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Monday, February 17, 2014
Amy Jocius-Rosenberg is still waiting for you to join Twitter...
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Saturday, August 13, 2011
One year later
This time last year, I remember having a giant meltdown, a temper tantrum if you will, in the car outside of physical therapy. Joel sat by me, allowing me the chance to just get it all out and not freak out at the site of my cry fest. I had about given up on trying to regain strength and kicking the limp ... I just wanted to be normal again. I wanted for it not to be so hard to walk like I used to only a month before. I wanted to imagine chasing after the boys and taking the stairs two at a time ... if I wanted to (doesn't really happen). But at the time it seems impossible. Mind you just a few weeks before I was told by one of the best neurosurgeons in the city that he couldn't guarantee I'd regain ANY strength or feeling in my right leg. The extent of damage to the nerve had been so great and it had been pinched for so long (3 days) that it was unlikely that a cane wouldn't become a permanent fixture for me. 
He was amazed when I reported to him how much feeling I had two days after surgery to decompress the nerve and repair the ruptured disc. He was even more amazed when I returned a month later and was ready to return to work. Still for me I felt I was miles from normal. My next meltdown came when I spotted my BFF Stefani Everson sporting flip-flops. I realized I didn't know when I'd be able to slip into fun structure free shoes and keep them on my feet. I was relegated to live in lace up tennis shoes for an undetermined amount of time. She sat with me as a good friend would and let me cry over flip-flops. Now, in my own defense I had just been given 3 pair of the cutest Yellow Box flippies I'd even owned. So my sadness was truly justified. Not to mention upon realizing this, i know my favorite sexy high heels were out of the question. But a few months later I worked myself away from the limp. The nasty nerve still rears its ugly head from time to time but the pain I felt prior to surgery is a thing of the past.
So one year to the day of being told that walking with a limp would likely become my norm, I put ole' Captain Jack to the test by walking at least a million miles at Disney and Universal. And to celebrate my ability to kick Jack into gear, I strapped on the sexiest 4 inch peep-toe heels I own, complete with rhinestone ankle buckle and walked tall to a fancy shmancy 5-star dinner at Victoria & Albert's with my handsome hubby. Thanks mom!!!!
I am certainly not 100%, I still feel like I got a Cortisone injection in my right leg, from hip to toe. And my ankle muscles are not as strong as they need be as evidenced by the torn tendon and subsequent sprains that keep me out of high heels on a regular basis (at least not without back-up flats in my car). But I am miles from where I was a year ago. And I am so grateful to my family and friends for being the strongest support system a girl could ask for. I was so touched by the words of encouragement, the visits and the dinners. I am one lucky girl :-)
He was amazed when I reported to him how much feeling I had two days after surgery to decompress the nerve and repair the ruptured disc. He was even more amazed when I returned a month later and was ready to return to work. Still for me I felt I was miles from normal. My next meltdown came when I spotted my BFF Stefani Everson sporting flip-flops. I realized I didn't know when I'd be able to slip into fun structure free shoes and keep them on my feet. I was relegated to live in lace up tennis shoes for an undetermined amount of time. She sat with me as a good friend would and let me cry over flip-flops. Now, in my own defense I had just been given 3 pair of the cutest Yellow Box flippies I'd even owned. So my sadness was truly justified. Not to mention upon realizing this, i know my favorite sexy high heels were out of the question. But a few months later I worked myself away from the limp. The nasty nerve still rears its ugly head from time to time but the pain I felt prior to surgery is a thing of the past.
So one year to the day of being told that walking with a limp would likely become my norm, I put ole' Captain Jack to the test by walking at least a million miles at Disney and Universal. And to celebrate my ability to kick Jack into gear, I strapped on the sexiest 4 inch peep-toe heels I own, complete with rhinestone ankle buckle and walked tall to a fancy shmancy 5-star dinner at Victoria & Albert's with my handsome hubby. Thanks mom!!!!
