Changing Direction

 5/19/2021

It has been quite some time since I have written in my blog. I honestly forgot about it for quite a while. I have had a lot of changes in life since I last wrote and I want to take the time to change the direction of this format. In 2017 I acquired my MS Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree and state licensure. Since that time I have been working as a counselor at A New Direction for Counseling. I have also worked at Eastway Behavioral for a year as an Intake Therapist. I have worked at Kettering Health Network on their Behavioral Health Assessment Team. And I have worked at Miami Valley Hospital in their Inpatient Psychiatry Unit as a Social Worker/Counselor; essentially just discharge planning. In taking on all of these jobs I have gained a lot of experience in different areas in mental health treatment and care. I have now begun thinking about starting my own business and I reached out to the state of Ohio and acquired a business license. My new business name will be Searching 4 Life's Missing Pieces. I feel that everyone has a part of their life that they are trying to resolve and in that manner I am going to be the conductor who assists the on that journey. I am still working out the logistics and I am discussing the adventure with my therapist. I am a firm believer that everyone needs an unbiased third party to talk to and that is where counselors come into the picture. 

Welcome back to my blog. 

Sheila

Times they are a changing

Written 7/21/2015

I am back at work today and I am learning so much about people while I am here. It amazes me how many people come in to the information desk at the hospital and tell me their life story. Everyone has a story and everyone has suffered in some way. It makes you realize that your life problems could be so much worse.

One of the things that I am finding is that so many of the older workers at the hospital either live with their children and share vehicles. Or their adult children live with the parents. Several years ago in my creative writing class I wrote a paper on "The move back to Family." In the paper I postulated that as the economy became worse the trend would be for families to live together in community homes. I am seeing this come to fruition as people lose jobs and scramble to find places to live and ways to make ends meet.

I was lucky after losing my job that I was able to survive on the Long Term Disability payments. Not everything got paid, but  the majority was handled. Luckily I was able to keep the house,  and life is beginning to improve.

Update on life

Things are beginning to slowly improve in some areas and at the same time new problems crop up.

My left hip is roughly at about 80% prior PVNS normal function. Three surgeries in two years create a lot of healing to be done, so I am generally happy with the 80% function. I still struggle with Illiopsoas flare ups when I do too much. One thing I have found that helps when this happens is Dry-needling treatments. These are similar to acupuncture but instead of working on the Chi in the body, dry-needling works on pain points. The needles are inserted in areas where the patient is feeling the most pain and then wiggled about to relieve the pain. It seems backward to inflict pain to relieve pain but it works. It has also been very helpful in reducing the scar tissue and relieving the tightness that develops in the tendons of the groin.

My right shoulder (non PVNS) is at about 80% as well. I have regained full mobility since my surgery 08/2013, and I am working on strengthening exercises. However, I still have a lot of shoulder pain and feel a catching in the bicep when picking things up and there is a grinding in the ball and a popping as I move. Both sensations are very disconcerting.

My right shoulder has been confirmed via an MRI to have a tear the surgeon recommended that I return to see him when I could no longer take the pain. For now I am putting up with the pain and trying to keep the muscles strong by doing isometric exercises at home. On a positive note no PVNS is seen in this joint.

My right hip is beginning to have the same symptoms that my left developed before the diagnosis of PVNS. The surgeon suggested that I return when I could not longer take the pain and we would do a THR at that point.

I developed pain in my left elbow in late October and have been visiting the hand specialist at my orthopedic surgeon's office. Initially the diagnosis was an ulnar nerve impingement. However after OT and sleeping with a splint for six months I have had no change. I saw a couple of weeks ago and had Xrays which show nothing. He ordered an MRI of the elbow with and without contrast to figure out what is happening. I saw him yesterday for my follow up and the MRI results show tendinopathy of the elbow. So now I have a tennis elbow brace and I got an injection of the tendon sheath.

