An Extraordinary Day in My Life...

So, last night, after a 9 hour shift at work, I went grocery shopping... I didn't have any quarters with me, so I couldn't get a shopping cart, so I had to use a basket... Not fun with my shoulders. So I walked around the store, and I bought all the ingredients I needed to make a stew, plus a few snacky things, and when I was on my way to the cashier, it felt like my left elbow was going to dislocate. As I was reaching over with my right hand to take the basket away from my left hand, my left shoulder subluxed. As soon as I got the basket (which I miraculously didn't drop) out of my left hand, my shoulder made that gross sound it makes when it "pops" back into place. I made it to the cashier, and unloaded everything from the basket, using my right arm, cuz my left arm was pretty much useless still from being subluxed, and I'm standing in line, and my hip subluxed, because I was leaning. I almost fell over, and the guy behind me looked at me like I was drunk or something. I made it from there all the way home with no further mishaps.

When I got home, I decided to make the stew I had just bought the ingredients for. In order to do that without driving myself crazy, I had to sweep the floor, and do the dishes, and clean off the counter, before I could start making the stew. I had been avoiding the dishes for a while, so I had to wash quite a few. When I was done washing the dishes(amazingly-no dislocations involved), I took a break to let them air dry, then I put them away, washed the counter, and started prepping for the stew.

When I had the stew ingredients in the pot and cooking, I cleaned up the counter again, then took another break for the stew to cook. When the stew was finally done, it was 10:00 at night, and I wasn't hungry. I watched a few episodes of Charmed, while the stew was simmering, and after it was done I watched another one before I put the stew in containers and into the fridge. When I was finally done, I sat down to read the last bit of the chapter of the book I'm reading ( The Mammoth Hunters, by Jean M. Auel).

My hubby got home somewhere around or after 11:00 from work, and I told him all the stuff I did, and he looked at me, and asked (in a not-unfriendly way), "Do you want a pat on the back?"

I'm sure if I was a normal person, my day would sound pretty routine... Work, go shopping, come home, tidy the kitchen, and cook supper... Nothing spectacular right??? But for ME, it was a HUGE day, and I was pretty darn proud of myself.

On a sad note, today was supposed to be my dad's birthday. He passed away 2 years and 3 months ago. He was a tow truck driver for AMA. He worked there for many years, and as a tribute to him, they put his old truck number on all of the trucks in the city, except the new ones... They haven't gotten around to it yet. I saw an AMA tow truck driver today, and I asked him to tell the people at AMA to PLEASE put my dad's number on the rest of the trucks. He went to his truck, and phoned someone at AMA, and told me they'd do it soon. I also told him to let everybody at AMA know that today is my dad's birthday.

Happy birthday dad, I wish you were here to celebrate it with us.

I'm Seeing Stars...

I just thought I would share some of my crocheting projects with you. I made the blue blanket and the white pillow for my best friend's son, and I made the purple blanket (with 2 days notice) for my other best friend's daughter. I have made more blankets, and I made scarves for most people in my family for christmas, but these are the only ones I have pictures of at the moment.

I started crocheting again, around September of last year, because I felt like I should do something, but I can't do a lot of physical stuff. So this is something I can do, and feel like I've accomplished something. I can't crochet for too long, because after a while it starts to bother my shoulders and my wrists, but I can keep at it long enough to feel like I've accomplished something.

And one of the awesome things about it, is I can still watch t.v. and movies, because it doesn't take too much concentration.

I will try to post pictures of my other works *shortly*... but be warned... I'm in love with star-shaped afghans right now, and I'm trying to perfect my technique, as the first 6 or 7 rounds tend to "bulge out" instead of laying flat like they're supposed to.

Vitamin C

Okay, so I've been doing the vitamin C, 2000mg per day for a while now. I haven't noticed any differences yet, but I'm going to keep taking it.

I'm trying to find a way to convince my doctor to let me try prolotherapy: a sugar solution is injected into damaged ligaments or tendons, the solution can create an acute and localized inflammation, which can stimulate the body to repair itself. I think that with prolotherapy and large doses of vitamin C to help rebuild the collagen, there may be a chance to do some good.

The biggest issue I'm having with prolotherapy, is that the doctor wants to try it on my right shoulder first. I'm right handed, and I'm a receptionist... If the prolotherapy doesn't work, or if I'm in too much pain to write after getting the injection, I will be unable to work. On top of all that my right shoulder is my "good" shoulder, and if I couldn't use it, I wouldn't be able to drive any more either. I figure, try injecting my bad shoulder first... If it gets worse, I won't be much worse off than I am now... I can't lift more than 5 pounds with my left arm, I can't drive with my left arm, and I have to be careful picking up a cup of coffee... But, if it gets better, my quality of life would be improved.

If I do get prolotherapy, and it works on my left shoulder, I would then go ahead and get it done to both of my knees, then my hips before I would go for my right shoulder.

Ummm... New news... My niece is talking-ish. She knew my name when I saw her on the weekend, for the first time since Christmas.

Less exciting news... I have a cold. It sucks. My normal pain has increased, and I am experiencing more fatigue than I am accustomed to.