First Day of Women's Physical Therapy

Today I had my first "Women's" physical therapy. Thank goodness the therapist was a woman. We got to know each other a little bit, she talked to me about the Cauda Equina. Of course, she has no idea what it is, so she'll do research. I let her know that I am still numb in the saddle area, and she said okay. I had also called on Tuesday to ask if I could still come in for the Women's health visit because I had begun my period. So, here I am menstruating, and meeting the new therapist. She asks me to take off my bottoms and lie on the table. Then proceeds to spend the next 45 minutes with her fingers either in my vagina, or in my rectum. She asks me if I can feel either, I tell her no. She asks if I can squeeze, I try. She says that she can feel me squeezing, but sometimes she says that when I'm not squeezing. I'll see her again next week.

I also had my second visit for PT on my left leg. We continue working on balance, and setting my left foot down with a normal pressure instead of slamming it down. A lot of this reminds me of when I had a personal trainer at the gym. Its just basically someone forcing me to work out. It's funny though when I'm riding the exercise bike, because my left foot keeps slipping out. It doesn't matter how tight they have the strap, it just doesn't not want to stay on the foot grip.

After the therapy I am meeting with one of my new team members for brunch. We'll be starting school shortly, and I'll be teaching 3rd grade this year. I stop to use the restroom when we get to the restaurant, and as it turns out I've had a small bowel accident. Thankfully though, I've been carrying extra Depends and wipes with me. So I clean up and head out and have a nice lunch with Cindy.

Bah...

So today we were supposed to go see Trudy and the kids before they leave to go back to Michigan tomorrow. The plan was for Donna to call when everybody was up. Cody and I were going to head over for a bit, go grocery shopping and come home... hopefully before it got to hot out. I haven't heard from Donna and I call around noon (thinking everybody has got to be up by now). They are, and they are headed to the mall. They're gone for three hours, long enough for us to shop and put groceries away, and for me to develop a headache and have a bowel accident. Just lovely.

Baby Shower!!

Today I went to Jason and Carrie's for Jen's baby shower! It was so nice to see Jen. Last night I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it, because I had one of those stupid migraines that made me nauseous again. Luckily, I woke up and it was gone. I had planned to only stay for a little bit, but I was having fun. So I ended up staying for several hours. There was a point where one of the girls made me laugh, and I had a small accident, but I dealt with it. I hadn't really thought about what I would do with my soiled Depends after... luckily I had a baggie with my bathroom wipes, and I put the soiled diaper in that and was able to throw it away. This is a good idea, I think I will start putting my back up Depends into a bag, so I can throw away the soiled one easier!

Anyway, the shower was great, and Carrie did a great job with the food as always. I'm glad that I suggested we watch the video for the read aloud of "Go the F*ck to Sleep," everyone thought it was really funny. I got to just stay and chit chat with Carrie and Jen for awhile after everyone else left also. Even with the accident, it was a good day!

Let the Rare Side Effects Begin...

The Lovenox injections are no fun. I've given myself 4 now and they all sucked!! I'm getting better, but still cannot "dart" the injection. I guess one bonus of being numb in the "saddle area" is that I can't always feel the injection until after I'm done when it starts burning from the alcohol wipe, although, it is creepy to watch the needle going in. Unfortunately, even though diarrhea isn't listed as a side effect until the very bottom of the list of possible side effects, I'm experiencing it. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but when you can't control your sphincter muscle, diarrhea is even worse than normal!! I call my PCP's office and they tell me to stop the stool softener I was taking with the Percocet, and to try the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast). The items on the BRAT diet tend to constipate you (so does the Percocet) so hopefully that should help to offset the diarrhea side effect of the Lovenox. I just need to make it through the weekend until I can see my PCP on Monday morning. Thank goodness I upgraded our Netflix account to get DVDs and we have lots of Castle to watch so that I can keep my mind off of things!

New Doctor

This morning Cody drove me down to meet with the new doctor that had been recommended by my colleagues at Heritage school, PCP. She did a standard check up and she is also concerned that my blood pressure is elevated. I never had a problem before the surgery, but now it seems the blood pressure is a concern. I also had the headache the other day, so PCP puts me on Zomig (this was the last thing I was on before I stopped having the migraines years ago) for some crazy reason my insurance company only allows 4 per month! She also keeps me on blood pressure medication. I also ask what I can do because I seem to have some irritation in my pelvic area where my skin is peeling, and I think it's "diaper rash" she recommends some Desitin cream on it and to let her know if its not getting better. We drop off the prescriptions and pick them up later. I take a shower, and blow dry my hair, putting on my diaper rash cream so I can put on my Depends. I head back into the bathroom to put up my blow dryer and come back to the bed and I notice some poop on the floor. I tell Cody I think Castro has had an accident, and he tells me he doesn't think it's Castro's. He's right, it's mine. Regardless of the accident, I'm totally excited for tomorrow and promotion for my Kinders at school! First time I've seen them since the end of April, last day of school!!!

