no more booty pellet

So back in March I started hormone replacement therapy in the form of testosterone booty pellets. After two of them (about 6 months), I decided that they weren't for me. 

The reasons:

I started having a reaction to adhesive. So the bandages you have to keep on for a few days after the insertion got really itchy and red and uncomfortable.

They put it in a different spot every time and I don't want a bunch of scars on my butt cheeks.

The lowest level was too strong and I started to see side effects but had no choice but to wait it out. I grew more body hair, including a new moustache, and hair grew in places that I had previously paid lots of money for it to be lasered off. I had acne that wouldn't go away. I felt like I had -too- much energy, almost on edge or jittery and if I did feel tired I wasn't able to take a nap. I noticed that a certain part of my anatomy was getting bigger and that freaked me out.

So I paid (out of pocket) to have a chat with my doctor and get a different prescription. And I didn't start it right away because I wanted to get back to baseline first. I could tell when the pellet wore off because my acne went away, the moustache thinned out and things downstairs returned back to normal (phew).
Annnnd I also felt tired again.

So I started the new method. This one is a cream that you rub on the inner thigh daily that's dispensed through something like a deodorant stick. I started with 1 click and I can customize more or less depending on how I'm feeling. So far I've done 1 click every morning for about a month and I feel like it's a good balance. I have enough energy to get through the day without feeling wired, and the side effects are minimal. Plus I can take an afternoon nap if I want and I really like those.

In the meantime my period has continued to be irregular and I'm always hot and I wake up at odd times during the night but at this point I'm used to that. 

not cool dude

You know what pisses me off?

Today was the first day since -last- hunting season that I had the house to myself. But could I do any of the things I wanted?

Nope.

This constant pain in my arm is really making it hard to do any of my hobbies.

4 months of pain & activity modification, 6 weeks of physical therapy, and there was literally no change in the pain. 

I believe it's not just tennis elbow but a combination of that and radial tunnel syndrome. As soon as I started treating it like it was that, I started to see some improvement. But it's nowhere near healed and I can't do the crafty things I like to do because it irritates the muscle/nerve/tendon combo.

I'm going to go back to the specialist but in the meantime I started daily gua sha massage of my forearm, specific exercises, and I'm wearing a wrist brace 90% of the day & night. If something hurts, I immediately stop doing it. At this rate I'll be ambidextrous and I'm getting better at brushing my teeth with my left hand. I AM seeing consistent improvement in the pain for the first time so I must be doing something right.

So today I tried to to stuff but in the end I did a lot of relaxing. Which is fine but I have a bunch of projects just waiting for my arm to heal and I'm so damn impatient.

3 years = Santa Fe, NM

This year for our anniversary we took the whole week off again (I'm liking this trend), and we planned our first real trip since the hip surgery. As people who routinely travel every month who have been forced at home for the summer, we were ready to get out of town.

We took the camper to the beach for the weekend, which was new and easy and awesome, and some friends joined us, and then we took off to New Mexico.

We decided on Santa Fe, since it's a quick (<2hr flight nonstop) flight + 1 hr drive to our destination and when we booked it we weren't sure what my hip situation would be and wanted to keep the travel part minimal. At this point I start to get stiff after a couple hours but when I get up and walk around it loosens up pretty quick. So the flight was not bad but after we arrived at our hotel I was ready for a hot bath and stretching. 

The hotel was really cute. We booked a Gallery King for the kitchen, and it was big and quirky and perfect. Good thing, too, because it rained the first two days and we spent more time there than anticipated and totally threw off our whole itinerary. One important thing to note: they did NOT have coffee makers in the rooms and the coffee in the lobby tasted weird to us. Fortunately, there was a coffee shop within walking distance (just past the dispensary) and we went there every morning for our daily vacation americanos. 

The first day it was rainy so we slept in and lounged, then tried to check out Canyon Road but ultimately decided that it was NOT a rainy day activity. We hit up a few local thrift stores to see if they held any treasures for us (they did not) and then we spent the evening enjoying the hot tub in the cold rain. A rainy day on vacation is usually a forced relaxation day.