I am certainly not 100%, I still feel like I got a Cortisone injection in my right leg, from hip to toe. And my ankle muscles are not as strong as they need be as evidenced by the torn tendon and subsequent sprains that keep me out of high heels on a regular basis (at least not without back-up flats in my car). But I am miles from where I was a year ago. And I am so grateful to my family and friends for being the strongest support system a girl could ask for. I was so touched by the words of encouragement, the visits and the dinners. I am one lucky girl :-)
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Back to Work, Missing Flip-Flips and more milestones
I haven't written in a while. Probably for a few reasons. I've been pretty busy, from that, I'm pretty exhausted and I guess I figure if I don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. If I don't share with you that my foot still feels frozen ... then maybe it doesn't. If I don't blog about how I am feeling a smidge hopeless lately ... then I might just be full of hope. And if I don't say out loud how much it sucks to have to try so hard to walk properly ... then I'd be really walking tall. If I don't validate these feelings then maybe I can keep myself from falling to pieces thinking about it.
Well, first for the positives... I've graduated from one week of half-days back at work to my first week of full days ... with the exception of leaving early for Physical Therapy 3 days this week. It has taken some getting used to but I did miss being in a normal work and kids at school routine. So it's nice to get back into the swing of things.
I have to say, getting behind the wheel again, taking my independence back has been pretty great. I've blasted the radio and sang as loud as possible ... just to remind me that I'm on my own. Don't get me wrong, I loved having the mom rotation here helping me but I needed to start doing for myself.
With the help of therapy I continue to get stronger, I've built up to 9 minutes on the elliptical ... which is huge, trust me... and about 20 minutes on the treadmill, that's 5-7 minutes backward, 4-5 minutes on each side and about 10 minutes forward. Then, leg presses- both legs, one leg and then ... just part of my foot ... yowza! I cannot tell you how much stronger I've gotten. And there are many more strengthening exercises. It feels awesome for a while and then I run into something that still remains impossible and I feel the frustration start to set in. That's when I have to remind myself, as my friend Stef does for me, how far I've come!!!
OK... so I've had a few little meltdowns ... one that only my friend Stefani had to see and the others stay inside my head for the most part. These meltdowns usually spring from something mundane ... like flip-flops. Thanks to Joel's Texas family, I have 3 new beautiful pair of Yellow Box flip-flops ... mind you, I've never been one to seek out cute summer shoes like this, they were a gift and screamed of summer ... and I adore them!!! But Capt. Jack does not work well in these structure free shoes. One look at my friends cute tootsies in her flip-flops brought me to tears ... Am I ever going to walk without a monster limp? Am I going to wear my summer sandals, peep-toe pumps and blingy flippies??
I know ... I've got to give it time. Six weeks ago, my surgeon couldn't guarantee that I would regain ANY feeling. The nerve is still healing. I'm just feeling a bit more anxious I think because I'm realizing it's tricky to keep up with my students and the boys. I also had to knock my anti-inflammatory back to half the dose to keep from damaging my liver ... so the pain has increased a bit ... a lot bit. So pain I guess will make ya cranky?
Anywhoozies ... I'm about done with this pity party and I thank you for listening... er ... reading. :-)
Well, first for the positives... I've graduated from one week of half-days back at work to my first week of full days ... with the exception of leaving early for Physical Therapy 3 days this week. It has taken some getting used to but I did miss being in a normal work and kids at school routine. So it's nice to get back into the swing of things.
I have to say, getting behind the wheel again, taking my independence back has been pretty great. I've blasted the radio and sang as loud as possible ... just to remind me that I'm on my own. Don't get me wrong, I loved having the mom rotation here helping me but I needed to start doing for myself.
With the help of therapy I continue to get stronger, I've built up to 9 minutes on the elliptical ... which is huge, trust me... and about 20 minutes on the treadmill, that's 5-7 minutes backward, 4-5 minutes on each side and about 10 minutes forward. Then, leg presses- both legs, one leg and then ... just part of my foot ... yowza! I cannot tell you how much stronger I've gotten. And there are many more strengthening exercises. It feels awesome for a while and then I run into something that still remains impossible and I feel the frustration start to set in. That's when I have to remind myself, as my friend Stef does for me, how far I've come!!!
OK... so I've had a few little meltdowns ... one that only my friend Stefani had to see and the others stay inside my head for the most part. These meltdowns usually spring from something mundane ... like flip-flops. Thanks to Joel's Texas family, I have 3 new beautiful pair of Yellow Box flip-flops ... mind you, I've never been one to seek out cute summer shoes like this, they were a gift and screamed of summer ... and I adore them!!! But Capt. Jack does not work well in these structure free shoes. One look at my friends cute tootsies in her flip-flops brought me to tears ... Am I ever going to walk without a monster limp? Am I going to wear my summer sandals, peep-toe pumps and blingy flippies??
