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. :-)

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 :-)

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! :-)

Name the Nerve...

So ... I might have overdone it a bit yesterday. At least that's what my naughty nerve thinks. I woke up to a pain like I haven't felt since before surgery in the area near/around my hamstring. That's where the angry nerve lives. It wasn't the same type of sensation as when it was pinched but it's similar and YOWZA it hurts! Once up and moving, that discomfort was followed by an aching all the way down the leg into the foot. So, I get it! I get why I'm supposed to rest and let it heal. I can be a little impatient (shocker, I know) sometimes and when I feel better I do too much and then pay for it later. I learned my lesson and will simmer down...

In case you were curious...

I have to share this because I finally came up with a few different ways to describe what Capt. Jack feels like.

Have you ever had your foot wrapped in an Ace bandage? Or have you had your toes/fingers wrapped together to let a sprain heal? That's what this feels like! It's such an odd sensation. Sometimes I actually think to myself that I need to take the bandage off, it's too tight! There's also a feeling that half of my foot got a good shot of numbing juice from the dentist. As if the dentist and Capt. Jack went out for a few pints and then the drunk dentist missed the mark when aiming for my mouth.
Okay, one more weird comparison ... as I attempt to wiggle my toes it feels like each toe is individually wrapped in Scotch tape ... or covered in dried super glue ... and they feel plastic-ish when they rub together. I said it was weird.


Alright, enough of that. I realized that it's a bit unfair that my foot has a name but that nerve that is just as bothersome remains nameless. Here's where you come in. What shall my naughty nerve be called from here on out?


Time to shower and dress for therapy. Catch ya later :-)

Capt. Jack's Day Out

While I could have had communion brought to me at home, I really wanted to get out of the house for something other than therapy. So off to church we went. Not so bad... mind you, I medicated properly prior to heading out. What I did discover was that even though I wasn't in constant pain, walking is a pain in the butt! Both literally and figuratively. My right leg is so weak!!! I just cannot believe how weak it is. And I'm so weak on the right, my left is sore from trying to pull the weight of Capt. Jack and his merry crew.
I prayed not for a miracle healing but for the strength, patience and perseverance to do this on my own because this has to be my journey. But as I sat in the pew and reflected on the situation, I realized for the first time how truly long this could take.
We headed home for a bit to relax and regroup.
Our next stop, lunch and then the Memphis College of Art to see the boys summer camp artwork on display. I had to see this! Wouldn't have missed it for anything. And I'm so glad I made it. It was SO COOL! to see our little men beam with pride while showing us Max's wool bead necklace, Porter's paper mache penguin and their very detailed treasure maps.
For a short time, I forgot about my bum leg and just basked in their sweet artistic glow.
All in all a great day but I came home sore and exhausted ... with a definite sense of how long a process this may be.
Another day begins tomorrow...