The second day it was still rainy, but we had reservations for a private hot spring tub at Ten Thousand Waves and that was fantastic. They have a resident cat there named Ashley and I'm always a fan of resident cats and things named Ashley so I was immediately smitten. It was pricey but it was our anniversary and it was a nice way to spend a rainy morning. The hot tub came with a private changing room and bathroom, private sauna, and a private little nook with a bed. Which was weird but handy. We were both impressed at how nice our skin felt after we got out of the tub, because some hot springs leave you feeling like you have hard minerals on your skin but we were both baby soft. Afterwards the rain let up a little bit and we spent the afternoon at the Plaza shopping and the evening in the hot tub.

The third day, the sun came out! We drove about an hour to the Bandelier National Monument to see the cliff dwellings which is the whole reason I wanted to go to Santa Fe. The inclines eventually wore the hip down, but I got to see what I wanted to see and a whole section of the park is in the forest and you know I love wandering around a forest. On the way back to the hotel we spotted Camino Real and you could easily spend an hour there. It's HUGE and I am disappointed it's not local because they have a LOT of cute stuff there. They had a 6-foot tall cactus wearing a cowboy boot and a cowboy hat that would look adorable in the front yard. But he would not fit in a suitcase, you know? Again, we capped off the day with a soak in the hot tub. The weather was really perfect for that.

The last day, we checked out of the hotel and took the scenic route back to Albuquerque, and stopped a few places on the way:
Origami in the Garden- worth the stop. Pretty impressive. Great gift shop.
Madrid- Wandered around the shops, FH bought some chocolate at a quirky little shop with great vibes and the most incredible smells.
Tinker Town- cooler than I expected.

Other things to note:

Santa Fe is at 7,000+ feet. We live at sea level. My advice to anyone is to drink more water than you want to & alcohol hits faster than usual. Our original itinerary had us hiking the first day but the rain changed that and I'm glad because we had a couple of days to acclimate first. Even so, FH missed the coolest part of the hike because he was tired, probably due to the elevation.

We tried twice to hit up a 100% gluten free bakery and restaurant but again, our original itinerary has us there when they would be open but our modified itinerary made us miss it. The original location of the bakery was, coincidentally, right across the street from our hotel and the sign was still there so it was a fun reminder that I was missing it every day, lol. Oh, well. 

Overall, it was a very good week and it felt really good to travel and get out and not think about work after the last couple of busy months.

Cheers to 3 years!

things

For a while there, I found myself regularly waking up at 3 or 4am and not being able to go back to sleep. I blamed it on the perimenopause that my doctor said I was not yet "in." Then, I had surgery and my body took every opportunity for sleep that it could get and I forgot what 4am looked like. Lately, I'm again routinely waking up at an unreasonable hour, laying awake listening to FH snore for a few hours until the alarm goes off. I'm thinking the next time it happens, I'm going to get up and see what happens. Maybe that's why old people are always up so early.

It's August. Every August I bitch about how hot and crispy and sweaty everything is. This year is no exception. I'm tried of summer. As a matter of fact, I was tired of summer before summer even began this year. Because I'm always hot, and again I blame that on the perimenopause that my doctor says that I'm not yet "in." As soon as I can comfortably travel there, I'm hitting the mountains or somewhere snowy. I don't remember the last time I was cold.

Speaking of travel, we're planning our anniversary trip and we had to pick something with the least amount of sitting so in case I'm still not able to sit for a while I won't be miserable. After considering several different options and eventually deciding they were too much, we narrowed it down. The ones we vetoed for now are still really great options, so we have several trips already planned waiting in the wings.
We decided to take the whole week off, since our anniversary is on a Wednesday this year, and also because we both have a lot of PTO since we haven't really taken any. (Most of my recovery was short term disability)
We're taking the RV to the beach for the first weekend, then we're flying to Santa Fe, NM for the rest of the week. Going to explore the cave dwellings, soak in some hot springs, check out the art scene, and relax at the pool in our cute historic hotel. Very much looking forward to that and hoping that I'm not too sore at that point. I've been very humbled by how slow the sitting/driving progress has gone. Right now I'm basically always sore. Ice packs are saving me right now so I'm thinking of getting some of those instant ice packs since they can go through tsa. Waiting for that day when the surgeon said I wouldn't notice the pain anymore...

