good riddance, 2020!

So...how many of us are elated 2020 will be done and gone by midnight? I can't imagine many people are disappointed. That said, while 2020 sucked (pandemic; we lost several kitties--Oscar, Tessa and Tigger), there were some good things that happened.

Health

Back Surgery

I finally had my lumbar fusion back in March. I no longer have sciatica, which is great. Recovery went well physically for the most part.  My first surgery was March 3, right when the pandemic was picking up speed, and the second was March 17, which is when schools started shutting down and events were being cancelled. Recovering from back surgery during a pandemic was tough, because I probably would have felt better if I'd been able to get back to a regular routine earlier. With everything being shut down, my life became just trips to the pharmacy and the grocery store, and that was only after I could drive myself. I took a few trips prior, as I was absolutely desperate to get out of the house. 

Mentally, it was...rough. That's probably an understatement. While it really sucked having to be home all the time due to the pandemic, and then moving to remote-only work once I was cleared to start working again, it was much harder coming off the opioid pain medication, which I'd been on for almost a year. At the time I had absolutely no idea that weaning off after so long could cause depression and anxiety--two things I'd never dealt with before. I really, really wish the doctor or the physician's assistants had told me what to expect. But they didn't. (I assume it's because the pain management doctor was managing my pain meds before surgery, and then that was transferred to the back surgeon's team. And don't get me started on the PAs--they sometimes made me feel like a drug addict.) I knew about the possible physical side effects--thankfully I didn't have any--I knew nothing about the mental effects. So, since I had no idea all this emotional turmoil was common, I spent weeks getting worse and worse, thinking I was just a basket case and having no idea what was going on. My poor husband had no idea what to do with me.  (And, honestly, I didn't even know what to do with myself.) I contacted the doctor's office to ask if it was the gabapentin, since that can cause issues. They took me off of it, but I was still a mess. After talking to several people in my life, it became apparent that all of this was the effect of weaning off the pain meds. I contacted the office again and the PA's answer was, "We don't prescribe anti-anxiety meds. Go see your primary doctor or a therapist." By the time I finally got an appointment with the primary doctor, I was just about done with the meds, but she prescribed an anti-depressant, which I don't think helped at all. But once I was off the pain meds, the depression and anxiety just magically went away. Never once did the PAs ever suggest that maybe it was the pain meds and the fact I was weaning off after a year. 

I'm back to working out now. Although I'd gone through physical therapy and started doing some light workouts at home--partly to get back into shape and build my strength, but also to feel a little bit "normal"--I didn't go back to my personal trainer until October, mostly because he needed emergency knee surgery, but also because I wasn't cleared to do all that much yet, which meant I wouldn't really get my money's worth from going to the trainer. 

I'm having some issues with my hips now, so I plan to see the hip doctor. My back surgeon gave me several cortisone shots for bursitis, but they didn't help the second time around. The hip issue makes it hard to sit at my desk for very long.  Since I have a desk job, that makes work difficult sometimes. It's a bit depressing to have fixed one problem and now be dealing with another. But at least my back is fixed, I guess!

Some days.                                                                Other days.

Cancer Scare

A couple months ago I had an abnormal mammogram for the first time in my life--I'm 46 so I admittedly haven't had all that many yet. It was very unexpected and I was beating myself up for being six months late, which was due to COVID and the back surgery recovery. The whole time I told my logical self that it's very likely nothing since breast cancer doesn't run in my family and if it IS something, it's very early and would be completely treatable.  But my emotional self was scared as hell that it would be something. I had another mammogram on that one breast along with an ultrasound and was then told it's very likely nothing, but I had a choice to come back in six months for another mammogram or have an MBI done, which stands for molecular breast imaging. It's like a cross between a mammogram and an MRI, along with an injection of a radio tracer. I went for the MBI for peace of mind, as I know people who either knew or suspected something was wrong an ignored it; were misdiagnosed and it was too late once they got a correct diagnosis; or were just completely blindsided because there were no symptoms. Although it was nerve-wracking, it turned out to be nothing! Now it's just a matter of checking up on it every six months.

