Things have improved and I am very thankful! I had to go to the ER again on Sunday night (the 21st) because pain was out of control --got shots for pain. They did x-rays to rule out injury of my feet and those came back okay. Saw surgeon on Monday. Surgeon told me to increase my pain meds --to take one every 4 hours around the clock to stay on top of the pain. He told me it is very important to keep the pain under control and not let it get to a crisis level again.
Got stitches out --and got cleared to take showers again. Took my first shower in 20 days on Tuesday morning. It was glorious. Sweet friends have brought me several meals --and I even got to go out to eat with a friend on Wednesday for lunch --got my free birthday burger from Red Robin (they have gluten free buns!!!)! They even threw in a birthday sundae!
Been doing much better pain-wise with taking the med every 4 hours. I've been late several times, though, and boy does it hurt when I'm late. So I've been setting an alarm on my phone so I take the med on time. I hate being on a narcotic as it makes me feel yucky (and my executive functioning suffers some --I'm trying to do paperwork and submit documentation for housing and for a hearing I have coming up and my poor brain is just like --well, the hamster is running a bit slower in the wheel).But this is temporary and hopefully I'll be able to go off the med soon --my pain doc started me on Gabapentin for the nerve pain and they are talking about starting me on physical therapy in a week or so --the only treatment for CRPS is physical therapy and seeing if Gabapentin helps) --and I'll be having a procedure called a sympathetic block when I start PT (have been told to call my pain doc when I am scheduled to start PT and he will bring me in to set up the procedure). For now, I am to continue taking the pain med every 4 hours and rest as much as I can with feet elevated --and do gentle range of motion exercises.
Speaking of the hearing, please be in prayer that I will find favor. Insurance denied an ultralight wheelchair for me --my neurologist had ordered one earlier this year --insurance denied and sent a not-good folding chair instead. This folding chair is not made for a person to push themselves, but is more like a transport chair where someone else would be pushing the chair. So my shoulders are greatly protesting as I've had to use this chair for a few months now (and full-time since surgery). I am sending in documentation and wrote a letter to the hearing officer explaining about my Ehlers-Danlos and dysautonomia and why the approved chair is detrimental and is causing injury. My hearing is on October 7. It will be over the phone. I am sooo nervous. I desperately need a better chair, though, so this is worth pursuing. I am a part-time chair user due to dysautonomia, Ehlers-Danlos, and mito. There are just days where it is not safe for me to walk or my symptoms put me at high risk for falls or fainting. I am losing blood flow to my brain, heart, and lungs when standing --I have been started on medication to help increase blood volume --and it is helping some --but I still have that issue and have to be careful how long I stand --so a chair is needed to keep me safe and to enable me to still do what I need to do on those days.
Still not able to return to work. My supervisor called again on Monday to see if I would be coming in. I feel bad that I had to tell her I still cannot come in --I could work if I could get the wheelchair in/out of my coworker's car and in/out and around the inside of the center where I work --but I cannot (my coworker who drives me has cp and uses a walker, so cannot load/unload the chair --plus her car is tiny and there isn't enough room. i cannot even pick up the chair at all, so cannot load it myself), so have to wait until I can at least walk with a walker before I can come back. I've been out almost a month now. I feel bad for my coworker --she has been the only Reading grader there this whole time --we had an explosion in enrollment at the beginning of the school year --have been super busy and struggling to keep up with everything with 2 Reading graders --so it really stinks that my coworker has been having to do it alone --and coming in on extra days to finish because I am out. My supervisor has been super kind and accommodating --she hopes I recover soon and wants to be kept updated. I am just wondering how long my position can be held open for me --especially with how busy the center has become. Trying not to worry about it. It's just that it took 2 years of work with vocational rehab to get this job --and I just celebrated my one-year anniversary of working there. I really, really want to return to work. I need to financially --and also just the getting out of the apartment twice a week and feeling like I am contributing something --feeling useful.
I am having a skin biopsy procedure on Tuesday morning to get several samples to see the extent of nerve damage I have. Will be just with a local anesthetic in the office. Neurologist doing the procedure. Am anxious.
I'm going to church in the morning for the first time all month and am really looking forward to it! I've missed my church family SO much! Now that the pain is more under control, I can go to church!
Speaking of which, it is 2:30 in the morning (I'm up because I slept from 6:30 to 10:00) --I should go back to sleep so I can be awake for church in the morning.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"Since the creation of the Internet, the Earth's rotation has been fueled, primarily, by the collective spinning of English teachers in their graves."