This weekend I got into the river for the first time this year. Just to cool off, because treading water used muscles that I didn't think I should be using, and I hosed off when I got out to be on the safe side. It was nice.

3 months!

Today I saw my surgeon for the three month follow up.

Takeaways:

Driving and sitting for too long will hurt. It takes time. He said one day I'll notice that it doesn't bother me anymore and to be patient. Which means I'm also not cleared to travel yet and my boss does not care because I'm the only person in Houston right now and she wants me local anyway.

I have great strength and shitty range of motion. He said he wasn't surprised because the joint will be tight for a while. Apparently women have loose hips naturally and that can lead to issues long term so he purposely tightened it up. News to me! Also thanks? He said to wait another month before trying to stretch.

I can start trying to do some of the things I like, like yoga and hiking, but take it slow and listen to my body. Considering I was told not to stretch for another month, I'm thinking yoga needs to wait.

Then I asked him about my tendonitis and he referred me to a hand/arm specialist. Tennis elbow is such a cute name for something that hurts like hell. I told him that and he chuckled and agreed, he said he's had it before as well. The exercises have been helping so I'll see how that goes.

Currently icing both the hip and the elbow because both are sore. Honestly ice packs are underrated. They really help with inflammation and then I don't have to take pain meds that fuck up my stomach.

Other progress:

In the morning, I don't have a limp and walk normally without even thinking about it! As the day progresses and I get tired & sore, it comes back. Also walking on uneven surfaces, like in the yard, still requires concentration.

lessons in hosting

We host more overnight guests than the average person, here are a few lessons I've learned over the years:

1. People eat more than you think. In the past we've ran out of food because when I counted portions, I counted the way I eat. For example, chicken thighs. I'd assume that I'd need 1 chicken thigh per person. Wrong. Some people eat more than that. Sometimes they're on a keto diet. Sometimes they're really hungry. Sometimes that's their normal portion. So what I do now is I count portions according to the way I eat (or according to the package/recommendation), then I double it. That way we have no issues feeding everyone, including surprise extras, and leftovers is always a good thing when you've got folks day drinking and staying the weekend. Hungry? Go scrounge. Still got food left when people leave? Freeze it or send it home with someone.

2. Towels and water bottles WILL be abandoned. It's okay. We just buy double the cases of water and plan for extra laundry. The plants will get fancy water for a while.

3. Laundry. When it comes to sheets, I've seen it all. And only once have I had to throw them away and buy a new one. Body fluids, blood, food smears, sweat, barf... I don't actually handle the barf but that time the sheets were hosed off and tossed right into the machine. Most things get Spray N Wash and peroxide as a pretreat, and bleach goes into every whites load because that's the way it should be. If it sits in the laundry room for a week, who cares? It will get washed eventually. When it comes to big crowds when every bed is slept in and every towel is used, I truck it all to the laundromat and in 2 hours and a chat with a random old person, it's all washed and dried for about 20 bucks. 

4. If someone wants to bring something, a bag of ice or a case of water is always a good choice. We have a friend who always brings dessert. We have a friend who always brings a case of beer and enough food to feed an army, even though we don't request it. We have a friend who knows he's expected to bring bloody mary ingredients. We have a friend who never spends the night but we can always count on him to come help us with a project and he will drink the random beers left in the fridge and will 100% be staying late and fishing. There's are some definite established patterns with the regulars and I love that.

5. Some folks will invite themselves when they want to come over and some will wait for an invitation. Both are acceptable. 

6. We block off weekends for no visitors. At the beginning of the summer, we designate weekends that are open for guests and those that are not. That helps prevent burnout, mostly on my end. I can't handle people every single weekend.

7. Speaking of, if my social battery runs out, I simply go upstairs and take a breather. Everyone hangs out downstairs anyway so upstairs is kind of a refuge for those who need a break, and I've noticed several times someone taking advantage of that as I trot past them.