Weight

We won't go there.  All I need to say about this is that I had two back surgeries during a pandemic and also had to deal with coming off opioid pain meds. I've got some work to do in the kitchen and out in the gym...

Finances

We were able to sell our old house right before the pandemic hit.  We'd we'd rented it out to various people when we moved six years ago.  That was a huge mistake, but thankfully we no longer have to worry about that house or anything else that goes along with it. The closing was about a week before my back surgery.  Now that we don't have another mortgage to worry about, we've been able to pay off some credit cards, though we still have a long ways to go.

Christmas

How does Christmas manage to come so fast every year? Especially this year. I thought for sure this year would drag by slowly, but it seems to have gone by faster than any other year. To me, at least.

As usual, we went to Old Sturbridge Village for their Christmas by Candlelight program. Given the pandemic, it was different this year. There were attendance restrictions and people were not able to go inside the buildings or get food samples, which is normally my favorite part, especially the mulled cider. Some exhibits were moved outside, while others were done inside, but the windows and/or doors were open so people could look in. Parts of the village that are normally closed for this program were open this year, like the Freeman Farm and the blacksmith shop, where we got to watch them making sleds. They also piped music throughout the village, which was a nice touch. We didn't spend as much time as we normally do since much of the time we spend there is usually inside the buildings, which were mostly off limits, but we still had a good time. We came home with goodies from the gift shop, like village-made tin lanterns and books about old houses, and a local antique store where I got more antique glass Christmas ornaments. Afterwards we went to a late dinner at the Oxhead Tavern.

Some of my "new" ornaments:

At Old Sturbridge Village:

We got two Christmas trees, just like we always do. There's a small tree farm about 20 minutes away and you can cut your own tree. Any tree, no matter how big, is just $30.00. I can get two trees for less than the cost of one from a local pre-cut tree lot (pre-cut trees usually start around $55-$60 and go up from there). One tree is decorated with C9 lights and antique glass ornaments, like the kind I had growing up. I think I now have enough antique ornaments to cover the tree without filling in spots with new ones, though I still put the plastic unbreakable ones on the bottom so the cats don't ruin anything. The other tree has the standard miniature lights and modern ornaments. This year we put that one in the living room and the one with the old fashioned decorations in the den near the fireplace. Given how small the den is we had to find a smaller tree. It fits well and we don't have to maneuver around it.

On Christmas Eve I burned the traditional bayberry candle, which is supposed to bring luck and good fortune to the house in the new year--let's hope 2021 is better than 2020! (The second one will be burned tonight.) Christmas day was a small affair--just me and my husband. It was his first Christmas off in several years, so we decided to stay home. Plus, you know, COVID. We opened gifts, relaxed, watched Christmas shows and movies, and played with the new Atari Flashback I bought for us.  I made a small prime rib, which I'll use the leftovers to make hash, along with mashed potatoes and carrots. It was a good, relaxing day.

I have no plans for tonight other than to make dinner--probably a cheddar BBQ meatloaf--, hang out with my husband and the cats, and maybe play some Atari Flashback. :)

Happy New Year, everyone! PLEASE let 2021 be better!! 

Apparently Bailey has had it with 2020.

life lately

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, so I guess it's time. Actually, it's time for ANY post. I'm getting worse with posting. I often just don't feel like writing anymore.  Anyway...

Back Pain

This has improved. Last time I posted I had just had radio frequency ablation on the left side of my lumbar spine. I saw some good pain relief. I had the right side done a few weeks ago, and that went well, too. I haven't seen quite as much improvement on that side; however, I'm told that it can take up to six weeks to feel the full effects of the ablation.

I will say that other areas are bothering me at the moment, such as the sciatic nerves on both sides, as well as my elbows and one knee. That said, I'm in between jobs at the moment--even though I'm working out consistently, I'm doing WAY more sitting around than I did when I was working at a desk all day. I'm confident that once I go back to work next week, things will improve.