Scholastic Sale

So anybody who knows me knows that I love to read and I love to buy books for my classroom! When I found out that I'd be teaching 3rd grade, I couldn't wait to get to the sale and get some new books for my classroom library. Since getting home from the hospital, I had been worried that I would not be able to do this sale (because it is lots of walking around in a big warehouse). Things had been going well, I have lots of farting going on that I can't control (because of the sphincter muscle thing), but haven't really had any accidents, so we decide to go. Since the surgery, every time I'd been out in public I've worn Depends, so I do that with this outing as well. We get to the sale, and I fart (it’s a bit stinky) Cody makes a face, and I let him know that I just made a stinky. We go through the sale and I look at tons of books, it takes about an hour and a half to get through it. I'm totally excited about my purchases and we head home. When I'm getting out of the car, Cody says there is a spot on the back of my shorts. When I get into the bathroom I see that I've had a bowel accident. This makes me sad; it had been a little while since I had one and I thought that streak was over. We relax and watch some t.v. then I start to get a headache around 4pm. I take a Percocet, drink a Starbucks DoubleShot and then take a nap. I'm out for quite a while, Cody makes me some soup for dinner and I take another Percocet because I still have the headache, put some ice on it, I end up throwing up and then I'm finally able to go to sleep. I haven't had migraines like this in forever! Good thing I did research and found a new PCP from all of the recommendations I got from my colleagues at school!

Oops...

It was so nice to sleep in my bed last night. Even if I didn't get to sleep on my stomach like I always do. The neurosurgeon said no more stomach sleeping, that it is bad for my back. So, I took Lynn's advice and laid on my side with a pillow in front of me, and another between my knees. I slept pretty well, and managed to make it to the bathroom with a full bladder, no accident. We spent the day watching some t.v., its uncomfortable for me to sit on my bottom, because it stretches the skin on my back, so I curl on my side with a pillow between my knees. I take the Percocet every 4 hours and it knocks me out! I end up doing a lot of sleeping off and on. Once, I wake up and I feel like I have to go to the bathroom and have a bowel movement, but I don't make it to the bathroom. One of the side effects of the Cauda Equina Sydnrome is that I don't currently have control over my sphincter muscle. I can feel when my bladder and bowels are full, but I can't always control them. So, as much as I hate to do it, I send Cody out to buy some Depends. While he is out the chiropractor calls to find out how I am doing. I'm on Percocet and not thinking clearly. I can't remember the name of the syndrome, so I don't tell him. I let him know that I am still numb and uncomfortable in my pelvic region and that I do not have control over my bladder and bowels like I used to. He asks that I keep him updated and let him know if there is anything that I need. What I need is to be back to the way that I used to be, but I don't see that happening for awhile. Cody gets home and I try out some of my new Depends underwear. It sucks that I'm 34 and wearing diapers again, but if it means I can sit on my furniture instead of staying on the toilet, then I guess it will work. I decide since I've already talked to the chiropractor that it's time to talk to my P.A.  at the Tempe Doctor's office and let her know about the major ball dropping that happened. I call and leave a message that I need to talk to her, not her nurse, but my P.A. herself, and to please have her call me when she can that day. A little later I receive a call back from her, she asks how the surgery went and how I'm feeling and I let her know (Cody had called her office while I was in surgery to let them know I was having it). I let her know that I had called her several times a day on Tuesday and Wednesday with my concerns about being numb and that I asked for a call back. She looks in my file and says that the only note there was is from Tuesday saying I asked about my x-ray results from the previous week. I ask if she even got my call from today, and she said no, she was just wanting to check on me. I let her know that I have been with this practice for 14 years, and even though I moved across town I continued to stay with that office because I trusted them, and genuinely enjoyed the doctors there. Having had this major miscommunication with the office staff and them not properly passing on messages is serious, and I let her know that I'm not sure I will be continuing with their practice because this misstep almost cost me the use of my legs. She says that she understands and she puts me on hold for a moment while she informs the Doctor/Practice Owner of the ball dropping. He is upset as well. The rest of the day goes by pretty uneventfully, except for the unfortunate news that Maurice Sendak (author of Where the Wild Things Are) has passed away.