8. Schedule the maid for AFTER guests leave. The house will get dirty approximately 0.5 seconds after guests arrive anyway, so scheduling the clean afterwards is so much more refreshing.

9. Keep a bag of chicken nuggets in the freezer and some apples in the fridge. Kids are picky and I'm not trying to convince a 4 year old to eat chili or have a parent trying to raid my kitchen for an acceptable meal. Also kids go nuts over glow sticks and popsicles. And while you're at it, get a big variety pack of chips. They don't need to be name brand. They will get eaten.

10. Squeeze condiments for everything. Streamlines the whole process and virtually eliminates gluten cross contact. 

11. Delegate. If I don't ask someone to load the dishwasher, I will be the one doing it. If I ask, guess what? I will get several volunteers. Then the next time, they feel more comfortable pitching in without being asked. Psychology.

12. Buy extra toilet paper. And paper towels. And paper plates. I don't know how but the supply dwindles in the blink of an eye. It's like the water bottles. During the summer it feels like we buy them with every grocery delivery.

13. There will be messes. Embrace the chaos. There's no rules at the river. I've gotten really good at this one but FH's eyes still twitch and I have to remind him that it's fine. 

That's it for now. We have a couple of months left of summer and we're all booked up through October but our regulars will still come out for hot tub & fire weather. Some visits I'm looking forward to more than others, but overall let's bring on the fun!

sweetums

I'm drinking my dinner tonight.

Because. The latest stray cat turned out to be really cool. He was super sweet & cuddly. He also had a serious injury and a selection of other medically expensive ailments. I convinced FH to let him stay through the weekend, so I could try to find him a home. 

I did my best, but I was not able to find him a home.

He got a few days of food & loves, and I cleaned his wounds the best I could. He followed me around, hung out with the chickens, and sat on my lap for pets and scratches. He was so cool that he started to win over FH, and we had a brief discussion about keeping him.

Unfortunately, as cool as he was, the timing is just not right and we do not want any cats right now. My last cat was a 20 year commitment and that's not what we want right now.

So we sent him on his way, and it broke my heart, I'm sure it broke his too. (The cat, not FH. He probably thought he had found a home and I can't imagine what he was thinking as we proved him wrong.)

It would have been different if he was an asshole cat, but he was the sweetest. I really wanted a happier ending for him. In the end, we gave him a few good days and I did my best to set him up for a better future.

I'll never know what happens to him. But I'm sending the best vibes out into the universe.

kitties

I have a struggle.

Regarding cats.

There have been several stray cats that have wandered across our yard, and some are obviously feral but some are obviously not. I think people are dumping their animals out here because a feral cat will run from you but a dumped cat (or dog) will run toward you.

Now, if this were truly the Cat Distribution System choosing me, I would embrace it, but I can't care for every sweet little snookums that comes running up hungry and injured. It breaks my heart because I want to save them all but I just can't turn into the cat house, nor can I involve myself with trapping and taking these animals to the vet, etc.

I don't feed them, even though I want to, because then they'll for sure stick around, but I do show them kindness. FH chases them away because I can't be mean to them.

Now, if one of these kitties figures out that there are mice living under the deck, then that's not my problem. In fact, that's my solution. :)

hm, well.

Turns out the doctor was right.

Today I had to drive to the Woodlands, which according to google maps is 1 hour and 32 minutes away. A bit far, but it's under my self-imposed 2-hour drive time limit. Well, it turns out in real life and terrible weather and traffic, it took closer to 2 and a half hours. I did stop after about 45 minutes to walk around, and then again after about another 45 minutes, but by that 2 hour mark I was hurting. Those last 30 minutes were tough.

Once I got out of the car and made my way into the lab, I felt better. But that drive home, again, was tough. Tonight I'm really sore, it hurts to walk, it hurts to sit, and it's that weird pinchy hurt. This hurts worse than any physical therapy pain. 

HOW does sitting/driving make it hurt worse than walking around and doing lunges and going up and down the stairs ten times a day? The doctor said that driving/sitting/flying would hurt, but I honestly didn't think it would be this bad. 