Work

I mentioned in my last post that I'm starting a new job soon. That's because the bank I worked for was sold to another bank and I didn't get a job offer from the acquiring bank. No big deal. I really didn't want to work for that bank, or commute that far, anyway. I do have another job lined up at another bank, which starts next week.

Everyone asks me, "Are you excited about the new job?" Hmm. I'm not sure, really. I wouldn't really say I'm "excited" the way I would be if I was willingly leaving my last job for greener pastures. I mean, I'm glad I got another job quickly so I won't have to worry about being able to pay my bills; however, I didn't move on to another job by choice. Also, I didn't really want to go back into a bank. Instead, I wanted to work for a vendor that has banks as its clients, but that didn't pan out. I guess I could say the part I'm "excited" about is that one of my responsibilities is to affect change within the department. Not in terms of people, but in terms of policy and procedure. I like trying to figure out those types of things. I think it will be challenging, which is something I can be excited about.

Oh, and I took and passed a certification exam for my area of expertise. The picture up top is of Tiffany. She was "helping" me study, as were these clowns, Arlo and Emily.

Diet and Exercise

This is a mixed bag, as always. While my workouts are on point--five days a week without fail--my eating is...not.  Still. My last job ended very recently and I told myself I'd use the little time I have in between jobs to get my diet straightened out. Guess what?  I didn't. I've probably been eating worse than usual since my days now have no routine at all, other than going to the gym or the occasional errand. I'm looking forward to going back to work next week, if only to get myself back into a routine and away from the kitchen.

During my time off I've been using the gym in town, which is only $10.00 per month--can't beat that! I could do most of my workout at home and improvise the exercises that require a machine, but I chose to go to the gym so I at least get myself out of the house for a couple hours each day. Plus I have a membership so I might as well use it!

My trainer uses the same gym and I've run into him several times. We talk for a few minutes and then go our separate ways usually. A couple times, though, he used it as an opportunity to say, "Here, let's try this machine!" Which is fine because it gave me another thing to incorporate when I get bored of doing the same thing. But it's a new exercise I haven't done before, which means I'm SORE the next two days and that runs right into my next session with him and he decides to work those same muscles. Of course he does! Very sore!!  I have to say, though, I really enjoyed seeing him work as hard as he makes me work. He was sweating and sometimes struggling just as much, which was really satisfying!

One thing I'm not thrilled about at the new job is that they don't have an in-house gym. I know I was quite lucky that my last company had one and it was literally about 20 feet from my office, but it still stinks. I used that gym four days per week. I would go in there at 4 pm, do my workout, and then go home for the day. And it had all the equipment I needed. I know I could just go to the regular gym, but I really hate having to go after work when there's four times as many people and they all want the same machines. There's a gym down the road from work, but I'd have the same issue there. For the time being I plan to do my workout in the house. Once it warms up, I can go outside on the patio.

Wrap-Up

I'll wrap this post up by saying that I'm really disappointed in myself that I didn't do more with my time off. I thought that having free time would make me want to do All The Things, including writing more blog posts and just doing some writing in general. Nope. It made me not want to do Any Of The Things. Well, I accomplished a few things, but definitely not as much as I'd hoped. But I think things will get back to normal once I'm back at work. Let's hope!

update #9: the war on back pain

I just realized it's been two months since I last wrote an update, but I wanted to wait until I had some news. Well, I do now.

I mentioned in my last update that I'd had a medial branch block, which was a diagnostic procedure to determine if there was pain coming from the facet joints in my lumbar area--there was.  I had it done again to confirm and got the same results, so I was scheduled for the radio frequency ablation ("RFA").

Emily

I had the first half of the RFA this past Thursday. They did four levels of the lumbar area on the left side, L1 through L4. The right side will be done on February 4.

