(no subject)

[the_rck]

Friday, I made an appointment to see my primary care doctor. I'll get in on Monday. They could have seen me Friday, but I have two munchkins instead of one that afternoon and couldn't do it. I'd forgotten how much faster it is to get in during the spring/summer term.

I've got a list of things to discuss with my doctor. A little of it is simply checking in. I'm taking new medications, prescribed by specialists. I have two on going injuries that I want to document. One of them, she may be able to help me with, but the other, I suspect, is permanent. I also want to see about getting a referral to gather more information about breast reduction.

The two injuries are in my legs. One is the result of a fall on an icy sidewalk back in January or February (or maybe as far back as December, I forget). I landed hard on my left knee and had trouble walking for days. It's mostly better but is still a bit tender to pressure. I can't kneel on it, and stairs are harder than they used to be (though that depends heavily on the spacing of the stairs. Our basement stairs aren't bad. Our front and back steps are awful).

The other injury is in my right leg. It started up not long after I was able to walk again after the fall. Well, actually it may have been giving me trouble for a long while before that, but I didn't start noticing until then. Basically, my right shin, just above the ankle and going to halfway up, swells and reddens. I saw a sports medicine specialist at UHS about it months ago. He diagnosed tendonitis and told me to avoid walking on an incline, particularly when using the treadmill.

The thing is that the leg wasn't swollen when I saw him. It hurt to the touch, but it always does these last few months. Recently, it's been swollen a lot, pretty much any time I've done more than about twenty minutes of walking during the course of the day (sitting doesn't make it swell). When I saw my neurologist nearly two weeks ago, he commented on it and, on being told that it was tendonitis, said he very much doubted it, that it looked like no tendonitis he'd ever seen. On the one hand, a neurologist, particularly one his age, is probably a long way from seeing tendonitis often while a sports medicine doctor sees it constantly. On the other hand, however, the neurologist saw it when it was bad while the sports medicine guy had to rely on my description and what bits made me flinch when touched.

As to the breast reduction, I may or may not end up doing it. It's surgery. It's a fairly big deal given that I do the day to day care for Cordelia. I want to look into it because I really can't wear bras comfortably (the issue isn't the straps. Those are fine. It's the band around my chest) and know that some of my chronic headache trouble would be eased by decreasing the weight pulling on my back and shoulders. Bras help that, but the pain of wearing them is greater than the pain of the constant, low level headache, and I'm used to the headache. It's part of my zero level pain index. To go to a one, I need something else to be hurting or my head to be hurting more than that.

I also need to think about and write down the other stuff I should bring up with my doctor. A nice list....

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I hope you can go through with the breast reduction surgery, if you feel it's necessary (especially if it decreases your overall pain level).

[jss]

Seconded. My aunt had breast-reduction surgery a (long) while back and it helped her back problems and its associated pain immensely.

[the_rck]

It's good to have an additional data point. Thanks for the good wishes.

[the_rck]

I'm halfway between hopeful and terrified on the subject.

I suspect that, if I decide to do it, the biggest barrier will be my obligations to Cordelia. I'm not sure there's a way I can take the necessary time off.

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

worst case scenario: is Scott's work big enough to be covered by FMLA?

[the_rck]

They're big enough. I'm not sure we'd be able to handle the loss of income or the hostility from management that would result, though.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Do you know approximately how much time you'll need to take off?

[melallen.livejournal.com]

When I had my breast reduction surgery I was OUT for about two weeks. The third I was still woozy and tired from the anesthesia.

I still feel like the reduction was one of the best things I ever did, but I can't imagine what the recovery would have been like with a child.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the information. The friend I've been talking to who had the surgery a couple of months ago doesn't have a child and lives with other adults. She had guesses but couldn't give me solid information because she's not sure what sort of care a child takes.

I have an appointment to talk to a plastic surgeon. I don't think I'll go farther than the consult right now, not without a firm idea of how to take care of Cordelia.

[the_rck]

We'd be looking at weeks. This is cut-you-open-and-excise-pieces surgery and isn't minor. From what my primary care doctor says, healing from this sort of thing varies wildly, and one can't predict without the particular patient having had another surgery of the sort (and even then people respond differently under different circumstances).

My primary care doctor said that those who do regret having this surgery are those who don't understand how much scarring there will be or how long the recovery will take.