I know ... I've got to give it time. Six weeks ago, my surgeon couldn't guarantee that I would regain ANY feeling. The nerve is still healing. I'm just feeling a bit more anxious I think because I'm realizing it's tricky to keep up with my students and the boys. I also had to knock my anti-inflammatory back to half the dose to keep from damaging my liver ... so the pain has increased a bit ... a lot bit. So pain I guess will make ya cranky?
Anywhoozies ... I'm about done with this pity party and I thank you for listening... er ... reading. :-)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Driving, Working and Capt. Jack is Still a Lazy Pirate
One month ago today, I had an entirely numb leg, was in an indescribable amount of pain that made me wish I was back in Omaha delivering twins with a pinched nerve and an epidural that only half worked and I'd been told by a radiologist after looking at my MRI that I needed to find a surgeon ... quick.
I now have feeling in most of my leg, still numb toes, though. And I am in little to no pain. I cannot believe how much better I am feeling! And in therapy I have gone from only being able to handle 2 to 3 minutes on the elliptical to making it 5 minutes and still able to breathe!! Capt. Jack still acts out on a regular basis and refused to do some of his exercises. But I do get him working ... see??
We are doing lots of leg presses to strengthen the hamstring and then I do a foot press using just from the ball of my foot up. Uber hard.
On the super bright side, I have improved A LOT since I started therapy. On the dark side, I still have a ways to go. My hamstring is still crazy weak and it's making me walk a bit funny as it seems to effect my hip and my foot.
As for the Naughty Nerve, it is behaving itself much better now that I am taking a regular double dose of my anti-inflammatory. No more screaming pain in the middle of the night. But the day of and after therapy everything is a bit ticked off and sore. And the one thing that has yet to go away is that the nerve is sensitive to the touch. I can trace the thing from my butt to my foot ... where I cease to feel much of anything.
Best news!!! No more cane!!! I have ditched it almost entirely. I still keep it handy for the occasional long walk that requires a little assistance. But mostly, we've repurposed it, Joel has a new sword.
All in all, I'm doing pretty well and have even driven the van a bit!!! I've gone back to work a tiny bit and will head back for half days and work from home the rest of the day starting on Tuesday :-)
See check me out ... and yes I'm supposed to be backwards, trying to trick that silly nerve.
Here I am, ready to see the Dr. and ready to work further toward normal. But I have not done it alone and I could not have done it without an unbelievable network of friends and family. I've had two weeks with my mom and two weeks with Joel's mom. Sally (Lolly) leaves tomorrow and I'm on my own. The boyz are stuck with me ... just gimpy ole' me :-)
Oh... and I've lost 5 pounds! Not much, but I'm building muscle at the same time. And every little bit counts. My new quest has begun and I promise to keep it up. A healthier me so I can get back to playing with my boys and not letting this happen again! Talk to you soon. :-)
I now have feeling in most of my leg, still numb toes, though. And I am in little to no pain. I cannot believe how much better I am feeling! And in therapy I have gone from only being able to handle 2 to 3 minutes on the elliptical to making it 5 minutes and still able to breathe!! Capt. Jack still acts out on a regular basis and refused to do some of his exercises. But I do get him working ... see??
We are doing lots of leg presses to strengthen the hamstring and then I do a foot press using just from the ball of my foot up. Uber hard.
On the super bright side, I have improved A LOT since I started therapy. On the dark side, I still have a ways to go. My hamstring is still crazy weak and it's making me walk a bit funny as it seems to effect my hip and my foot.
As for the Naughty Nerve, it is behaving itself much better now that I am taking a regular double dose of my anti-inflammatory. No more screaming pain in the middle of the night. But the day of and after therapy everything is a bit ticked off and sore. And the one thing that has yet to go away is that the nerve is sensitive to the touch. I can trace the thing from my butt to my foot ... where I cease to feel much of anything.
Best news!!! No more cane!!! I have ditched it almost entirely. I still keep it handy for the occasional long walk that requires a little assistance. But mostly, we've repurposed it, Joel has a new sword.