I also have been dealing with intense foot pain during the last year. I saw another OS who specializes in problems in the feet and found out I am dealing with two new issues.
Left foot pain appears to be caused by plantar faciaiitis and will hopefully clear up with exercise and rest. I already owned a McDavid splint from when I broke this ankle in 2012 . The doc felt would be good to use to immobilize the ankle when not doing the exercise. If this is not helpful the options are casting or a boot and if that is not helpful the final resort would be surgery to open the fascia.

plantar faciaiitis

Intermittent right foot pain is caused by a pinched nerve. I mentioned to the doc that I have a spot on the lateral side of the leg that bubbles up. After looking at it and discussing how I walk and watching how I stand he concluded that it is the result of a Facial hernia, this occurs when the facia (a thin sheath of fibrous tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ) has a hole that is too big and the muscle pops through. 

transfacial muscle hernia 
 
The only treatment for this is a
Fasciotomy or patch grafting are treatment options.

Dictionary.com lists the definition of a Fasciotomy as

Fasciotomy or fasciectomy is a surgical procedure where the fascia is cut to relieve tension or pressure commonly to treat the resulting loss of circulation to an area of tissue or muscle. Fasciotomy is a limb-saving procedure when used to treat acute compartment syndrome.


So now I have answers to most of my pain but no real solutions short of exercising and surgery.
I began walking again in the spring and have gotten back up to the 2 mile loop that I used to do. Weather had made it difficult to walk lately. I started back to the gym three weeks ago and have been walking laps in the water (one lap is up and back). I walk forward lifting my legs high on half a lap and the backward on the return. I walk sideways lifting my lead leg (Working flexor muscles) high as I take a step and drag the trailing leg (working adductor muscles) on the first half of the lap and then reverse legs on the return half lap. Then I swim freestyle (crawl stroke) one full lap.
I started with 20 min the first day which worked out to five sets or 15 full laps. I did ok but I waited a full week before going back to see how my illioposas responded to the exercise. The second week I also did 20 min (15 full laps) once again waiting a week between sessions. The third week I did 25 minutes or six sets or 18 full laps. My illiopsoas is very inflammed this week following this exercise session. I have made an appointment with my dry-needling PT to have a session on Friday. She is very helpful for these flare up's but in the meantime I am miserable. I try to keep moving and not just sitting around feeling miserable but I just can't find a happy medium!

Time flys

It has been months since I thought about writing a blog post. The last thing I talked about was the revision itself and ended by saying I was going to hibernate a month. In truth I have been gone from Blogger for much longer.  I was so down for so long that I stayed away so I would not spread my negative feelings!

So here is the update on life.

Surgery was about 75-85 % successful Most days I can walk with out a limp.  I even began walking the dog again over the summer and on some days I was able to walk a 1.4 mile loop. However I have chronic pain issues and the nerve damage has never resolved. I live on Tylenol#3 and Gabapentin for pain and nerve damage. I would like to find a way to ditch them but I am never out of pain. This is in some part due to the joint pain throughout my body. Getting hit by a car really screwed up my joints. I am concerned that I have done something to my right hip because it has started acting up and feels like the left one did when I had the torn labrum. This does not make me happy at all.

As far as the PVNS goes I don't think it is back, but now that I have metal in the hip, they will not be able to see anything on an MRI, until it is huge. I had a visit with the Orthopedic Oncologist earlier this year but I have no plans to ever see them again. I think they are a waste of my time, and I am sure they think I am wasting their time. So I am going with no news is good news.
 For the first part of the year I was in a quandary of what to do with my life now that going back to a Biomedical Electronics job was out of the question. The more I tried to hold on to the idea that I could return to the Biomed/Field Service job and everything that was "normal" the more things fell apart.

I have always been interested in Psychiatry and have had the Psychiatry Today magazine delivered to my house for years. I was looking through it one day and I found some information that delineated the ways in which someone could work in the field today. I thought I would not be able to go into psychiatry because I was starting out so late. I decided to research it furthur and found Walden University and their Mental Health programs which are online and accepted the narrative grades from Antioch Midwest and did not require the GRE to get into graduate school. I applied and was accepted to the program within the same week. I started taking my first class in July and I am now on track to complete a Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling by 2017. I will be 51 when I am done but I figure it is a job I can do for many more years.
 