In the days leading up to the procedure I was very nervous. The doctor's assistant described the procedure to me during my last follow-up appointment. He said that it was just like the medial branch blocks, but the needles would be hollow. The needle would vibrate with electricity, which would burn a lesion into each nerve, the purpose being to interrupt the pain signal to the brain, which results in not feeling the pain. He said that I wouldn't feel anything more than what I felt with the branch blocks. Those weren't as painful as the cortisone shots I'd had, but there was discomfort. And he said I wouldn't feeling the part where they burn a lesion onto the nerve at all. Yeah right! I didn't believe him for a second--I'm a total baby when it comes to pain from procedures.   All day Thursday I was trying to decide if I should take a half a Percocet, which I hoard so I don't have to ask for more; or just Tylenol, which is almost useless on me these days; or take nothing at all, which is what some people advised since they'd be stimulating the nerve and I'd need to be able to feel it. I opted to take some Tylenol about a half hour beforehand.

They starting by rubbing my back down with iodine and then placed a grounding pad on my right side so I don’t get electrocuted. They do use electricity after all! The doctor injected a little Novocaine (or whatever they use) to numb up the four insertion points a bit. Yeah, that doesn't really work. After needle insertion the doctor then stimulated each nerve to make sure the needle was placed in the right spot. First he made the nerve vibrate and then made it twitch, which felt weird. No pain at all, though. Then he started burning the lesion on the nerve. I didn’t feel that at all on the first two nerves and had no idea he had even done it until he said, “OK, same thing. Tell me when you feel the nerve vibrating,” which meant he’d moved onto the next one. The third one I felt a little, but it was hardly anything. The fourth, which was at the L1, felt like pressure. It wasn’t painful, though. Overall, I’d say it was 20 minutes from the time I got on the table to the time I got up. After I got up I lost my balance for a couple seconds, but it might have been the head rush after laying on my stomach.  Afterwards, my toes tingled for about 15 minutes, kind of like my foot had fallen asleep slightly.

So all in all, it was not horrible at all! Honestly, the most pain was from the needle insertion and that was basically like getting a regular shot or blood drawn. I'm not nervous at all about the next one.

We left and went to get food–I couldn’t eat for four hours beforehand so food was my first priority. Well, that’s when the pain set in. If anyone has had cortisone shots, you know the pain I mean. It was mostly my left butt cheek and the upper thigh in back, but oh man! I had a hard time sitting through dinner.  When we got home and I was just counting the hours until I could legitimately go up to bed (being in bed too long makes my back hurt more). I spent my time going down a rabbit hole on You Tube, looking to discover music I like. At 9 pm I took a half a Percocet (that's all I can handle at once), some Tylenol and went to bed.

Oscar

I felt much better yesterday. I was able to sit at my desk at work ALL DAY with minimal pain! Actually, the pain last night was in my legs, because I sat much longer than usual. I feel pretty good today and was able to lay in bed longer than usual. Normally I need to get up within about 10-15 minutes of waking up, otherwise the pain starts. Today I was laying there for about an hour and then had to get up because the sciatica was starting. Of course, my mind was racing about an upcoming phone interview (woo hoo!) so that helped me to not think about my back.

They'll do the RFA on my right side on Monday, February 4, so I'll report back after that. In the meantime, it's nice to not feel like Death warmed over by the end of the day.

update #8: the war on back pain

Time for another back pain update (and another cute cat picture). This time it's good news.

This week I went for a diagnostic procedure called lumbar medial branch block. The purpose is to determine if my pain is coming from any of the nerve branches coming off the facet joints in my spine. They inject an anesthetic around the nerve branches at several vertebra levels. If the pain stops, then my pain is coming from those joints and I'd be a candidate for radio frequency nerve ablation, which basically kills or "fries" the nerve. If the pain doesn't stop after the branch blocks, then that's not where it's coming from and there's no sense in trying the ablation.