All in all, I'm doing pretty well and have even driven the van a bit!!! I've gone back to work a tiny bit and will head back for half days and work from home the rest of the day starting on Tuesday :-)
See check me out ... and yes I'm supposed to be backwards, trying to trick that silly nerve.
Here I am, ready to see the Dr. and ready to work further toward normal. But I have not done it alone and I could not have done it without an unbelievable network of friends and family. I've had two weeks with my mom and two weeks with Joel's mom. Sally (Lolly) leaves tomorrow and I'm on my own. The boyz are stuck with me ... just gimpy ole' me :-)
Oh... and I've lost 5 pounds! Not much, but I'm building muscle at the same time. And every little bit counts. My new quest has begun and I promise to keep it up. A healthier me so I can get back to playing with my boys and not letting this happen again! Talk to you soon. :-)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
This time, with feeling! And an ode to tippy toes.
Well, I still have a case of the frozen toes. BUT!!! I really believe that I have more feeling than before and I KNOW I am stronger than just a week ago. They may be small mini milestones but they are milestones nonetheless. Capt. Jack is beginning to take direction a little better but is still lazy a great deal of the time.
There are many things that I still struggle to accomplish like standing on my tippy toes. I realize it's unlikely that this is the technical or medical term for the toe area to which I'm referring. However, I cannot push up onto those toes on that foot. Darn pirate. And I must say I will never again take for granted the ability to stand on my tippy toes. Reaching up to get a coffee mug from the top shelf, stretching up to grab a Martha or a Rachael from atop the fridge. These are things I cannot do.
I am still walking with a cane when I'm out and about mostly because walking takes a huge amount of effort and it helps to be able to let the cane bear the weight from time to time. Additionally, I am still not as sure on my feet. Without that feeling, I tend to roll over on my foot or accidentally drag my toes and get tripped up if I'm not careful. So the cane is Capt. Jack's sidekick for the time being when we happen to venture out.
So while I work to build up my hamstring muscle and encourage my nerve to behave properly and start talking to that muscle, walk a few extra steps for me, stretch for that chocolate bar way up on the top shelf and make sure you use those tippy toes.
Oooohhh... and run!!! If you can run, RUN! I don't run often and doesn't really feel great when I do but I wish I could do that now.
Here it stands, when I am able to push up on my tippy toes, I will be well. So, pray for tippy toe function, folks and in the meantime, dance a little more for me.
BTW ... I kinda lied about the ode. I thought about it but then lost the creative bug :-)
There are many things that I still struggle to accomplish like standing on my tippy toes. I realize it's unlikely that this is the technical or medical term for the toe area to which I'm referring. However, I cannot push up onto those toes on that foot. Darn pirate. And I must say I will never again take for granted the ability to stand on my tippy toes. Reaching up to get a coffee mug from the top shelf, stretching up to grab a Martha or a Rachael from atop the fridge. These are things I cannot do.
I am still walking with a cane when I'm out and about mostly because walking takes a huge amount of effort and it helps to be able to let the cane bear the weight from time to time. Additionally, I am still not as sure on my feet. Without that feeling, I tend to roll over on my foot or accidentally drag my toes and get tripped up if I'm not careful. So the cane is Capt. Jack's sidekick for the time being when we happen to venture out.
So while I work to build up my hamstring muscle and encourage my nerve to behave properly and start talking to that muscle, walk a few extra steps for me, stretch for that chocolate bar way up on the top shelf and make sure you use those tippy toes.
Oooohhh... and run!!! If you can run, RUN! I don't run often and doesn't really feel great when I do but I wish I could do that now.
Here it stands, when I am able to push up on my tippy toes, I will be well. So, pray for tippy toe function, folks and in the meantime, dance a little more for me.
BTW ... I kinda lied about the ode. I thought about it but then lost the creative bug :-)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
From Naughty Nerve to Nasty Nerve
Okay, I fell off the blog for a bit. Mostly because I wasn't feeling very positive and really only wanted to write a bunch of swear words, thought that might not be appropriate or very interesting for my throngs of readers ;-) But I just had to kick my pity party to the curb and deal with the negative as I always have, by slapping a smile on it! :-) And by just reminding myself that this could be a lot worse. So here's what's been going on in the world of Capt. Jack and the Naughty Nerve.
