest of the way down without causing further pain. I eventually made it into the chair, got my new glasses fitted, got myself out of the chair and into my van, and sat there deciding whether to go on to the grocery store or go to the walk-in clinic. That right there should tell you how much pain I was in. I do not go to the walk-in clinic lightly, especially at the moment when my husband's employer has decided to switch flex spending card companies and has deactivated our current card and won't be sending the new card until sometime next month. I had vowed I would not go to a doctor until we had our new card, and I made time before leaving on my last road trip to stop in and order my new glasses while I could still pay for them with the old card.

  So, I went on to the grocery store and I used one of those motorized scooter/carts. It was annoying. Not the cart, but the shoppers who just stopped and blocked aisles and the stocker who blocked the entire Yoplait section and wouldn't move himself or his cart out of the way so a crippled shopper could get some yogurt. People are really clueless about how challenging it is to shop in those scooter/carts.

  By the time I got home, unloaded my three bags of groceries and put them away, I could barely limp from the counter to the refrigerator. I decided that maybe I should go see if something serious was going on with my knee and drove to the walk-in clinic. I parked near the door, limped inside and saw a sign that the walk-in clinic had moved to the other end of the building. GRRR!!!! I was already tempted to turn around and go back home, but instead I limped through the building and found the walk-in clinic. I have no idea why they tell you to fill out a form with all your personal information in it, and then they run your name and birthday through their computer and find your entire record with all the information you just wasted 10 minutes filling out while standing in pain because sitting down and standing back up are even more painful than standing. And then they wait until you grit your teeth and lower yourself onto a chair to say, "Oh, you have a $20 copay. Let's take care of that right now." GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

  I had an ice pack in my purse and applied it while I was waiting to be seen by a doctor. The doctor examined my knee and that's when I discovered that the pain was in the back of the knee (I was just feeling waves of pain until she poked, pushed and twisted my leg). She sent me for x-rays and found (A.) Arthritis - no surprise there, I could feel it taking hold in that knee over the past few months. (B.) Tendinitis - a repetitive motion injury. This is what has been causing the pain in my knee for the past month. Here's a nickel's worth of free advice: If you have problems with your knees, lift with your back. (C.) Nothing to explain why the back of my knee is so painful I was feeling ill. No baker's cyst, which is good, but also no sign of anything that could be treated to alleviate the pain. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

  This is why I do not go lightly to the walk-in clinic. Almost every single time I decide I'm sick/injured enough to warrant a doctor's expertise, I am told to just keep on doing what I've been doing. In this case, keep elevating and icing the knee. Keep taking Celebrex and Tylenol for the pain. Wear an Ace wrap (I just pulled out my old knee brace from when I sprained my other knee). So I paid $20 copay out of pocket and will be receiving a bill for the x-rays (hopefully after the new flex card arrives) only to be told once again that there's not really anything they can do to help me. RAWRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

  Okay, I'm going to limp outside and look at the garden and calm myself down. I can't do tai chi at the moment or I'd go outside and do that in the soft, green grass. I'll be fine; I just needed to vent.

  • 10:50 am
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