At this rate, I will not be traveling for a while. Which is a bummer. 

Also I have to drive to Pasadena tomorrow which is a shorter drive but now I'm a little scared. I'm going to be spreading out my drives from now on. And maybe stopping more frequently. 

bath time

It's been 10 weeks since I was forbidden from taking baths. There have been a few times where I thought to myself, "I want a bath."

But it's been too soon, or the weather wasn't right. Then the surgeon said I could but I still didn't feel like things were healed enough and it wasn't worth the risk of infection.

Tonight was the night. I cleaned the tub (which wasn't that bad since FH had cleaned it out previously because he loves me) with soap and then with bleach to make sure no weird germs were there. 

And Oh. My Gawd. 

It was good.

I so missed this.

lazy daze

We could not get it together this weekend. We kept saying we were going to go outside and do projects, but never could muster up the energy to do it. Once or twice we tried, but ultimately we found ourselves back inside on the couch. Maybe it was the heat, maybe we are worn out.

At some point Saturday I called it and said that we should just embrace the failures to rally and make it a relaxing day inside. Somehow Sunday was the same. Neither of us had the steam to do much of anything.

I did make it out to the garden on Sunday morning, fueled by caffeine and the only small amount of ambition I had all weekend. It was cloudy and little windy, which made it bearable to be outside. As I was pulling weeds, it started to drizzle and it felt like such a relief from the heat that I didn't mind. When it got to the point where it was a steady downpour, I was already soaked anyway so I kept pulling weeds. 

When was the last time you were outside in a rainstorm and instead of seeking dry cover, you let yourself get soaked? I squished myself to the outdoor shower and scrubbed off the sunscreen and grime, slipped a moo moo over my head, and that was about all I got done. 

Kinda bummed that my recent overall boost in energy levels (attributed to the testosterone booty pellet) seemed to tank this weekend.  I'd like it to come back, please.

week what?

After a couple weeks of trying to walk normally, I'm still not there. I'm doing better, but my gait is not even and there's a bit of a limp, occasional unbalance, and I still walk very slowly. Especially at the end of the day when I'm tired. FH still goes ahead of me in stores and I just meet him at the destination. Ashley would not be able to handle walking with me. Actually, that would be pretty funny.

I saw my first customer this week, and after the 1.5 hour drive, standing and walking for 2 hours, and the drive back, I felt okay. My lower back was sore but that's actually normal. I should probably work on that. I don't think the customer caught on that I wasn't walking normally so I can't be that bad.

Next week I've got 2 customer visits scheduled (against my will, but since I'm the only person working in the Houston area for the next 2 months, it's all on me!) I'm trying to keep things spread out to give myself a breather. So far, so good.

Physical therapy has been really good. They have several people to work with and I've worked with them all at this point, but my favorite person has been this chick who really kicks my ass and I like it. Today we started lunges and they were hard but I could do them. She told me that I'm only allowed to do them twice a week because she's savvy and has obviously identified me as a person who will absolutely overdo it if I am left to my own devices.

At this point I haven't felt that pinchy surgical pain in a while and am mostly feeling persistent muscle soreness. Still can't do any twisting, pivoting, bringing my knees up to my chest past 90 degrees, turning out, stuff like that. I can do things like paint my toenails but it's not easy or comfortable. 

I've come a really long way but I feel like I won't be back to normal for a long time either.

call me stella

I woke up this morning and decided that it's time to get my groove back.

Today I started actively trying to walk without a limp. At this point it's mostly muscle memory and I need to re-train my brain and my muscles. I can feel my glutes already.

With the doctor's approval, I plan on returning to work next week, with restrictions not to travel for the next month because I don't feel ready to travel by myself. I think that's reasonable. I'd say I'm about 75% recovered. Plus I plan to take as many office days as I can, because yes I'm getting bored but also I'm not trying to go above and beyond.

things I'm loving lately

Some fun things.

Cookie scoops. I got myself a pack of 3 different sizes for Christmas and I use them for cookies & batters, but also just about everything I can think of. Like when I make a big batch of something I use these to portion them out to freeze. Rice, quinoa, etc. I feel like a lunch lady and it's really satisfying. If you come visit and you get a perfectly domed portion of something, you know what's up.