I was on the fast track to losing my house in July and it was all because I was unable to make several payments. I decided to put it on the market in hopes that I could sell and break even. I also applied for a government program that helped people save their homes and barely made it before the program was shut down on 7/31/14. In the long run I ended up being able to save the house. The government program gave me the money I needed to get caught up and if I stay here another 5 yrs the money is forgiven. This was a very happy solution to the problem of housing and I immediately took the house back off the market.

I also have a contract with my LTD carrier who is working with me on vocational rehabilitation. So while I work on my new career I am working part time and still getting my LTD. I make 60% of my previous salary and can work at a part time job and the contract allows me to match 100% of the previous salary. If I go over then the LTD company would deduct from the money they send me.

My part time job is at the local hospital working as the receptionist and answering phones and giving directions etc. at the information desk. My schedule which gives me 20 hours a week is enough to qualify for benefits. I now have insurance again! Yay! Since my COBRA ran out a my lungs got jacked up and I ended up going to EMERGENCY three times. Once because I fell and thought I had damaged the hip and the other two were lung issues. Each of the three I will be paying for out of pocket along with a crown that my dental insurance refused to pay for. grrr.

I will attempt to stay in contact more often now that life is looking up and I have more positive things to write.

Revision day

December 31, 2013

I never expected to be having another surgery this soon! But here I am back at a hospital having another hip surgery. This makes 3 hip surgeries in the last 2 years and one shoulder surgery.

Today's surgery is a revision of my LTHR (left total hip replacement).

I checked in and waited with my son Dan and my friend Judy to be taken to the pre-op area. The pre op check in was essentially the same as when I had my shoulder done other than they were going to work on my hip. While we were getting all that stuff taken care of Doc popped in and said he had been thinking about me and the best way to do the revision and he suggested that rather than doing the surgery through a posterior incision which is what he had planned he wanted to attempt to do it via an anterior incision with the caveat that if he could not access everything he would have to flip me over and make a posterior incision as well. I agreed because I would much prefer the restrictions of the anterior incision to the restrictions of a posterior one.

So prepped and ready I was wheeled into the OR for the Anterior incision revision of my THR. Strangely I do not remember being placed onto the table for this or the first THR. . . interesting I just realized that... oh well.

I woke up in my room nauseated and throwing up... everyone assumes it was the anesthesia but I can do anesthesia with no problem when they are willing to listen to me and NOT give me antibiotics or narcotics that make me puke!

I really did not think the pain was too bad or moving around was too difficult this time since I knew what to expect and how to maneuver to get in and out of bed. The aides kept trying to lift my leg to help and I kept telling them "I've got it" ! 

Not much to tell about being in the hospital I have to say it is not that exciting. I slept, I ate, I made trips to the bathroom.The most entertaining thing that happened was on New Years day my surgeon made rounds and brought his boys who are 2 and 4 with him to the hospital. Such cutie pies they are apparently the hospital frowns on them accompanying him but he feels it perks up his patients. It was actually fun to see them.

I stayed in the hospital until the 3rd and was sent home in the midst of a snow storm. I was really worried about getting out of the car and walking in the snow up the walkway to the house on crutches.  I made it in with no problem and settled in to hibernate for a month.

Time flys and a Doc who was willing to listen to me!

It has been quite some time since I popped into Blogger and updated everyone on my progress.

As I mentioned the OS (Orthopedic Surgeon) I had for my scope and my hip replacement in 2012 sent me to get a 2nd opinion and that OS docs office was not useful and did absolutely nothing for me. I went to see the OS who did my shoulder surgery in August and asked him if he had a partner who did hips and could take a look at my hip issues. I ended up scheduling an appointment for 11/20/13. I was VERY impressed with this new guy and his staff. He listened carefully to my questions and concerns and even accepted the article that I had printed out regarding Illiopsoas impingement issues. He and his intern both asked me what my work experience was and were surprised when I told them I worked on equipment. They both commented that they were impressed because I sounded very knowledgeable I was about PVNS. The new guy agreed with doc #2 who wanted me to have an injection into the groin done under Xray. I agreed to give it a try.