So I went in for the procedure on Monday. It was pretty much the same as when I went for the epidural cortison injections: no NSAIDs for five days before the procedure and nothing to eat or drink four hours beforehand. I had to lay face-down on the table and they used fluoroscopy to guide the needles to the injection sites in real-time. A numbing agent was injected at each site and then they did eight injections–four on each side of the spine (L2 through L5). There was some discomfort, but it didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as the epidural cortisone injections I had earlier in the year. I was instructed to do home and do all the things that would normally aggravate my pain, which is easy since sitting is what causes it for me. That, and standing in one spot for more than 10 minutes or so. I was out of the office in 20 minutes, measured from the time they called me from the lobby to the time I left. I had to keep a pain log for five hours and report the level of pain and the percentage of improvement.

I sat at my home desk for FOUR HOURS mostly without back pain. That’s huge for me, because normally I'm starting to hurt after about 10 minutes or so. My hips and upper legs ached from sitting from so long, but there was almost no back pain. When I got up from my desk for the bathroom and a few other things, I actually felt the sciatic nerve pinching every time I took a step with my left leg, but didn’t feel all the other pain I normally feel. I guess the pain coming from the joints (and not knowing it) kind of skewed how I was feeling and I just assumed it was all from the pinched sciatic nerve. The anesthetic wore off by Tuesday night, which is what is supposed to happen, but it was a somewhat blissful couple of days!

I went into this without really any hope that it work since other things haven’t worked very well up until now. Well, it DID work! It also made me realize that I have pain not only from that sciatic nerve, but from the joints as well. Overall, I would estimate I got about a 75% reduction in pain.

I go back for my follow-up in a couple weeks, so I plan to tell them I want the ablation. I'm wondering, though:  how do they know which nerve to kill? They did eight injections spanning the L2 through L5, so how would they know which one to kill? Do they do another branch block procedure for only certain areas? Guess I'll find out in a couple weeks!

life lately

Time for another update on life since I couldn't come up with anything interesting to post about.  I lasted posted a life update in July.

Cats

Leia had to go to the vet this week. She started showing signs of a urinary tract infection:  frequent litter box usage, only peeing a little each time, taking a long time in the box, licking. I brought her in and it turns out it's not a UTI. They think it's stress-related, but took a urine culture just in case. She has to have prescription food for awhile and we'll see how that goes. They're a little concerned because the original sample, the one they tested for infection, shows that her urine is a bit diluted. I'm hoping they don't say she has kidney disease. They gave her subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with pain medication. She stayed in the bedroom for awhile so I could monitor her litter box usage (with 11 cats, it's difficult to know who's doing what and when). She seems to be doing fine now. I haven't yet received the results of the culture, so I'm hoping nothing else comes up.

Car

Someone hit the back of my car in a parking lot and took off. I've had the car for less than a year, so I'm pretty annoyed. There goes my deductible! Since the paint is damaged, I had to fix it so it doesn't rust or get worse.  I don't understand why people do things like that. I'm guessing they know they won't get caught and are counting on the fact that it won't be noticed right away. And they're probably uninsured, unlicensed, or both. Anyway, it's fixed now. I guess the one bright spot is that the body shop washed my car, completely detailed the inside, and inflated my tires, which were a little low.

House

We're currently in the middle of putting down a vinyl plank floor in the family room. It wasn't planned. We just decided that since we had gotten rid of the couch and hadn't yet replaced it, why don't we tear up the (very) disgusting carpet and put down either laminate or vinyl?  So we ripped it up and, yes, it was really gross. I mean, I've got 11 cats and it's also a high-traffic area of the house. Bob has been working on laying the new floor down this week, but we'll probably spend part of the weekend finishing it up.

The hard part is working around the hatch in the floor, which is for the well. Yes, our well is under the family room. Our house was built in 1735 and the well was outside at that point. At some point in the early 1900s (we think), the family room was added. Rather than connect to the city water, the home owner decided to build an enclosure around the well and put a hatch in the floor so it can be accessed. Brilliant...not! Sure, it's cool to look at, but it's going to be REALLY expensive when the time comes to replace the well pump.

Here's the hatch in the floor.