Pretty PJ sets. I'm once again over the faded, stretched out, stained old raggedy tank tops and searching for some cute sets. I found 2 that I like, but mostly I'm finding a lot of shitty polyester and no, thank you. The search continues.

Speaking of, I bought several different colors of a linen tank top that doesn't make me feel like I want to rip it off the second I step outside. I have resorted to simply wearing a bathing suit top and cotton boxers when I know I'll be outside for a while. It's the least amount of clothing I can wear and not be reported to the authorities.

Disposable paper towels. Not for every day use, but for parties. There is nothing quite like washing your hands and going to dry them off on an already soggy hand towel because 20 people before you used it. At least you hope. Ugh. I am NOT above bringing them to a party and casually leaving them in the bathroom.

Naked Pea protein powder. Unflavored. What is with the questionable ingredients in all the protein powders out there? And GOD FORBID I don't want it sweet. I like this stuff, and am already on my second package. I like to add it to smoothies.

some pretty pill organizers. Because we take lots of supplements lately and it's easy to remember if we took them or not with these. And when you travel you just take those days and toss them in your bag.

pft.

Well I had a shitty day.

Mostly because I was super annoyed that, SuRpRiSe I'm still in pain from the really stupid move I made, and it affected everything I tried to do today. So my mood just compounded bad upon bad and eventually it provoked FH which turned into a bad mood for everyone.

So I stewed in my bad mood until this afternoon when I tried to shake it off and failed. At that point there's only one thing left to do and it's take a shower, eat dinner, pour a big glass of wine and go to bed early. Tomorrow will be another day, and hopefully better.

progress?

Well I'm a moron. 

A few days after the conversation with my doctor about how I needed to slow down, I decided it would be a good idea to mow the yard.

Hear me out.

I ran it by FH first, and he actually gave me the okay. I mean, mowing the yard is basically walking behind the mower since it's self-propelled. and I've been walking pretty well, even in the yard.

So I did it. But I forgot about the pulling, the pivoting, and all the other movements involved in mowing. In my defense, I went very slow and made deliberate movements and nothing actually hurt when I was doing it. As soon as I was done, I sat on the couch with an ice pack and rested for a while. Then I rested for most of the day, and I felt fine. A little tired, but no pain.

Until the evening. 

At some point, I took a step, felt sharp pain, and that was it. I knew I had overdone it. It was painful to walk the entire next day, and I spent most of it sitting with an ice pack and taking tiny, slow steps whenever I needed to walk. 

The tendonitis in my arm also flared up and I was in so much pain. 

Talk about a setback. 

I feel so stupid. I thought I was doing good, but once again I overestimated my progress. Ugh. How embarrassing. 

Now I'm in healing jail and I'll be scared to take too big of a (literal and figurative) step forward for a while. 

I really hope this is a lesson learned and I don't do something stupid like this again.

6 weeks

Dude. Essentially at my 6-week follow up today the doctor told me I am overdoing it and I need to slow down.

I thought I was going slow! I also thought I'd be ready to go back to work 3 weeks from now but when I saw the look on his face while I was talking I felt my plans go down the drain. He said that's probably not realistic.

Really? I know progress is slow but come on.

Then I started to believe him when he explained that yes, I could go until I hit pain, but then I needed to stop immediately, NOT keep going for a little bit and then stop. And that if I did get sore, I shouldn't still feel sore the next day and if I did, that means I over did it.

Oh.

Then he did an exam and all the movements we made came with a small sharp pain at some point or another and that's apparently also a sign to slow down.

Because overdoing it (even a little bit) every day slows down your overall progress.

So that whole appointment was disappointing, overall.

To drive the whole point home (pun intended), I have been in pain all afternoon. Why? Because I drove to the appointment (about an hour) and I felt a little bit of pain after about 30 minutes but kept going. This was before the conversation with the doctor. Had I stopped and switched with FH and he took over the driving, I might not be in pain right now.