My new wake up call comes in the form of lightning strikes of pain shooting up and down my leg starting at about 3am. Did you ever get growing pains as a kid? I used to get them, a lot. Kinda weird since I'm not so tall... Anywho... That is sort of what this pain feels like but it doesn't really go away! Lortab, flexeril, heat, cold, massage, yelling ... does NOTHING! Finally decided to call the neurosurgeon and see if this excruciating pain is normal. Yup. Perfectly normal, turns out it's the nerve healing. The nurse tells me, "Looking at your surgical report, your nerve was very, very, very smushed..." Always good to know :-) So, she tells me the nerve typically begins to reawaken 6-9 days after surgery and will take AT LEAST 6 weeks to heal! Yowza!!! 6 weeks of this sounds ... fun! Sarcasm is therapy folks. But she did tell me to go ahead and double up my anti inflammatory dose, BTW if you are in need of a good anti inflammatory, I wholeheartedly suggest Mobic, it actually works and with no side effects. My friend Heather suggested it and I swear by it now. I have uber amounts of inflammation so Mobic is my friend. This is why naughty nerve is now nasty nerve.
So, how is Capt. Jack you ask? Well, I must say he is why I've been so frustrated. He's really not responding well so far. We've even used E Stim - Electrical Stimulation! Do you know that lazy pirate refused to come out of his rum induced stupor! Therapy has become far more intense and my home exercises are more advanced too. Though the pain has kept me from doing them as much at home but I'm getting past it now. As we progress in therapy, I've found more and more areas that have been compromised by that dead nerve. But I WILL BEAT THIS!!! I WILL GET STRONGER!!! I WILL BE A BETTER PATIENT!!! well I can't make any promises on that last one :-)
Here we sit, in a hotel room because Murphy's Law continues to make our lives interesting. Our air-conditioner has konked out. Thanks to my mom (Nini) the boys are off enjoying an adventure in Little Rock, they LOVE the science museum there. So it's just me, that guy I married and Cosmo. We've discovered he's quite the watchdog, he barks every time he hears people pass the door. We have yet to hear back from the AC people. AND my cell phone is acting nutty!!!!
I guess that about sums up the last few days. Thanks for listening! :-)
My new wake up call comes in the form of lightning strikes of pain shooting up and down my leg starting at about 3am. Did you ever get growing pains as a kid? I used to get them, a lot. Kinda weird since I'm not so tall... Anywho... That is sort of what this pain feels like but it doesn't really go away! Lortab, flexeril, heat, cold, massage, yelling ... does NOTHING! Finally decided to call the neurosurgeon and see if this excruciating pain is normal. Yup. Perfectly normal, turns out it's the nerve healing. The nurse tells me, "Looking at your surgical report, your nerve was very, very, very smushed..." Always good to know :-) So, she tells me the nerve typically begins to reawaken 6-9 days after surgery and will take AT LEAST 6 weeks to heal! Yowza!!! 6 weeks of this sounds ... fun! Sarcasm is therapy folks. But she did tell me to go ahead and double up my anti inflammatory dose, BTW if you are in need of a good anti inflammatory, I wholeheartedly suggest Mobic, it actually works and with no side effects. My friend Heather suggested it and I swear by it now. I have uber amounts of inflammation so Mobic is my friend. This is why naughty nerve is now nasty nerve.
So, how is Capt. Jack you ask? Well, I must say he is why I've been so frustrated. He's really not responding well so far. We've even used E Stim - Electrical Stimulation! Do you know that lazy pirate refused to come out of his rum induced stupor! Therapy has become far more intense and my home exercises are more advanced too. Though the pain has kept me from doing them as much at home but I'm getting past it now. As we progress in therapy, I've found more and more areas that have been compromised by that dead nerve. But I WILL BEAT THIS!!! I WILL GET STRONGER!!! I WILL BE A BETTER PATIENT!!! well I can't make any promises on that last one :-)
Here we sit, in a hotel room because Murphy's Law continues to make our lives interesting. Our air-conditioner has konked out. Thanks to my mom (Nini) the boys are off enjoying an adventure in Little Rock, they LOVE the science museum there. So it's just me, that guy I married and Cosmo. We've discovered he's quite the watchdog, he barks every time he hears people pass the door. We have yet to hear back from the AC people. AND my cell phone is acting nutty!!!!
I guess that about sums up the last few days. Thanks for listening! :-)
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