And here's the well. Pretty amazing, isn't it? It's hard to believe this was dug almost 300 years ago with hand tools, and it's perfectly round. You can see how far down the water is. 

Back Pain

Last time I updated I mentioned that I wasn't doing anything else for awhile since I'd reached the limit of epidural cortisone shots I could have  in nine months. Now that summer is over, I've scheduled an appointment to see about getting them again. Even though they didn't last more than three weeks each time previously, it was still a great help when it came to sleeping.

Sleeping seems to be the biggest problem for me, mainly because, well, I need to sleep. When I'm sore from sitting (and sitting is the thing that causes most of the pain), I can just get up from my desk, the couch, whatever and walk around for awhile. I can't do that when I'm sleeping. I mean I could, but then it would take me awhile to fall back asleep and I'll end up more tired the next day. My standard practice at the moment is to take half a Tylenol PM and either one or two regular Tylenol at bedtime. I substitute half a Percocet for the Tylenol PM if I really need it, but I try not to do that since I sometimes feel hungover the next day. I'm getting really tired of taking pain medication every single night, so I'm thinking it's time to do the shots again, even if I only get limited relief. I'm also worried about my liver with all the acetaminophen, even though I take about half the daily maximum dosage. 

I'm trying to put off surgery until I get to the point where the pain stops me from doing certain things, like working out. I'm not at that point yet, though that could happen in the next year or two. 

Work

I mentioned in my last "life lately" post that my company was acquired. I've since learned that my job will end towards the end of February, so that means another job search. I'm actually not upset that I didn't get an offer from the acquiring company; I know many people that have worked there, and there's a reason they left.

It's a little too early to start searching, but I look everyday just to see what's out there...and there's not much. I'm thinking I may want to change industries, as I've been in the same one for 22 years, but that could mean a pay cut that I really can't afford right now. Lots of people have been telling me to "think outside the box" and that sounds good right about now. I'm someone who needs change, so going into another industry could be the shot of excitement I need, career-wise. It's scary, but exciting at the same time to think I could be doing something quite different this time next year.

update #7: the war on back pain

I went for a follow-up with my orthopedic doctor in regards to my back pain. This was the follow-up after the two cortisone injections I had. I thought I was going to hear about a simple pain relief outpatient procedure, which was the percutaneous disc decompression (nucleoplasty) I'd mentioned in another post. Instead, I found out that I’m actually a candidate for disc replacement or spinal fusion. Totally not what I was expecting. At all. I was kind of in shock.

Apparently the herniation in my disc is pretty big and the nucleoplasty (disc decompression) isn’t possible. A mini discectomy isn’t possible either since my disc is thinning out. I was kind of in a daze and on information overload at that point, but it was something about the condition of the disc, the size of the herniation and the very small space and location in which to do the work. The doctor said  his first choice would be fusion. Not that disc replacement can't be successful–it is for many people–but he felt for my situation, a fusion would be the best choice. A prosthetic disc can wear out and if they have to go back in to replace it at some point, they'd be working through scar tissue from the initial surgery, which could be dicey.

He ordered an updated MRI, which I had a couple weeks ago. I looked at the MRI since I have the previous one and I now know what I’m looking at, and the affected disc didn't look any better than it did six months ago. I went the following week to have him read it, and he confirmed it's not any better. He also said my scoliosis curve has started to worsen. That scares me, because it hasn't changed since I was a teenager. Hopefully it doesn't get worse. I have to assume it's gotten worse because of the disc problem.

Here are the two images of my bulging disc. The view is from the bottom, up, as though you're looking up from the floor.  That means that the right side of the image is actually the left side of my body.  The one is September 2017 and the bottom one is March 2018. As you can see, not much difference between the two.

We talked again about fusion again.  He said that I'd be out of work for a couple months and overall recovery would be quite long. I'd have to be pretty careful for at least a year so that the bones have a chance to fuse together completely. After thinking about how long the recovery would be, what my pain level is now, and the fact that a fusion could place more strain on the joints above and below the fused vertebrae making them weaker, I made the decision to not have surgery at this time. I think if my pain level was at a point where it prevented me from doing a lot of routine things, I'd definitely go for the fusion; however, my pain in more along the lines of nagging, annoying and distracting.

