Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Medical Updates From the RV

Greetings Earthlings!  Things are progressing in fits and starts on the medical front.  Here is today's update.

I do not have to have surgery on the torn labrum.  If a torn labrum is causing pain it will hurt in the crease formed by the top of the leg and the bottom of the torso, towards the mid-line.  Although the labrum is torn, it's minor and not worth fixing.  What's causing my hip to hurt is trochanteric bursitis.  The cause was because my left leg was shorter than the right leg; something had slipped under something (I can't remember anything).  He pulled my something out from under the something by strenuously and abruptly pulling on my left leg.  That was stage one.  It's being treated with physical therapy (clam shells and monster walking) and today there was a shot of cortisone over the tendon.  The cortisone did not hurt, he used a tiny needle and numbing stuff in the syringe.  It may or may not hurt over the next two days, I may or may not have the cortisone flush over the next few days.  The doctor thinks I should get 5 or so months relief.  The main thing is to keep the hip strengthened so my something does not again slip under the something again.

And then there's Jim and his pinched nerve at L2/L3.  He had the epidural cortisone injection on July 31.  As expected, it was of little value.  Today we saw the surgeon.  He's willing to fix it, Jim is still a good surgical candidate.  First we must get clearance from the cardiologist and clearance from the primary physician up here.  We can't get in to see the PCP until next Thursday (8/22).   Until we see the PCP we can't get on the surgery schedule.  We're probably looking at first week in September.  That will put us here through October.  October can be nice, but we'd rather be gone.  Or October can be like it was in 2017, where we had atmospheric rivers of water pointed at us for multiple days.  If you missed the first post about the troubles, you can find it here.

Finally, here is a really cool tweet, from Twitter.  It's a giant fish gun that transports spawning salmon across a dam.  It transports the fish quickly and expends virtually none of their energy.  The video is a minute long, so it's probably not all that much bandwidth.  Check it out, it's pretty cool.  Tweet is here.


9 comments:

  1. Wow -- that fish gun is WILD! Seems like it might bruise the fish, but I guess it's better for them overall. Hope the medical stuff gets resolved without too much wait and bother!

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  2. What a cool way to jump the dam!! Wonder if they could do that for people?
    I hope your hip is better. I had the same problem with my arm. I think he pulled it out of the socket before giving me the shot, but it worked!! Good luck with the back surgery too!!

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  3. such a waster of time and effort to have to see the PCP before anything that everyone knows needs doing can be done. before Jim submits to surgery for a pinched nerve, has he considered chiropractic care? it is effective for pinched nerves. and you might look into yoga for your hip. lots of good asanas for hips and lengthening hamstrings.

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  4. It's never fun to have joint or back pain. Hope all do well and any hospital stay is short (hospitals are full of sick people, you know).

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  5. That was an amazing video. I learned something new!
    The Encanto-Palmcroft area is one of my favorite places. Such gorgeous houses there. I used to live close by in the Campus Vista historic district.

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  6. You have to wonder what the fish are thinking during their passage.
    Good to hear at least one of you doesn't need surgery.

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  7. The fish mover is awesome. The people fixers could take a lesson!

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  8. Well, I guess your hip is basically good news; at least you have a plan now. I have off and on hip pain too, so read the link with interest, but this is not my problem. So, it remains a mystery but not big enough of an issue to push for a diagnosis at this point. I hope that Jim's back stuff can be resolved in a timely manner and not delay your return to AZ for too long.

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  9. I'm glad to hear your hip is being treated without surgery. Your ailment sounds so much like mine, and my PT also includes clam shells (plus bridges and monster walking and more), and reading this, I wonder if I might have been helped by a strong leg pull if I hadn't ignored the pain when it first showed up for more than a year. I have the one leg shorter thing, too. I am sending good thoughts for your husband's surgery. Do you know anyone in that part of the country? Will he need to recuperate after surgery in the RV?

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