Three days later I got a call from the hospital letting me know that I was on the schedule for an injection at the local hospital and the time I should appear the next day. Yes that is correct just 4 days after seeing OS#3 I was having the injection. I arrived at the hospital at the expected time with my mom as an escort. . . just in case I had my normal weird vaso vegal response to the injection. All went well and in less than an hour I was injected and sent on my way.

The goal of the injection was to hopefully to eliminate the pain by reducing the inflammation by injecting a steroid directly into the tendon sheath. If the steroid worked and my pain went away then it would be clear that the issue is not mechanical and there would be no need to proceed with a revision. If it did not help with in  a few days then it would be clear that the injection had failed. I waited 2 weeks and then placed a call to the doc's office to let them know there was no reduction in pain. Well nothing lasting any way. They used an anesthetic with the steroid so the first day I was somewhat pain free but by the next day it was back.

I received a call back from the office and an appointment was scheduled with the doc to discuss my options. In that appointment we agreed that it was time to get some relief to the pain and the only real option was to open up the hip and either cut the tendon or to do a revision. In my mind cutting the tendon was like placing a bandaide on a seeping wound but not finding why it was seeping. Not an answer to what is causing the problem. I told him I did not want that and we talked about the revision and what that would entail and how he would be doing it. I agreed to the plan and then discussed open dates with the scheduler.

So 12/31/13 was selected as the open date for surgery and I was grateful to get it in in this year since my deductable was long since met!

Random thoughts ~ How does one draw the lines on a Map?

Today I got fixated on the potential of the USA to crumble. Historically no political power has lasted much longer than 200 years and the USA is now a 237 year old democracy. What are the odds that it will remain in tact?

The trigger for this train of thought was a video I saw this morning of a 5 yr old genius who was being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel. This young man can name every country and its capital and explain how and when the countries changed. Quite an amazing feat, I can barely keep the states in the USA straight let alone name all 196 countries of the world. Check him out...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1482063415351549&set=vb.452811378126236&type=2&theater  Jimmy quizzes this boy on different countries in hopes to trip him up and Arden quickly proves that he is just that good. So one of the countries used to be Yugoslavia which is now been broken into 7 different countries Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and he could name where and when it all changes. 

What is holding the USA together? The discontent and vitriol that is coming out this year in the political battles makes me wonder if a break up of the USA is imminent. As each side draws the battle lines and refuses to give an inch it proves yet again that inflexibility is the down fall of countries and political powers.


The shear size of the USA leads one to suspect that ruling such a large piece of property is unmanageable.  Maybe if it ever splits up we could ship all people with the same political beliefs to the same location. Ultra right wingers here... moderates here.... centrists here... moderate liberals here... ultra left wing here.... dividing the country yet again.

Sadly the people don't think for themselves and are totally yanked around by the strings of the media puppet masters. I think people need to make the effort to hear all sides and not just focus on the programming that supports their political bent. I personally find it difficult to tune into a conservative show and really struggle not to open my mouth and shout at the TV when I am in a room full of people who are believing what is being said.

It is easier said than done to be open minded when the media outlets in the USA cater to one side or the other and even though many claim to be "fair and balanced" reporting it is obvious that they have an agenda. This is why I turn to news from the BBC to get an opinion with no political leaning. . . at least in regard to the USA, it is possible that they do show a particular leaning in the UK in regards to their political structure.

Any way. . .

Where was I ... maps and recreating the world. I am curious to see how this experiment of democracy will play out. If one were to believe Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged the socialists come in and steal from the capitalists and ruin America. Many people feel that this is the way the Democratic party is heading and  we are on a course to prove her story true. Where will we be if this occurs. .  . Will USA break apart into smaller countries like Russia did? Will the South rebel again and start another civil war?

I for one have no predictions as to where we are heading and I am tired of all the angry people in Washington who shut down the government in an effort to get their way with NO thought to how it will affect the people of the country. They congress in general and John Boehner in particular are acting like bullies in the school yard and their antics are putting a black eye on the USA and the government.