What will I do instead? I'm going to try one more round of cortisone injections. If these don't help, I'll have to wait until the Fall to try again, since I'm limited to three rounds every nine months. Also, I bought an inversion table. A friend of mine, who has the same disc problem I do, has been using one for years and she said it's a total lifesaver. I got it last week and I've started using it.

This is the one I bought.  It's the Teeter EP-960. I'll post more about it once I've been using it for a bit.

Other options are acupuncture or massage. The doctor also suggested chiropractic care; however, I tried that for the last two months with no luck. I had to cut the chiropractor loose last week. I was really disappointed it didn't work, since it's worked for me in the past.

I really want to get back to living my life as I was before, so I'm going to try the injections and the inversion table and see what happens. Maybe I'll be able to avoid surgery.

update: time to check the knees

Well, I went to see the orthopedic doctor last week.  My knees have been bothering me more than usual lately, so I finally made the appointment.

It was easy. Spoke to the doctor for a bit.  Told him where it hurt, when it started, that I have pain walking up and down the stairs, etc. Then they took six x-rays: one of my hips, three of my knees together and then two of the side of each knee.

The verdict:

1. Arthritis in my right knee:  on a scale of 1 to 100, it's a 1.  That's a good thing. I was expecting it to be worse, since my maternal grandmother was in a wheelchair by the time she was 70, as was bedridden shortly thereafter.  I'm still disappointed, though, because the main reason I had weight loss surgery was to prevent arthritis in my knees.
2. A bone spur at the top of each kneecap. They look like little cat claws.  Appropriate, given the fact that I'm a crazy cat lady. Nothing will be done about these for now.
3. Very tight hamstrings. Apparently the hamstrings help the front of the knee move and if they're really tight, it can cause pain in the front of the knee. The cure for this is lots of stretching.  
4. No problems with my hips, but he said they're tight. Not sure what that means, although he commented that movement seems a bit restricted in my left hip.

I went to the trainer, Mark, Friday night and he showed me some stretches for my hamstrings. Not fun!  At all.  I'd rather have had a strenuous workout than to stretch until I feel like the back of my leg will explode. I felt like I was on fire from the back of knee all the way down through my toes!  He showed me three different stretches, which he said should be done three to five times a week. The doctor had told me everyday, twice a day, so I'll aim for somewhere in the middle.

Here are some examples of the stretches I'll be doing. The goal is to be able to touch my toes. That seems really undoable right now--I can barely go past my knees!

This one is easy, and it feels good on my back, too.

In this one, my knee is supposed to be bent.  It's pretty close, though. 

This one BURNS!!!

time to check the knees

I'm finally headed to the orthopedic doctor to have my knees checked out.  I go tomorrow morning. I'm getting pretty tired of being in pain when I walk up and down the stairs.  And after almost every workout I need to ice my knees.  My trainer has been after me for weeks to make the appointment, so I finally did.  He's really good about making sure I'm working out safely ("work above the pain" and "stop if you feel stabbing pain!") and asks me every single time I see him how my knees and back are doing.  He has knees issues himself, so he's very conscious of it.  As a matter of fact, he's going this week also to see about a revision of his previous knee replacement.

I'm nervous about going tomorrow, because I'm pretty much convinced I have arthritis.  The main reason I had weight loss surgery was to try and prevent that, as my maternal grandmother had it and was in a wheelchair and then eventually bedridden by the time she was 70. Scary stuff.  But I know half the battle is being active, and that's exactly what I'm doing now. It's ironic how my knees actually felt better when I was obese.  It's only since I lost the weight that I'm having issues with them.  But I've heard from doctors that all those years of wear and tear have a tendency to catch up with people once they lose the weight.  UGH!  It's just not fair.  (Yes, I want to have a tantrum...)

Wish me luck tomorrow!