Sigh.

alcoholish

I have a doctor's appointment next week. When they sent me the confirmation text, I had to click on a link and go through my medical history to confirm that nothing had changed. It pre-populated the fields with what was already in my file. I was scrolling through the fields when I got to one that made me do a double take.

Under alcohol use, I was categorized as a "heavy drinker." 

Say what?? I was offended!

So I looked it up. Apparently, medically speaking, the standard for women is, if you drink more than 7 drinks a week, you are considered a heavy drinker. Which seems awfully light to me. At 2 glasses every night, I never thought of myself as a heavy drinker. Moderate, maybe.

But maybe that's the problem... thinking that you don't drink as much as you do. 

So I got to thinking: One drink every night is fine, but two is too much? Is drinking every night even okay? Where did these definitions come from? Does it even matter? Is this a sign to take it down a notch? I don't get drunk every night, I just like one with dinner and one to wind down and get sleepy. I rarely have more than 3 drinks in one night because I know I'll feel like crap the next day. My doctor has never said to cut back but now I'm questioning if I drink too much.

I stopped drinking the week before surgery so it's been a while since I've had any alcohol. There have only been a couple of times in the last several weeks where I even wanted a glass of wine. Right now would be a really good time to do a hard reset and change my drinking habits. Maybe having a glass (or 2) of wine every night isn't the healthiest and I am trying to be healthier overall...

So I guess the new standard for Jen is to have less than 7 drinks a week. If I have 2 glasses 3 nights a week that's under the threshold... I never thought I'd have to overthink how much alcohol I drink!

Ok well that's a lie because alcoholism does run in the family (having both sides come from Wisconsin this is a normal thing actually) and I've always thought I was never even close to being a heavy drinker. I am able to say "no" and I am able to just have one drink and stop. When I do get drunk it's fun and it's never extreme. I feel like those are classic tests of alcohol problems. It still bugs me being classified as a heavy drinker though. 

Hm.

custom ice /heat packs

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? 

Since I've been icing my hip on a constant basis, I needed more than 1 ice pack so I could pull a cold one out of the freezer after one got warm. I made a couple using ziploc bags, but they are an awkward size and after a while they started to leak. (Well, the Ziploc brand did not leak. The Walmart brand did.)

To fix my problem, I created a pocket in a wide ace bandage by folding the end back on itself and sewing along the edges. 

Then I made custom ice packs to fit that pocket using the food saver. I used 2 parts water, 1 part rubbing alcohol so when they freeze they are kinda slushy and pliable. (They are hard to see in the picture because they are clear) 

It's tricky to seal them with the food saver, but if you elevate it on a book or something, you can get the plastic on the sealer and the liquid won't spill out.

I also made a custom rice pack using leftover fabric from RV curtains. Because sometimes you need heat instead of cold.

week 4 ish

What day is it again? Oh yeah, it's June. Damn, May went by so fast and so slow.

It's been over a month since surgery. Walking without a crutch was slow and awkward at first, but gradually I was walking without pain and with a slight limp. I was doing great until The Incident involving big roaches in a paper towel roll and I ran before my I knew what was happening. Not something you want to do on a healing hip. It set me back progress-wise about 2 days, which wasn't so bad in the long run but man it sucked.

At this point I'm mostly pain free, but still feel the joint get pinchy if I do too much, and am icing all the time to stay ahead of inflammation. I'm done taking all the drugs (YAY now maybe my stomach will calm down), and I'm ready to start trying to drive. I need to see how much strength and stamina I have so I can start to measure progress. I'd like to go on walks to measure how fast I get tired but I don't really have anywhere to do that safely. 

I still wear the brace if I'm in the yard, since grass and hills are surprisingly difficult to walk on, and I also wear it if I'll be doing bending, like weeding the garden. It's uncomfortable and HOT, but keeps me from bending too far. I think it will be a while until I can bend past 90 degrees. 

Ironically, I'm in a lot of pain but not my hip. My arm hurts from crocheting too much. It seems like I developed forearm tendonitis from crocheting for hours every day. Go figure. So now I need to find some other way to pass the time.